Introducing... The Masters Review

The Masters Review is a new literary journal showcasing the best in graduate-level creative writing. Each year, their editors and judges select the ten best stories submitted by writers in MA, MFA, and PhD creative writing programs. Their aim is to expose the field's top emerging writers by publishing progressive, diverse, and well-crafted fiction. The Masters Review is an annual publication with a submission deadline of December 31, 2011. Twenty-five stories will be selected for their shortlist, with the top ten stories from that pool published in the spring.

Their guest judge this year is Lauren Groff, who has this to say about what she’s hoping to see in submissions: “Simply put, I’m looking for a story I’ve never read before, a story that feels as if it could only come from the person who wrote it. Surprise me, thrill me, make me fall in love with your language and sensibility. I want to feel as if your story had been somehow dangerous for you to write it. If you write about things I’ve read about fifty-thousand times, write about them in a way that adds something to a larger conversation, one well beyond the bounds of your story. Above all, I’m asking you to please move me, make me laugh or weep or feel furious. Write your heart out, always.”