The Glasgow Review of Books (ISSN 2053-0560) is an online journal, founded in 2013 by Rebecca DeWald and Mark West and edited until February 2023 by Rebecca DeWald, Eilidh McCabe, Samuel Tongue, and Mark West.
We publish critical reviews, essays and interviews as well as writing on translation and accept work in any of the languages of Scotland – English, Gàidhlig and Scots.
We are interested in many different kinds of writing, though we tend to lean towards more marginal, peripheral or neglected writers and their work. (Commercial books by big publishers have plenty of places to go for reviews already!) That said, we never say ‘never’, and will publish reviews on just about anything, if someone makes a strong enough case for it.
Although our main focus is to fill the gap for careful, considered critical writing, we also publish original creative work, mostly short fiction, poetry and hybrid/visual forms. That said, we only accept submissions in response to specific call-outs or commissions. Please see below for more details.
Our Vision – is to be an accessible, non-partisan community platform for writers and writing, from Glasgow and elsewhere.
Accessible means we will always be open to reviews that people submit, and for ideas and proposals for content that we can publish on our site.
Because we are (and intend to remain) an online journal, we are not tied to word-counts and page constraints that apply to hard-copy, printed journals. This means we can give our contributors the space they need, to say what they want to say, in the way that they want to say it.
Non-partisan means we want to represent writers from all communities. In particular, this means giving a platform to working-class voices, and those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
From Glasgow and elsewhere means we have an interest in writing about translation and would love to receive contributions from, and work with writers from as far afield as possible.
We believe Glasgow is, and has long been, an international city with historic strengths that derive from diversity and a willingness to learn from, and adapt to, new cultural ideas and practices – and we want this to be reflected in work we publish as the GRB.
Over time, we hope you will find that the work we publish aligns with this vision and these values. If you don’t – please let us know. We will always be open to your feedback.
We will make mistakes. We are new to the business of running a journal, are learning as we go and do not expect to get everything right, all of the time.
So, if we fall below the standards you expect from us, please tell us. We promise to grant right-of-reply, in full, to anyone who wishes to contest or dispute anything we publish.
Lastly, but most fundamentally, we promise to be respectful of and to try, in all that we do, to nurture and develop our relationship with you – our readers and contributors. This is about you, not us. When we talk about the GRB as being a platform, we mean it – we are here to raise you up, and give you a voice. Time will tell how well we do. In the meantime –
Thank you for supporting the GRB!
Submissions
We are always open to book reviews and ideas for books to be reviewed or proposals for critical writing, especially longer-form critical writing. Otherwise submissions are closed.
We regret that we are presently unable to offer payment to contributors for their work because the GRB generates no income and receives no financial support. This is not a sustainable position over the long, or even the medium-term, and we are working to change this.
We are happy to receive information from publishers (via email only), on forthcoming books and offers of review copies. That said, our pool of contributors is finite, and we are dependent on their voluntary labour to produce reviews. So, please be aware that we are sometimes unable to source reviews of unsolicited new books.
We will issue call-outs for specific types of writing (e.g. short-fiction, critical essays etc.) in the course of the year. Unsolicited submissions (that are not in response to a call-out or commission) will not be read. Call-outs will be issued via our social media channels on Instagram and Twitter – so, please keep an eye on those.
Contact
You can contact us at glasgowreview [at] gmail [dot] com or find us on Instagram and Twitter: @GlasgowRevBooks
Copyright
All works published by the Glasgow Review of Books are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and the journal reserves the right to be named as place of first publication in any citation. To view a copy of this license, follow the link below.
Glasgow Review of Books by www.glasgowreviewofbooks.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Images and Permissions
All images on the website are either used with permission of the publisher, author or interviewee (such as, but not limited to, book covers and press photos) or are owned by the contributor. Please get in touch with us with requests to use these images and we can put you in touch with the copyright holder.
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