Westerly
Poetry rejections
Standard
2023
Dear —,
Many thanks for your submission in consideration for Westerly 68.2.
Unfortunately, your work has not been selected for publication in this issue. Please do not take this as a reflection on your writing: selection for 68.2 was highly competitive and we were overwhelmed by the high standard of writing sent through.
We always wish we could publish much more than we can. If you would like more insight into the selection process at Westerly, we invite you to take a look at this helpful piece written by past Associate Editor, Dr Josephine Taylor. And, of course, we are very grateful for your interest and support.
The most competitive submissions generally come from our readers. In this sense, if you do not already, we encourage you to subscribe and read as well as continuing to submit to Westerly in the future.
Very best wishes,
The Westerly Team
Fiction rejections
Standard
2025
<Dear D. A.,
Many thanks for your submission in consideration for Westerly issues — and —.
Unfortunately, your work has not been selected for publication in these issues. Please do not take this as a reflection on your writing: we received thousands of submissions during this call-out, more than we ever have before. It was tricky to whittle down the pile, and the choices we made were influenced by a range of factors, not least how the issues would read in their entirety. It was overwhelming to work through all the submissions and we were struck throughout the reading period by the high standard of writing. If we could publish all we wanted, our magazines would be very thick indeed!
These notes bearing bad news are hard to write, just as we are know they are hard to receive. We thank you for trusting us with your work, and we hope you will continue to do so. On our website, we have a short piece that offers insight into our selection process. This was written by past Associate Editor, Dr Josephine Taylor. It may not offer consolation, but we hope it offers insight and encouragement. And, if you have not already, we encourage you to visit our archive and read through some back issues of Westerly for free! The most competitive submissions generally come from our readers, so it might prove useful, but there's also a wealth of poetry, stories and essays stretching back to 1956.
Very best wishes,
The Westerly Team
https://westerlymag.com.au//blockquote>
Dear author,
Many thanks for your submission in consideration for Westerly 63.2. Unfortunately, your writing has not been selected for publication in this issue.
Please do not take this as a reflection on your writing; selection for this issue was highly competitive due to a large volume of submissions. Ultimately, we wished to publish much more than we could. If you would like more insight into the selection process at Westerly, I invite you to take a look at this helpful piece written by our Associate editor, Dr Josephine Taylor.
We encourage you to continue submitting to Westerly in the future.
Kind regards, Catherine
TIered
Dear author,
I am writing with the news that, unfortunately, your submissions to Westerly, [piece titles], have not been selected for publication this time around.
As a team, we really admired your work, and hope you won’t take this as representative of our impression of its quality. It was closely considered. Selection for Westerly is extremely competitive and guided by our intent to produce a cohesive and balanced issue, alongside other factors. Many deserving authors who submitted their work missed out.
We do appreciate you sending us your work, and I am sorry I can't write with better news. If you would like more insight into the selection process at Westerly, we invite you to take a look at this helpful piece written by past Associate Editor, Dr Josephine Taylor.
I encourage you to consider submitting to Westerly again in the future, and look forward to the chance to read more of your writing. Our next issue will be published in November this year, and the portal for creative work will be open again in July.
Very best wishes, Catherine, on behalf of the Westerly Team
Dear —,
Many thanks for your submission to Westerly.
Unfortunately, on this occasion your submission ’—' has not been selected for publication in our coming issue. It was, however, shortlisted for inclusion, and it was very seriously considered.
Please do not take this as a reflection on your writing. The selection process for this issue was incredibly competitive, as we received nearly 600 submissions. A lot of deserving authors missed out on publication. I am sorry I don’t have better news for you, and I appreciate you sending us work of such high quality.
Our second issue for this year will be a special focus issue, engaging with Asia and the Indian Ocean region. A call for papers will be released soon. We encourage you to look out for it, and to submit again for our 2018 issues. We would be very happy to see work from you continue to come in submission to any of these issues of the Magazine.
Kind regards, Catherine
