The Awakenings Project
Established in cooperation with the University of Chicago Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation in 2000, The Awakenings Review is one of the nation's leading literary reviews entirely committed to publishing the works of artists, writers, and poets with mental illness. The AR looks for submissions from writers and poets who have a distinct relationship to mental illness-either self, family member, or friend.
Beginning in 2023, The AR will now be published twice a year- once in the spring and once in the fall! Since its inception in 2000, The Awakenings Review has been in publication roughly once a year. This new schedule is a substantial change in The AR’s direction. It’s felt that a twice-yearly publication will give The AR a greater and more credible position in the literary community and will reflect the strong interest in The AR by poets and writers who we publish.
The hard-copy journal publishes original poetry, short stories, dramatic scenes, essays, creative nonfiction, photographs, interviews, excerpts from larger works, and black-and-white cover art.
Fall 2023 (Vol. 10, No. 2)
Spring 2023 (Vol. 10, No. 1)
Fall 2022 (Vol. 9, No. 2)
Fall 2021 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Fall 2020 (Vol. 8, No. 2)
Fall 2019 (Vol. 8, No. 1)
Fall 2018 (Vol. 7, No. 2)
Fall 2017 (Vol. 7, No. 1)
Fall 2015 (Vol. 6, No. 2)
Fall 2012 (Vol. 6, No. 1)
Spring 2011 (Vol. 5, No. 2)
Winter 2009/2010 (Vol. 5, No. 1)
Fall 2008 (Vol. 4, No. 2)
Summer 2007 (Vol. 4, No. 1)
Fall 2005 (Vol. 3, No. 2)
Summer 2004 (Vol. 3, No. 1)
Summer 2003 (Vol. 2, No. 2)
Fall 2002 (Vol. 2, No. 1)
Winter 2001 (Vol. 1, No. 2)
Summer 2000 (Vol. 1, No. 1)
Editorial Policy
A writer for The Awakenings Review (The AR) need not have a mental illness—we are open to submissions from family members and friends of people with mental illnesses. We do prefer that a writer have a mental illness of some type, and be willing to write about it, but that does not have to be the focus of the writings. The AR occasionally publishes special issues dedicated to specific topics, or featuring authors who live with a particular illness.
In most cases, at least three members of The AR editorial board review each submission.
Contributors selected for publication are not paid for their work. However, they will receive a complimentary copy of the journal in which their work is published when it becomes available, and additional copies at a discount.
Editorial Review Board
Robert Lundin, Editor
AR@AwakeningsProject.org
Audrey Sher-Walton, Associate Editor
Hope Andersen, Assistant Editor
Sandra Jo Mazurek, Art Editor
Irene O'Neill
Virginia Goldrick
Lloyd Jacobs
Richard Risemberg
Chris Pellizzari