Black Warrior Review is entirely staffed by graduate students from the University of Alabama’s MFA program. While currently, no editor position can be held by students in any other program, all graduate students are welcome to serve as Assistant Editors to help us make decisions on what gets published in our bi-annual issues.

All staff positions are funded via graduate student stipend lines through the University of Alabama’s English department, and thus receive $14,364/year. BWR staff receives course releases determined by the amount of work each position calls for, and summer pay separately from pay during the academic year. Summer pay must be negotiated with university administrators, and thus the amounts are not guaranteed or standardized currently. In addition, BWR staff has been tracking their working hours for the past two years to push for more equitable compensation in the form of course releases and better summer pay.

Staff positions are entirely elected by any graduate student who has served as a reader for BWR. You must make masthead for the respective genre editor you’d like to vote for. Elections are typically held in the middle of October of any given academic year. Staff position tenures officially begin in January of the year following elections and end in December of that same year. This annual turnover keeps the editorial team fresh and new, and allows many MFA students to hold staff positions with BWR during their time at the University of Alabama. Because of this turnover, though, there is always a learning curve when it comes to serving as a staff member, and having elections months before staff tenures begins allows for an easier transition between teams.

Because BWR is designated as a student organization through the University of Alabama, we have a faculty advisor who offers advice and perspective when needed (currently Brian Oliu), as well as representative on the university’s Media Planning Board (currently Wendy Rawlings). We are also affiliated with the university’s Office of Student Media to access resources we might not otherwise be able to have or maintain due to our demanding workloads. Despite these ties, BWR strives to maintain its independence as a graduate run journal so that we can see to its mission every year of striving to publish work that is daring, experimental, and represents authors in the margins.

If you or anyone you know has questions about BWR, please feel free to reach out either to blackwarriorreview@gmail.com or managingeditor.bwr@gmail.com