Berkeley Fiction Review
UC Berkeley's premier literary journal. Proudly publishing fiction since 1981.
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Sudden Fiction Contest 2026 – Berkeley Fiction Review
Sudden Fiction Contest 2026 – Berkeley Fiction Review
SUBMISSIONS OPEN FEB 1–FEB 28 The Berkeley Fiction Review is pleased to open submissions to the 2026 Sudden Fiction Contest! In order to be considered, your submission must meet all listed criteria…
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Our website!
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Art Submission Guidelines!
Art Submission Guidelines!
Currently closed for submissions The Berkeley Fiction Review is a forum for short fiction, published annually. We also accept art and photography submissions for publication in our journal year-rou…
Features On Our Online Magazine!
The Sound of Miles – Berkeley Fiction Review
The Sound of Miles – Berkeley Fiction Review
First, let me preface this review by noting that I am not big on the auditory; I use my ears but think with my eyes. I read before I listen.
The Celebrity Memoir – Berkeley Fiction Review
The Celebrity Memoir – Berkeley Fiction Review
Meaning and mortality in kaveh akbar’s MARTYR! – Berkeley Fiction Review
Meaning and mortality in kaveh akbar’s MARTYR! – Berkeley Fiction Review
This tender story unfolds with enough levity to balance out the weight of its existential themes. Akbar maintains this delicate balance well by seamlessly transitioning between witty dialogue and p…
Spooky Stories Ranked by Your Resident Horror Expert – Berkeley Fiction Review
Spooky Stories Ranked by Your Resident Horror Expert – Berkeley Fiction Review
Although the stubborn Berkeley weather remains stuck in summer, I can’t be the only one already itching at the thought of changing leaves, pumpkin spice, and, of course, the decidedly spooky atmosp…
Variations of Summer by Stella Ho
Variations of Summer by Stella Ho
It’s a hot, humid summer the summer before high school, and I’m back in Guangzhou, a city at once all too familiar and foreign. The perennial hazy sky, green and blue and yellow taxis speeding down…
I Don’t Care for Character-Driven Stories Anymore, and You Shouldn’t Either
I Don’t Care for Character-Driven Stories Anymore, and You Shouldn’t Either
Petal Heart By Gillian Murphy
Petal Heart By Gillian Murphy
The Parakeet by Mani Latifi
The Parakeet by Mani Latifi
And now, Nasrin spent her days at home, alone. And the honey afternoon light, viscous and heavy, lazily spilled through the windows and collected in the corners of the room. And the late summer day…
The Hatch by Michael T. Solberg
The Hatch by Michael T. Solberg
The darkness is a challenge, but the hardest part is not knowing what happened to everyone else. I think about all the people I used to know and wonder what became of them, but we’re not supposed t…
A Review of Shopgirls by Jessica Anya Blau
A Review of Shopgirls by Jessica Anya Blau
Growing Pains
Growing Pains
I’ve never believed in soulmates, but if I’d had to name one person to call mine, it would’ve been Lexi.
Issue 44- Bayshore
Issue 44- Bayshore
Reimagining Gothic Literature: Sex, Shame, and Society in Nosferatu (2024) By Taline Hagopian
Reimagining Gothic Literature: Sex, Shame, and Society in Nosferatu (2024) By Taline Hagopian
Collectively Conscious
Collectively Conscious
My twin brother and I always believed that if we could read each other’s minds, we could take away each other’s pain—place our fingers on our temples and transmit our grievances in the form of tele…
My Brilliant Ferrante: A Retrospective on Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet
My Brilliant Ferrante: A Retrospective on Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet
In July of last year, the New York Times ranked Elena Ferrante’s 2011 novel, My Brilliant Friend, as the best book of the 21st century, voted on by over five hundred writers and the Times team.
