The North Carolina Literary Review (NCLR), produced at East Carolina University, publishes interviews and literary criticism about North Carolina writers and high-quality poetry, fiction, drama, and creative nonfiction by North Carolina writers or set in North Carolina. Our definition of a North Carolina writer is anyone who currently lives in North Carolina, has lived in North Carolina, or uses North Carolina as subject matter.
A cross between a scholarly journal and a literary magazine, NCLR has won numerous awards and citations, including six from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals: the Best New Journal award in 1994, the Best Journal Design award in 1999 and 2010, the Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement in 2007, the Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement in 2014, and Best Public Intellectual Special Issue in 2023.
Latest News
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NCLR Launches First Crowd-funding Campaign
ECU’s English Department and the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences are proud supporters of the North Carolina Literary Review. Your support—every little bit adds up—means NCLR can continue training the next generation of editors, writers, and graphic designers.
Current Call for Submissions
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2026: Saluting Veterans’ Writing
This special feature section of NCLR seeks to bridge the gap between military personnel and civilians by celebrating veteran writers and their impacts on literary and cultural studies.
Upcoming Events
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Green Fest: A Double Feature
The Paul Green Foundation and EbzB Productions bring to Greenville a one-day film festival celebrating NC’s preeminent playwright Paul Green: a double feature: the documentary The Playmaker: The Story of Paul Green and the film The Problem of the Hero.
From the Archives
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Proving Faith with Snakes
Friday from the Archives: “Blind Faith” by David McGuirt from NCLR 19 (2010) By Kenly Corya, Editorial Assistant As Appalachia recovers from a catastrophic hurricane, we reflect on the many outstanding writers from Western North Carolina. The 2009 Doris Betts Fiction Prize Winner and author of “Blind Faith,” David McGuirt, writes a story about a church…
Book Reviews
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Thomas Reviews Joy and Willis
Saturday Review: “Timely Portrayals of a Place” a review by Elaine Thomas forthcoming in NCLR Online Fall 2024 of David Joy’s Those We Thought We Knew and C.L. Willis’s Hillbilly Odyssey: Resilience in a Small Mountain Mill Town. Elaine Thomas examines the multifaceted conception of Appalachia David Joy’s new novel and C.L. Willis’s memoir. She…
Editors’ Blog
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The Time Will Pass Anyway, or, a Poet’s Guide to Becoming an Editor
I can remember the first time someone other than friends and family told me I had a knack for writing. It was my senior year of high school, and I was in my Senior American Literature class with an eccentric teacher who would play guitar in class as he taught. The day before, he’d had…
North Carolina Literary Review
East Carolina University
Mailstop 555 English | Greenville, NC 27858-4353
NCLRstaff@ecu.edu | 252-328-1537
