Our Mission at The Aftershock Review

Why not publish every poem? Why hold trauma writing to such high standards? Here’s why.

The Aftershock Review exists to champion the most urgent, skilful, and courageous writing being made in the wake of trauma, not as therapy, but as literature.

We are proud to be funded by Arts Council England, supported by Crowdfunders, private donors, and a growing community of readers. With that backing comes responsibility: to uphold the highest standards of editorial integrity and artistic quality. Readers buy this magazine expecting to be challenged, moved, and transformed. We owe it to them - and to every contributor - to deliver nothing less.

This is not a wellbeing project. It is a literary one.

We do not publish all submissions. That is not because we lack compassion - it is because we honour the craft. Writing from trauma is powerful, but that power only fully arrives when shaped with care, skill, and precision. Writing from the heart matters. But to do justice to the experience behind it, the writing must also be the very best you can write.

This magazine is a full-time labour. Hundreds of hours go into reading, editing, and shaping every issue. To publish all submissions would be a disservice to that work, and to the vision behind The Aftershock Review.

There are many platforms where poets can share their work freely online.

We also encourage writers to set up their own zines, publish their work in new and exciting ways.

But most of all we want to read the best work you’ve got.

We honour the courage of submissions by holding them to the same standards as any other serious literary journal. That’s the whole point of this.

We hold trauma writing to the same editorial standards as any other serious literary journal, not to exclude, but to prove that writing from trauma does not belong in a separate category. It belongs at the centre of the literary world.

— Max Wallis, EditorThe Aftershock Review

Submit your poems here!

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