In 1986 Stratis Haviaras, curator of the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University, founded a quarterly periodical called Erato.

The first issue featured a poem by Seamus Heaney, a short piece on Louis Simpson, a news item from Harvard University Press, and three pages of book reviews.

In 1992 Haviaras relaunched the publication as Harvard Review, a perfect-bound journal of approximately 200 pages, featuring poetry, fiction, and literary criticism, published semi-annually by the Harvard College Library.

Contributors to Harvard Review have included John Ashbery, recipient of a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Paul Harding, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Jhumpa Lahiri, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Rita Dove, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Charles Yu, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction; John Updike, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Arthur Miller, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Joyce Carol Oates, recipient of a National Book Award for Fiction; Yusef Komunyakaa, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Jorie Graham, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; David Mamet, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama; David Foster Wallace; Gore Vidal; Andrea Barrett; and many other writers.

In 2009 Harvard Review launched an online edition of the journal.