Best Literary Magazines and Journals to Read and Submit your Work
There are so many notable literary magazines out there, but it could get overwhelming to find the best among them. I made a list of my personal favorites in hopes of helping you find yours!
1. The Stinging Fly Magazine
“The Stinging Fly magazine was established in 1997 to seek out, publish and promote the very best new Irish and international writing.”
What they publish: “We publish new, previously unpublished work by Irish and international writers. We have a particular interest in promoting the short story. Each issue includes a mix of poetry and fiction, alongside our Featured Poets and Comhchealg sections, commissioned essays, occasional author interviews, and novel extracts. We also welcome submissions of poetry and prose in translation.”
Payment rates: Fiction and nonfiction: €30 per magazine page. Poetry: €50 per poem. Featured Poet: €250.
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
2. The White Review
https://www.thewhitereview.org/
“THE WHITE REVIEW is an arts and literature magazine, with triannual print and monthly online editions. The magazine launched in February 2011 to provide “a space for a new generation to express itself unconstrained by form, subject or genre”
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
3. Sand Journal
“Founded in 2009, SAND looks for submissions that push the boundaries of form, message, and voice in fresh and unpredictable ways — work that is haunting for its soul, edge, and truth.”
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
4. The Sun magazine
https://www.thesunmagazine.org/
“The Sun is an independent, ad-free magazine that for more than forty years has used words and photographs to evoke the splendor and heartache of being human. Each monthly issue celebrates life, but not in a way that ignores its complexity. The personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photographs that appear in The Sun’s pages explore the challenges we face and the moments when we rise to meet them.”
Payment rates: Personal Essays — $300 to $2,000; Interviews — $1,000 to $2,000;
Fiction — $300 to $2,000; Poetry — $100 to $250
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
5. Carve Magazine
https://www.carvezine.com/home
“Carve was founded in 2000 to publish short stories online and has hosted the annual Raymond Carver Short Story Contest since 2001. Print and digital quarterly issues began in 2012 and feature our signature HONEST FICTION, poetry, nonfiction, interviews, illustrations, and more.”
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
6. Granta Magazine
“Granta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its “belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real.”
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
7. Creative Nonfiction Magazine + True Story
https://www.creativenonfiction...
“Creative Nonfiction is the voice of the genre. Every issue is packed with new, long-form essays that blend style with substance; writing that pushes the traditional boundaries of the genre; notes on craft; micro-essays; conversations with writers and editors;”
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
8. One Story
“ONE STORY is an award-winning literary magazine that publishes one story at a time. Subscribers receive one curated and edited work of short fiction each month in the mail or on their digital devices.”
Payment rates: One Story pays $500.
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
9. The Paris Review
https://www.theparisreview.org...
“The Paris Review accepts unsolicited submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for the print quarterly via Submittable during the months of March and September and throughout the year through the post (see below for the separate submission guidelines for our online publication, The Daily).”
10. The Common
https://www.thecommononline.or...
“The Common is a literary organization whose mission is to deepen our individual and collective sense of place.”
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
11. Popshot Quarterly
https://www.popshotpopshot.com...
“In June 2008, the idea for a poetry and illustration magazine materialised as a result of picking through the literary shelves of the now deceased Borders. There was a feeling that the world of poetry was driving itself into an elitist and fusty no-through road, and we wanted to do something about it. “
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
12. N+1
“n+1 is a print and digital magazine of literature, culture, and politics published three times a year. We also post new online-only work several times each week and publish books expanding on the interests of the magazine.”
Please click here to view their open calls and submission guidelines.
