I’ve compiled a non-exhaustive list of journals and literary magazines that are a little bit off the beaten path.
I hope this list proves to be a resource for you! Check out my other lists, there is an ever-increasing collection of them.
If you’re interested in strengthening your writing Hugo House, The Writers Center, Brooklyn Poets, GrubStreet, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Writing Workshops, MWPA, and Tin House offer a lot of really wonderful workshops worth looking at, and financial aid is sometimes available.
And if you’re wishing you could get away for a week, a couple weeks, a couple days, a month, and just hide and work on your art—check out all of my residency lists.
I love you. Good luck. Godspeed.
JAKE | Dubbed “The Anti-Literary Magazine”. A weekly publication aiming to respond to submissions within a month (!). It gives HAD and Taco Bell Quarterly vibes.
beestung | “A quarterly online micro-magazine for non-binary, genderqueer, and two-spirit writers and readers, with an emphasis on intracommunity sensibilities.” Mostly poems, but hybrid, flash, prose, and essays too.
ALOCASIA | “A journal of queer plant-based writing.” They accept previously published work, which is very cool. “Please don’t send us work that isn’t about plants.”
Vagabond City | Fiction, creative nonfiction, art, photography, poetry, reviews, and interviews! “Dedicated to marginalized creators.”
Ethel | A very sweet twice-yearly, handmade journal. On hiatus but watch out for them and shop their chapbooks in the meantime.
Sontag Mag | A magazine for poetry and poetry translations.
Confrontation Magazine | An annual literary print magazine. They have a specific system—Submittable for all poetry submissions, mail-in for prose within the US, and email for prose outside of the US. Contributors paid!
fourteen poems | An LGBTQ+ poetry journal based in London.
Air/Light | A home for “work that doesn’t fit inside boxes, that pushes boundaries, that speaks directly to some essential question or concern.” Poetry, prose, hybrid, and experimental work welcome.
Cotton Xenomorph | A literary journal “dedicated to uplifting new and established voices while engaging in thoughtful conversation around social justice.”
Alma Magazine | A newsy publication featuring fiction, poetry, essays, artwork, photo essays, topical commentary, humor, and more.
Bullshit Lit | A small journal publishing art, prose, fiction, poetry, and hybrid/experimental work weekly.
Dog Throat Journal | Flash fiction, micro fiction, and prose poetry only. A solo curation project.
OTHERSIDE | A brand new “quarterly queer-led literary magazine of speculative fiction, poetry, and art by 2SLGBTQIA+ authors and artists.” They’re about to publish their first issue.
Half and One | A niche “space for cartoons and comics, journalism and narrative non-fiction, poetry and fiction.” Based in Northeast India, committed to stories about the world.
NUNUM | A Canadian literary journal blending flash fiction and visual art. Contributors paid!
Journal of Astrological Big Data Ecology | “A place for people to publish parody and satirical academic articles, STEM news/clickbait.” This could be the stuff of dreams for a hybrid writer.
Masque & Spectacle | A bi-annual arts and literary journal publishing “all forms of creative writing, including hybrid works, drama, literary journalism, and essays, as well as visual art, photography, video, sound art, and reviews.”
128 LIT | A creative project publishing fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poetry, artwork, hybrid/cross-genre, multimedia, film, and audio. Contributors paid!
Disco Kitchen | A fairly new magazine publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art. They sometimes host workshops, too, and might be open to pitches for those.
Sugared Water | An imprint of Porkbelly Press publishing “poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction with a preference for works incorporating folklore, fable, fairytale, or magic.”
Miracle Monocle | An innovative bi-annual literary and visual arts journal publishing poetry, short stories, flash and micro fiction, literary nonfiction, experimental and collaborative work, and visual art.
ARTWIFE | A literary journal publishing essays, short stories, visual art, and video art. They have a free virtual weekly drop-in community space called The Creative Hour. You don’t need to be a writer to attend.
About Place Journal | Put out by the Black Earth Institute, a “progressive think-tank dedicated to re-forging the links between art and spirit, earth and society.” They take poetry, essays, fiction, creative nonfiction, visual art, and audio art exploring themes of diaspora, borders, belonging, ancestry, queer geographies, Indigenous sovereignty, ecological grief, and more.
The Road Not Taken | A place to send your metric poetry!
Aromatica Poetica | Seeking essays, articles, poetry, stories, interviews, reviews, photography, and artwork “exploring the arts and sciences of smell and taste.”
Sunday Mornings at the River | A poetry journal based in the Netherlands.
Reckon Review | Prose only (fiction and nonfiction). They publish one story weekly. And, I think, the occasional book review.
Small Orange Journal | A poetry and visual art journal.
Many Nice Donkeys | Poetry and flash prose. “Bring us your nicest donkeys but teach them to fight back.”
A low stakes way to support my time
I don’t ever want to gatekeep what I share in my Substack, but these postings do take time to compile—sometimes quite a bit of time—so I decided that this may be a good alternative: if you would like to “tip” me for any of the time it took to write this, if you felt moved or supported by it, you can buy me a coffee <3
I’ve also very recently turned on paid subscriptions because you people with your sweet, generous hearts were pledging paid memberships even though there is no paywall! So, a recurring $5 donation is also an option.
Subscribe to despair, you cannot have me <3
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