Resources
From Category: Magazines and Literary Journals
The American Aesthetic
Launched in 2014, The American Aesthetic is a quarterly online journal searching for poetry that conveys in its composition—as well as in the sound, cadence, and possibly even musicality of its words—an expression of honesty and purpose that somehow rings true. See website for free sonnet competition with small prizes.
The Bad Version
The Bad Version, a print and online journal, is produced by a group of recent Harvard grads, who met during their time at The Advocate and The Crimson. They publish essays, fiction, and poetry, and all of their published pieces have responses to them that comment on the piece, challenge it, and further its ideas. Editors say, "We picture The Bad Version as a snapshot of an ever-evolving conversation."
The Bare Life Review
Founded in 2017, The Bare Life Review is a literary biannual devoted entirely to work by immigrant and refugee authors. Though the impulse behind its creation was political—to support a population currently under attack—the journal's focus remains wholly artistic, publishing work on a wide variety of themes. Submissions are accepted August 15-November 30. Contributors must be foreign-born writers living in the US, or writers living abroad who hold refugee or asylum-seeker status. Translations are accepted. This is a paying market.
The Bind
Founded by award-winning poet Rochelle Hurt, The Bind is an online journal that reviews poetry books by women and nonbinary authors. They review chapbooks, full-length collections, hybrid works, and translations. The Bind is interested in intersectional and feminist writing. Read a 2017 interview with Hurt on Trish Hopkinson's blog. Visit their website for guidelines for pitching articles and requesting reviews.
The BitterSweet Review
Launched in London in 2022, The BitterSweet Review is a publishing platform dedicated to the advancement of queer literature and visual culture. In addition to the biannual literary journal, which is published in print and online, they offer workshops and limited-edition artwork for sale.
The Blue Mountain Review
Published by the Southern Collective, the Blue Mountain Review is a quarterly journal of arts and culture. They publish interviews with writers, lit mag editors, artists, and musicians, plus original poetry, fiction, and essays. See their website for the current theme for their annual poetry chapbook contest.
The Bookends Review
Founded in 2012 by creative writing and composition professor Jordan Blum, The Bookends Review is an online journal publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, author interviews, essays, book reviews, and visual/musical works from around the world.
The Cafe Review
Contributors have included Paul Muldoon and Taylor Mali.
The Comics Journal
An online publication from comics press Fantagraphics, The Comics Journal features in-depth history, creator interviews, and reviews of comics and graphic narratives.
The Common
The Common is affiliated with Amherst College in Massachusetts. The editorial board includes well-known authors such as Richard Wilbur, Mary Jo Salter, and Honor Moore. Editors say, "The Common publishes fiction, essays, poetry, documentary vignettes, and images that embody particular times and places both real and imagined; from deserts to teeming ports; from Winnipeg to Beijing; from Earth to the Moon: literature and art powerful enough to reach from there to here."
The Cresset
Accepts submissions of poetry, essays and book reviews.
The Curator Magazine
The Curator is a literary journal that explores the meaning and matters of the heart and spirit reflected in cultural objects, experiences, and the arts. Their site publishes at least one piece of prose (including creative nonfiction essays, reviews and interviews) and one poem each week. Editors say, "We curate writing about art intersecting with humanity. Aesthetically, we desire to showcase a diverse range of voices, artforms, and styles, but we do not accept academic essays. We do publish personal essays, interviews, reviews, reported stories, and memoir with a tie to an artwork, piece of music, or an everyday object." Submit 1-3 poems, or an essay pitch of 150-250 words, via their online form.
The Dial
Subtitled "the world's little magazine," The Dial was founded in 2022 to create an international dialogue among writers and journalists on themes of social change. Editors say, "Our pieces will be topical and of-the-moment, but not pegged to the day's news. We aspire to convey the contradictions, sorrows, and comedies of the contemporary moment, to write the present in order to create a future." They publish essays, reporting, and poetry.
The Dos Passos Review
Seeks literary prose or poetry that demonstrates characteristics found in the work of John Dos Passos, such as an intense and original exploration of specifically American themes; an innovative quality; and a range of literary forms, especially in the genres of fiction and creative nonfiction. Reading periods are April 1-July 31 for Fall Issue, February 1- March 30 for Spring Issue.
The Fairy Tale Review
Distinguished contributors include Marina Warner, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Cate Marvin, Joyelle McSweeney and Donna Tartt.
The Greensboro Review
The literary journal of the University of North Carolina Greensboro. They accept submissions of unpublished fiction (maximum 25 double-spaced pages) and poetry (maximum 10 single-spaced pages per submission). Online entries are accepted through Submishmash. Deadlines are February 15 and September 15 annually; late entries will be held for the next issue. They also offer the annual Robert Watson Literary Prizes in fiction and poetry.
