The Poetry Center at PCCC has hosted thousands of poets over the years at its readings, workshops, and conferences. These include Poet Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Inaugural poets, and others of national and international reputation. Readings at the Center have included Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Stanley Kunitz, Ruth Stone, Marge Piercy, Billy Collins, Richard Blanco, Patricia Smith, and many others. The Poetry Center is housed in the historic Hamilton Club Building on the campus of Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey. Award-winning poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan founded and served as director from 1980-2026. Christine Redman Waldeyer is the new director of the Center and Editor of the Paterson Literary Review.
The Paterson Literary Review accepts submissions June-September. The Poetry Center annually sponsors three literary contests and awards prizes for each: the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award (for a single poem), the Paterson Poetry Prize (for a book of poetry), and the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People.
This Submittable form will collect your contact information, including your mailing address and email.
Simultaneous submissions are considered, but please notify us immediately if another publication accepts any of your poems. We consider for publication:
- Poems: 1-5 poems each under 2 pages, high quality, in any style;
- Art: black & white art or photographs; color images for consideration as cover art; submit high-quality .jpg or .png files
- Fiction: one story under 1,500 words, high quality, no formula stories.
- Memoir: one piece; two pages maximum.
- Book Reviews: up to 1000 words
For accepted poems, payment is a single contributor copy of the magazine, which will be mailed after publication. PLR is printed and distributed annually in the spring.
By submitting work to the Paterson Literary Review, the author grants us First Serial Rights to publish the accepted work in our print and/or online editions. Upon publication, all rights revert to the author. If your work is reprinted elsewhere, we request acknowledgment of the Paterson Literary Review as the place of first publication.