The Eudora Welty Review invites essays (6,500 to 10,000 words) and notes of general interest (1,500 to 3,500 words) to Welty studies for the Spring 2026 issue. We also introduce a new category of submissions called “provocations.” Provocations are original, non-refereed essays (5000 words max) that are argumentative in nature but do not have the development of a full-length refereed scholarly article. They take a more specific focus or scope and propose an innovative view on a subject, such as challenging the consensus reading of a character or work, voicing a new question, or suggesting an unexpected pairing. In sum, they should provoke new ways of seeing and engaging with Welty’s work.
The 2026 EWR will also feature a special cluster dedicated to “Eudora Welty and Other Writers.”
Throughout her life, Eudora Welty cultivated relationships with other artists, especially writers, although she was never categorized as part of a particular group. Instead, Welty preferred to take part in an ongoing conversation about art and its place in the world through travel, friendships, and university classes/lectures. For this issue, we hope to explore writers who influenced Welty and writers Welty influenced. Consider the following possible topics (but other topics are encouraged):
- Welty and Friendship (the Norton anthology) and writers who were close friends
- Welty and important influences such as Woolf, Cather, Forster, Porter, Bowen
- Welty and canonical writers such as Homer and Shakespeare
- Welty’s youthful group of writer/friends from Jackson
- Welty’s “students” (Elizabeth Spencer, Reynolds Price, others)
- Welty and living authors such as Jesmyn Ward and Alice Munro
- Welty and the creative writing classroom
Preliminary proposals or inquiries may be directed to Mae Miller Claxton at mclaxton@wcu.edu. The deadline for all submissions is September 1, 2025. Open call essays and notes should be sent to EWR co-editor Sarah Ford at sarah_ford@baylor.edu.