Literary Journals

Founded in 1984 at Weber State University in Utah, this journal publishes personal essays, criticism, fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry that engage with the culture and environment of the contemporary American West. Its editorial vision highlights regional perspectives while welcoming national and international voices. Over the decades, it has become a respected home for writing that examines landscape, identity and the evolving West.

This quarterly online magazine seeks short fiction that embraces the strange, uncanny or non-realist, encouraging writers to push beyond conventional storytelling. It favors work with sharp voice and imaginative risk, including absurdist, speculative, surreal and experimental modes. Its mission centers on offering a space where unconventional narratives and boundary-stretching ideas can thrive.

Established in 1965 at the University of Baltimore, Welter is a student-run journal that publishes a print issue each spring and an online issue each fall. It features fiction, poetry, nonfiction and visual art from emerging and established creators. The journal prides itself on curating a diverse range of voices that reflect the evolving landscape of contemporary literature.

Published by the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts at Bucknell University, West Branch offers poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and criticism in a triannual format. Its pages frequently feature writers whose work later appears in major national anthologies. The journal is known for its polished editorial standards and commitment to showcasing distinctive literary talent.

This quarterly journal publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and visual art, with an emphasis on writing that challenges, surprises and engages deeply. It consistently highlights emerging voices while also featuring established writers whose work has appeared in major literary collections. Its editorial mission places craft, emotional resonance and originality at the center of each issue.

Founded in 2007, this annual print journal highlights poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and plays from writers within and beyond the Westchester region of New York. It offers a forum for varied creative voices while maintaining a strong connection to its local literary community. The journal’s focus on quality and craft has earned it a loyal readership.

This online journal publishes short, concentrated work—poetry, flash fiction and micro-essays crafted for immediacy and lasting impact. Its editorial aesthetic favors brevity that carries emotional or imagistic weight. Each issue seeks to deliver pieces that can be read quickly but linger in the reader’s mind.

This triannual online journal features poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and visual art that reflect thoughtful engagement with contemporary life. It encourages serious artistic expression across a wide range of styles and subjects. The journal offers a platform where new and established creators can experiment and respond to the world through their craft.

Based in Montana, this independent nonprofit journal brings together art, storytelling and cultural inquiry with a distinct focus on wilderness, environment and mountain regions. It publishes a blend of literary and visual work that explores the relationship between humans and the natural world. Each issue cultivates a sense of place while inviting contributions from writers and artists across the country.

Who Let The Stories Out? provides an accessible platform for fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, emphasizing openness to new voices. Its editorial focus encourages writers to experiment and share work that might not fit neatly into traditional literary molds. The publication aims to create a welcoming space where stories of all kinds can find readers.

An international online journal, Why Vandalism? curates poetry, prose, speculative work, visual art and experimental forms. Its editorial philosophy embraces creative freedom and unconventional narrative approaches. The journal fosters a global community of artists who value invention, imagination and boundary-pushing expression.

Specializing in short-short fiction under 1,000 words, Wigleaf has become a cornerstone publication for writers of flash. It highlights stories driven by precision, emotional clarity and narrative urgency. Its focus on brevity has helped define and elevate the contemporary flash fiction landscape.

Wild Garlic publishes work shaped by rural memory, quiet landscapes, and the subtleties of survival in the natural world. Its selections often illuminate how wild places shape personal history and interior life. The tone favors clarity, restraint, and emotional precision.

Wilderness House Literary Review blends poetry, fiction, essays, and criticism with a sustained interest in art, environment, and the reflective mind. Its contributors frequently bridge traditional and experimental approaches while remaining grounded in lived experience. Each issue reads as an exploration of how place shapes thought.

Wildness curates work defined by lyric intensity, surreal edges, and a willingness to disturb expectation. The pieces often blur genre boundaries while maintaining a disciplined attention to language. Contributors approach the page with an interest in atmosphere, transformation, and emotional resonance.

Willawaw Journal centers poetry and visual art that respond to the natural world with clarity and care. Environmental themes often intersect with personal narrative and creative process. Each issue feels like a conversation between human vulnerability and ecological attention.

Willow Springs publishes fiction, poetry, and interviews known for their emotional acuity and narrative authority. The work often pairs clean prose with complex interior stakes. The journal has a reputation for catching writers at pivotal moments in their development.

The Windhover highlights poetry centered on spiritual reflection, contemplative imagery, and carefully modulated sound. Many pieces draw on faith traditions or meditations on the natural world. The journal favors writing that balances devotion, inquiry, and craft-driven attention to language.

Witcraft looks for writing that interrogates language, structure, and idea without losing readability. Submissions frequently lean toward experimental modes that still honor coherence and control. The resulting issues feel intellectually charged and stylistically exacting.

Witness focuses on work that engages directly with contemporary life, political tension, and social conscience. Contributors often use narrative, lyric, and hybrid forms to think through urgency and responsibility. The magazine asks readers to stay alert rather than comfortable.

Wolf Twin Review gravitates toward work with a slightly eerie intimacy, where ordinary moments tilt toward the uncanny. Fiction and poetry often hinge on subtle turns of voice or structure. The tone is quiet but charged, attentive to both vulnerability and strangeness.

Worcester Review publishes poetry, fiction, essays, and criticism that balance regional awareness with wide literary curiosity. Pieces often carry an academic sharpness alongside emotional warmth. The journal values careful craft and a clear conversation with literary history.

Word For/Word showcases experimental poetry and prose that treat the page as a visual and conceptual field. Many works incorporate fragments, white space, and visual elements in deliberate ways. The journal highlights writing that rethinks what a poem or story can look like.

