Mission Statement

Great River Review is a literary magazine published by University of Minnesota, which is located on traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of Indigenous people, including Dakota land ceded in the Treaties of 1837 and 1851. The Mississippi River flows through the heart of our cities and campus, so we carry in mind the ways the river unites lands north and south, east and west; the way the river’s health is tied to the well-being of all of its tributaries; and the way its waters bring life to the entirety of the watershed. As the river nourishes and is nourished by both the smallest creeks and widest streams, so it is for Great River Review’s literary ecosystem.

Founded in 1977 by Emilio DeGrazia of Winona, Minnesota, Great River Review was edited by Robert Hedin and published biannually by the Anderson Center from 1996 to 2016. Works published in Great River Review have been reprinted in Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, Best American Travel Essays, and Best American Sports Stories. The journal itself was the recipient of the 2002 Minnesota State Book Award for its twenty-fifth anniversary issue.

We seek to publish a diverse range of voices in poetry, nonfiction, fiction, book reviews, interviews, and special features that will connect writers and readers in our region with to each other, as well as to foster further conversations with national and international literary communities.