The Healing Muse
Explores themes of medicine, illness, disability, healing, and more. This annual literary journal is published by the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Upstate Medical University, a branch of the SUNY system. They accept unpublished fiction, poetry, narratives, essays, memoirs and visual art.
The Independent Publishing Magazine
The Independent Publishing Magazine is an online magazine that highlights trends, resources, and best practices in self-publishing and small presses. It is edited by Mick Rooney, an author, journalist, and consultant, who has written two books of advice on self-publishing.
The Inquisitive Eater: New School Food
The Inquisitive Eater: New School Food is a project of the interdisciplinary university The New School, in New York City. The journal provides a forum for artists and academics to explore the intersections between food and family, the environment, politics, economics, social justice, and media. Submissions may be short stories, personal essays, poems, reviews of books, movies and TV, visual art, multi-media projects, or academic work. Enter via online form.
The Louisville Review: The Children’s Corner
This literary journal based at Spalding University in Louisville, KY publishes work by both children and adults. The Children's Corner feature accepts poetry submissions year-round from students in grades K-12. Editors say, "We seek writing that looks for fresh ways to recreate scenes and feelings."
The Maine Review
Launched in 2014, The Maine Review is an online quarterly literary journal publishing poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and artwork. The first issue featured work by Maine authors, including celebrated poet Annie Finch, Authors Guild President Roxana Robinson, Maine Senior Poet Laureate Roger Finch, and Ellie O'Leary, host of WERU-FM's Writers Forum. Currently they are open to English-language submissions from around the world. There is also a writing contest with modest prizes.
The Museum of Americana
The Museum of Americana is an online literary review dedicated to fiction, poetry, nonfiction, photography, and artwork that revives or repurposes the old, the dying, the forgotten, or the almost entirely unknown aspects of Americana. It is published purely out of fascination with the big, weird, wildly contradictory collage that is our nation's cultural history.
The Mystic Blue Review
The Mystic Blue Review, founded in 2017, is a bimonthly online global magazine of writing and art, open to both emerging and established writers. It is currently edited by undergraduate creative writing students at the University of California.
The New Criterion
"We are proud that The New Criterion has been in the forefront both of championing what is best and most humanely vital in our cultural inheritance and in exposing what is mendacious, corrosive, and spurious. Published monthly from September through June, The New Criterion brings together a wide range of young and established critics whose common aim is to bring you the most incisive criticism being written today."
The New Republic
Culture section is particularly good.
The Offing
The Offing, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Review of Books, is an online literary magazine publishing creative writing in all genres and art in all media. The journal seeks work that challenges, experiments, provokes: work that pushes literary and artistic forms and conventions, while demonstrating a rigorous understanding of those forms and conventions. The Offing welcomes work by people of color, women and gender nonconformists, LGBTQ and differently abled people. This is a paying market. Contributors have included Paul Lisicky, Eileen Myles, and Matthew Rohrer.
The Perch Journal
Literary journal The Perch is a project of the psychiatry program at the Yale School of Medicine. They publish creative writing and artwork on themes relating to mental health. Eligible genres include poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, visual art, music, and academic work that is accessible to a general audience. See website for themed submission calls.
The Racket Journal
The Racket is a reading series and weekly online literary journal based in San Francisco. They accept poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and artwork. Written submissions should be 750 words maximum. Browse their archive to get a sense of their aesthetic.
The Raw Art Review
The Raw Art Review: A Journal of Storm and Urge publishes poetry, flash prose, and artwork that convey passion with strong original imagery. Launched in 2018, the journal publishes quarterly. There are periodic contests for online features, chapbook and full-length poetry manuscripts, and story collections.
The Rebis
The Rebis is a print journal celebrating the connections among Tarot, art, and creative writing. Each issue so far has had a theme based on one of the Major Arcana cards. Check website for submission periods. Editors say, "The Rebis commits to amplifying and centering underrepresented voices, paying artists and writers fairly for their work, and redistributing profits to social justice causes."
The School Magazine
A project of the New South Wales Department of Education (Australia), the School Magazine publishes poems, stories, articles, and plays that have literary and academic merit for elementary-school readers, typically ages 8-12. The four magazines under their publishing umbrella, each for a different age group, are titled Countdown, Blast Off, Orbit, and Touchdown. This is a paying market. See website for their values and content suggestions.
The Sea Letter
Launched in 2018, The Sea Letter is a print and online journal that publishes poetry, short fiction, chapters of longer works, and original photography and art. Submissions are accepted year-round. Payment is $50 for poetry and short fiction, $25 for art.
the Shade Journal
In July 2016, queer black poet Luther X. Hughes transformed his blog into an online literary journal, with this mission statement: "the Shade Journal is an online poetry journal focused on the empowerment of queer people of color (QPOC); publishing poems that inspires, devastates, and howls–work that challenges form and upsets the canon, but understands its rigorous and traditional roots. the Shade Journal believes there is something divine about being a queer person of color in a world designed to destroy these bodies." Follow on Twitter @ShadePoetry.
