Writers Guidelines
The American Scholar is a magazine of articles and essays covering the humanities, science, and current events, plus works of fiction and poetry. Published quarterly for the general reader by the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the Scholar considers nonfiction by known and unknown writers; unsolicited fiction and poetry are not encouraged.

The typical Scholar article is about 4,000 words, although longer and shorter pieces are welcome. Contributors need not be scholars. We pay up to $500 for accepted pieces.

Although the Scholar accepts fewer than two percent of all unsolicited manuscripts, every issue includes unsolicited pieces, and one such article, “Genome Tome” by Priscilla Long, published in the Summer 2005 issue, won the National Magazine Award for feature writing. All submissions will be carefully considered, but responses may take several months. We accept submissions by mail:

Editor
The American Scholar
1606 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20009

or by e-mail: scholar@pbk.org.

Include an SASE if you would like your manuscript returned.