Editor Interview: Berkeley Fiction Review

Innovative short fiction

The Short Form, The Believer, The Kenyon Review, and Catapult Magazine

Outside our publication, our favorite writer is currently Carmen Machado, though our own published writers are certainly our favorites!

We are an author-driven publication first and foremost. We have multiple staff members and editors reading every story, and we work extensively and lengthily with accepted and rejected authors alike to improve their writing. Our work is fundamentally collaborative between different editors on the journal and with the author, which means that the author receives attention from a wide array of editorial staff who care passionately about the author's work.

Consider if your work is saying something new or saying something in a new way. As per our mission guidelines, we seek out innovative storytelling, whether in content or in form. Also consider if your work is conscientious of any potentially problematic material that appears in your work.

The ideal submission is one that is saying something new, preferably from an underrepresented voice in the literary community. We especially welcome submissions from people of color, as well as those in the LGBTQIA+ community, and people with disabilities. It is definitely under our accepted page limit of 30 and likewise shows effort in conforming to our submission guidelines.

The mistake most submitters make is putting identifying information in the story document itself. We do blind readings, and stories with identifying information will be immediately requested for a document without.

We do accept cover letters, but they are optional. List of previous publication credits are ultimately not taken into consideration in our review process. We accept writers both new and experienced.

We have multiple people reading a story from beginning to end: at minimum 3, but at maximum around 50. Though the first few pages are often indicative of the quality of a story, we always read to the very end.

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Stories start out being read by editorial staff, who vote on the story in a closed forum with detailed comments. If approved, editors vote on the story next, who take into account feedback from the editorial staff as well as considerations of publishability. If approved on that level, stories move up to the final level, where all editorial staff and editors discuss the story at an in-person meeting, usually a group of forty.

Depending on the nearness of the publication deadline, we tend to perform substantive, line, and copy editing before publication, which can involve numerous drafts sent back and forth between editor and author. Ultimately, authors get a final say in approving edits, but we hope that authors take the suggestions seriously and with the knowledge that editors care passionately about their story as well.

We publish to O. Henry, Best American Short Stories, and Pushcart prizes.