Cherry Tree welcomes submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and literary shade. We read manuscripts between August 1 and October 1. We only consider original, unpublished work. For accepted work, we purchase First North American serial rights. Payment is $20 per contributor and two contributor's copies.

The $3 reading fee will help us pay contributors and defray publication costs. 10% of these fees will be donated to the Bayside HOYAS, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which promotes academic excellence, positive character development, and civic responsibility among at-risk youth in Kent and Queen Anne's Counties, MD. The editors will match the donation with a personal donation (up to $500).

Submissions are only accepted via Submittable (except for currently incarcerated writers). Please familiarize yourself with our mission statement and guidelines before submitting.

Please send no more than 5 poems, 5 flash prose pieces, or 20 total pages of prose uploaded as a single file.

Simultaneous submissions are fine. If any of the submission is accepted elsewhere, please notify us by adding a note to your submission in Submittable . We will happily consider the remaining work in your original submission.

. We will happily consider the remaining work in your original submission. Use the comments section to enter a cover letter, then click submit. Please include contact information, including a phone number.

Cherry Tree does not allow any revisions to submissions during the reading period. Rest assured that typos and other minor mistakes will not deter us from accepting otherwise outstanding work. If your work is accepted, you will be allowed to make necessary corrections prior to publication.

You are able to withdraw a part of your submission (a poem or flash piece, for instance) by making a note in Submittable. If you want to withdraw an entire piece, you are welcome to submit again in that genre, though each submission will incur a separate reading fee.

We welcome work in translation that has not yet been published in English. It is the translator’s responsibility to secure all necessary permissions before submitting.

If your work has been published in a previous issue of Cherry Tree, please wait 2 years before submitting again. For example, if you were published in Issue 6, please wait to submit again until we are reading work for Issue 8.

Further queries may also be directed to editor James Allen Hall (jhall5@washcoll.edu). All submissions will receive a response by the end of November 2020.

Writers currently incarcerated may send paper submissions to: James Allen Hall c/o Rose O'Neill Literary House, 300 Washington Ave., Chestertown, MD 21620 or via email to lit_house@washcoll.edu.

Current students (and those who have graduated in the past 4 years) are not eligible to submit to Cherry Tree.

Subscriptions are $15 for 1 issue (1 year) and $26 (2 years) can be purchased at our online store, where we also have letterpress broadsides, chapbooks, and swag items available for purchase.