Lending and Learning: The Revolution of the Library
Lending and Learning: The Revolution of the Library
Enlightenment
Enlightenment
“But What Was She Wearing?”: Little Red Riding Hood and a Critique of Condemnation in Children’s Literature
“But What Was She Wearing?”: Little Red Riding Hood and a Critique of Condemnation in Children’s Literature
The Places I Went but Did Not Stay: A Writer’s Cartography of Grief
The Places I Went but Did Not Stay: A Writer’s Cartography of Grief
Golgori
Golgori
Inversed: A Review of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Inversed: A Review of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Learning to impede the movement: thoughts on Red Doc> by Anne Carson
Learning to impede the movement: thoughts on Red Doc> by Anne Carson
Sudden Fiction Contest Submissions
Sudden Fiction Contest Submissions
Recycling
Recycling
Japan’s Oppenheimer Problem: Fact, Fiction, and Storytelling in Modern Politics
Japan’s Oppenheimer Problem: Fact, Fiction, and Storytelling in Modern Politics
Refuse
Refuse
Don’t Kill the Bug! Kafka’s Plea for Self Preservation in The Metamorphosis
Don’t Kill the Bug! Kafka’s Plea for Self Preservation in The Metamorphosis
Order Issue 44!
Order Issue 44!
Unrecorded Lives: A Review of Tell Me Everything By Elizabeth Strout
Unrecorded Lives: A Review of Tell Me Everything By Elizabeth Strout
20 Books That Have Shaped Me
20 Books That Have Shaped Me
Soundtrack Your Reading
Soundtrack Your Reading
Class and Connection in Sally Rooney’s “Mr. Salary” by Mary Leung
Class and Connection in Sally Rooney’s “Mr. Salary” by Mary Leung
Authorial Projection: A Review of Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Authorial Projection: A Review of Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Interview with the Director: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Interview with the Director: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Meaning, Experience, and Changed Perspective in Joan Didion’s The White Album
Meaning, Experience, and Changed Perspective in Joan Didion’s The White Album
How “Old” Literature Reminds Us of Our Humanity in the Modern Era
How “Old” Literature Reminds Us of Our Humanity in the Modern Era
The Best Writer You’ve Never Heard Of: Richard Yates and the Dead Genius of American Suburbia by Romie Ashland
The Best Writer You’ve Never Heard Of: Richard Yates and the Dead Genius of American Suburbia by Romie Ashland
writingonwritingonwritingon: Craft as Inhabited Skin
writingonwritingonwritingon: Craft as Inhabited Skin
The Summer of Disquiet: Finding Connection Amidst Existential Solitude by Mattis Gravingen
The Summer of Disquiet: Finding Connection Amidst Existential Solitude by Mattis Gravingen
Astrological Placement of the Millennial Woman: A Review of Jenna Tico’s Cancer Moon
Astrological Placement of the Millennial Woman: A Review of Jenna Tico’s Cancer Moon
Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy: What to Expect from Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Adaptation by Giselle Lipsky
Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy: What to Expect from Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Adaptation by Giselle Lipsky
A Book Lover’s Bag by Julia Chiappe
A Book Lover’s Bag by Julia Chiappe
On the Crimson Intensity of a Secret First Love: A Review of Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
On the Crimson Intensity of a Secret First Love: A Review of Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
Look Deeper into The Well of Loneliness: A Defense of the First Lesbian Novel by Alexa Vazquez
Look Deeper into The Well of Loneliness: A Defense of the First Lesbian Novel by Alexa Vazquez
Love, Loss, and Longing in Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood by Mary Leung
Love, Loss, and Longing in Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood by Mary Leung
Robinson Crusoe to The Boxcar Children: A New Generation of Protestant Survivalist Story by Ella Kirshbaum
Robinson Crusoe to The Boxcar Children: A New Generation of Protestant Survivalist Story by Ella Kirshbaum
The Role of Violence In Claudia Hernandez’s “De Fronteras” by Celia Ruiz
The Role of Violence In Claudia Hernandez’s “De Fronteras” by Celia Ruiz
Julia Chiappe's Commentary, "Rookie, Revisted"
Julia Chiappe's Commentary, "Rookie, Revisted"
Talking with Tavi Gevinson: An Interview by Julia Chiappe
Talking with Tavi Gevinson: An Interview by Julia Chiappe
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