The Gettysburg Review

"Pure delight, every time."

The Gettysburg Review is a literary journal that is published out of Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. The journal includes all different types of selections, including nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, as well as a graphics section, where the most recent edition has paintings by David Graeme Baker.

The overall design of the journal is described as being "elegant," with a classic layout and excellent use of artwork. The print version comes out every 3-6 months, and is sold through the online website, with selections offered online as well.

All of the nonfiction pieces are considered to be "essays" but are mostly centered around memoirs or lyrical essays. Two in particular caught my eye that were also posted online.

"Power Play" by Cynthia Dockrell about a Christmas gone wrong after her mother and father argue over work, family, and life in general that all takes place around a hockey game. It ends in a very jilted and distant way, giving the reader a real-life look into complicated relationships.

"The Art of War" by Sarah Aswell about a father/daughter relationship that delves into the past to show why it exists in the present. This piece looks at racial history and how that affects familial relationships.

Both pieces are more memoir than anything else, but also include elements of lyrical essay and profiles of their lives. In fact, most of the nonfiction pieces in The Gettysburg Review are very memoir based. There is no young adult section, and all of the pieces that I read included some adult themes, but often took place in the author's childhood. Both of the selected pieces were long in form, and according to the sites guidelines, can be as much as 25-manuscript pages long, so in comparison to other journals we have looked at, it is much longer is overall form.

Besides the nonfiction department, there is a fiction and poetry section as well, that also include more adult themes. The graphics sections often include paintings, or very intricate and artistic drawings. The overall tone is very artistic and adult, which makes sense since it is run by a liberal arts college.

There is a submission page, but it only has information for where to mail in submissions. There are also specific dates that they accept them and specific guidelines, so the entire process is a little more strict than other literary journals or magazines.

The Gettysburg Review also holds a yearly writers conference that involves workshops, panels, consultations, and readings for writers all over the country. Old editions of the journal are also available for purchase online through the website.

My conclusion, is that The Gettysburg Review is a little exclusive, and the opportunity to get published in it could be more difficult than with other literary journals. Overall though, it provides deep and thoughtful nonfiction writing plus beautiful artwork.