The Twin Bill
Launched in 2020, The Twin Bill is a handsomely illustrated online quarterly that publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction about baseball. Editors say, "We celebrate the rich history of the game while also recognizing its vibrant present through essays, fiction, poetry, interviews, and visual art. We welcome writers of all levels and experiences."
The Weight Journal
Launched in 2020, The Weight Journal is an online literary space for the best poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by high school students. Editor Matthew Henry ("MEH") is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet and the author of Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020). Read an interview with him about The Weight Journal in Frontier Poetry.
The Writer Magazine
In print since 1887.
The Year of Yellow Butterflies (The Blog)
This site is the blog companion to Joanna Fuhrman's book The Year of Yellow Butterflies (Hanging Loose Press, 2015), a collection of poems about fads and trends from imaginary pasts. Readers who wish to contribute their own prose-poems beginning "It was the year of..." may submit them through the blog contact form along with a short bio. Contributors to the site have included Maria Garcia Teutsch, Susan Lewis, Maureen Thorson, and a 5-year-old named Ian.
Tint Journal
Tint is an online literary journal for ESL (English as a second language) writers. They publish poetry, fiction, essays, flash prose, author profiles, and articles with writing advice.
Transition Magazine
This literary and cultural journal was founded by Ugandan writer Rajat Neogy in 1961, and re-launched in 1991 by the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. Transition publishes poetry, fiction, and essays from and about Africa and the African diaspora.
Travesties: A Queer Journal of Uncanny Arts
Travesties is an online literary journal for LGBTQ authors, publishing poetry and art that is "queer in all senses of the word". Texts are paired with spooky pink illustrations for a magical and macabre vibe. Editors say, "We want pieces that are bizarre and bountiful, that have striking imagery and delicious sound." Unpublished work preferred but not required. Send 1-5 poems or up to 10 pieces of artwork.
UnLost: A Journal of Found Poetry
UnLost features poetry and artwork made by transformation, erasure, or collage of other texts and images. Unpublished work is preferred.
VCU Medical Literary Messenger
VCU Medical Literary Messenger is Virginia Commonwealth University's twice-yearly online journal of creative writing about medical themes. The journal aims to promote humanism and the healing arts through prose, poetry, and photography.
Versal
Visit their blog for the editors' thoughts about their submission review process and the wide(ning) aesthetic that Versal seeks out. Contributors have included Peter Shippy, Jennifer Chapis, and Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé.
Vestal Review
Vestal Review pays 3-10 cents per word for accepted stories. Submissions should be 500 words maximum and have a plot.
Vetch
Launched in 2015, Vetch is an online literary journal of poetry by transgender authors. Essays and book reviews should take the poetry of trans authors as their subject. It was founded by the poet Liam O'Brien and is edited by writers from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Editors say: "Vetch seeks work by trans poets in trans language. This is not to say that trans people have a single way of speaking to one another, nor that trans language is by necessity revolutionary, but that we seek work that does not bother to translate itself for a cis reader. Vetch seeks work attentive to the ways in which power shapes language, poetry, and relations among trans people. Vetch seeks work excited by imagining a trans poetics, rather than dogmatic about establishing one." See website for email submission guidelines.
Vitality
Vitality is an online literary journal for poetry, fiction, essays, and artwork with LGBTQ protagonists. Submissions accepted year-round. This is a paying market. They are especially interested in genre fiction with an adventure storyline (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, mystery, thriller, steampunk, comedy, travel, historical fiction) and characters who are nonbinary in their gender identity and sexual attraction. No homophobic slurs or bullying, even by villains; explicit sex; or "tragic queers" (LGBTQ characters dying). Read the full list of the editors' likes and dislikes here.
Voyage: A Young Adult Literary Journal
Launched in 2020, Voyage is an online literary journal dedicated to young adult literature. They publish new essays and stories weekly, and also host a first chapter contest with a cash prize and literary agent review.
War, Literature & the Arts
Handsome literary journal published by the English Department at the US Air Force Academy. Features writing by well-known authors such as Philip Caputo, Andre Dubus and Carolyn Forche.
Waxwing
Waxwing is a thrice-yearly online literary journal promoting the tremendous cultural diversity of contemporary American literature, alongside international voices in translation. They seek to include American writers from all cultural identities alongside international voices published bilingually. Waxwing currently accepts submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translations. Authors published in Waxwing include Cortney Lamar Charleston, Amy Dryansky, Jeannine Hall Gailey, and Oliver de la Paz.
West Branch
Reading period is August 15-April 15. Enter through online submission manager. This is a paying market.