Wordgathering centers disability literature and features poetry, prose, essays, and interviews by disabled writers and allies. The work resists stereotype and sentimentality in favor of complexity and craft. The magazine has become a key site for contemporary disability poetics.

Words Without Borders publishes international literature in translation and foregrounds voices that might otherwise remain inaccessible to English-language readers. Each issue focuses on specific regions, themes, or languages. The editorial stance treats translation as both art and cultural bridge.

WordSwell Journal presents poetry and prose tuned to cadence, musicality, and close emotional register. Contributors tend to favor distilled scenes and distilled language over grand gestures. Each issue reads like a series of small but considered intensities.

Workers Write! gathers stories and poems about work in all its forms, from service jobs and factories to offices and gig economies. The pieces emphasize character, texture, and the pressures of making a living. The journal treats the workplace as a rich, often overlooked, literary setting.

World Literature Today presents fiction, poetry, essays, and criticism with a sustained focus on global writing and cross-cultural conversation. Contributors include major international figures alongside emerging voices. Issues tend to read like curated snapshots of the world’s literary present.

Pieces in Woven Tale Press often merge visual art with inventive literary work, creating issues that feel both curated and conversational. The journal highlights hybrid forms, cross-disciplinary approaches, and writing that pushes past conventional boundaries. Contributors tend to bring a sharpened aesthetic sense alongside strong narrative or poetic control.

Work in Wrath-Bearing Tree frequently grapples with conflict, memory, and the lingering effects of war, whether personal, political, or cultural. Essays, fiction, and poetry often carry a stark emotional clarity shaped by firsthand experience or close observation. The tone is steady, unvarnished, and grounded in lived reality.

The Write Bridge offers fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that explore transformation, resilience, and the changing landscapes of daily life. Submissions often blend direct storytelling with lyric detail. The publication supports emerging voices developing confident, purposeful work.

Write or Die Magazine publishes pieces that foreground urgency, voice, and cultural conversation. Contributors often address questions of identity, creativity, and social pressure through crisp prose and clear narrative stakes. Issues feel immediate, energetic, and oriented toward writers working in real time.

Writers Space Africa brings together authors from across the African continent and diaspora, highlighting narrative range and linguistic diversity. The work often reflects regional texture, shifting urban and rural realities, and the evolving concerns of contemporary African storytelling. Each issue maintains a forward-looking, community-centered editorial vision.

Writer’s Foundry Review showcases fiction, poetry, and essays marked by close attention to craft and interior life. The journal leans toward pieces that combine emotional resonance with formal steadiness. Contributors often approach narrative and lyric work with a patient, deliberate sense of shape

WUSSYMAG champions queer Southern voices through bold, unapologetic writing that blends cultural critique, intimate storytelling, and artistic risk. Its literary work often intersects with visual culture, activism, and the lived realities of LGBTQ communities. The magazine’s tone is deliberate, provocative, and committed to expanding who gets seen and heard in contemporary literature.

WWPH Writes extends the mission of the Washington Writers’ Publishing House by highlighting writers connected to the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region. Its issues blend poetry and prose that reflect place, identity, and the nuances of everyday experience. The curation emphasizes clarity, strong craft, and a community-centered literary ethos.

TRANSOM features innovative poetry and prose that foregrounds experimentation and linguistic precision. Contributors often pursue risk-taking structures and layered emotional or conceptual terrains. The journal values work that challenges convention while maintaining depth and coherence.

Triggerfish Critical Review focuses on poetry and poetics with an editorial approach that emphasizes clarity, rigor, and close attention to craft. Its issues often invite dialogue between poems and critical responses, creating an active conversation about meaning and technique. The journal values work that rewards re-reading and stands up to sustained examination.

TriQuarterly showcases fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and hybrid forms distinguished by craft, ambition, and narrative depth. Its editorial style emphasizes refined language, layered storytelling, and a willingness to challenge aesthetic conventions. The journal consistently features writers whose work demonstrates both technical mastery and enduring thematic resonance.

Tupelo Quarterly showcases poetry, prose, visual art, and hybrid work marked by ambition, precision, and formal innovation. Each issue reflects a global sensibility, pairing established voices with emerging writers who push aesthetic boundaries. The publication’s curatorial style favors complexity, depth, and work that engages intellectually as well as emotionally.

Tusculum Review publishes fiction, essays, and poetry defined by sharp perspective and deliberate craft. Its selections often explore transformation, tension, and the complexities of contemporary life through refined narrative structures. The magazine’s editorial vision highlights distinct voices with strong control over tone and language.

Twin Bill centers its editorial identity on baseball-inspired writing, using the sport as a lens for storytelling, memory, and culture. Its issues feature essays, fiction, and poetry that explore character, community, and the emotional architecture of the game. The publication treats sports writing as a serious literary pursuit grounded in detail and humanity.

Twin Bird Review presents poetry and prose unified by a preference for atmospheric writing and finely wrought emotional nuance. Its contributors often engage with themes of memory, identity, and transformation through intimate and expressive language. The journal fosters work with subtle power and careful tonal control.

Two Hawks Quarterly publishes fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and hybrid work that embraces risk, voice, and thematic reach. Its selections frequently explore intersections between personal experience and broader cultural currents. The magazine favors writing that is both immediate and reflective, shaped by intentional craft and a strong point of view.

Two Lines features international literature in translation, pairing distinctive voices from around the world with translators who bring their work into sharp, resonant English. Each issue highlights the interplay between languages, cultures, and artistic sensibilities. The journal’s mission emphasizes discovery, dialogue, and the global scope of contemporary writing.

Two Thirds North publishes poetry, fiction, and essays shaped by clarity, restraint, and a strong sense of place. Its selections often reflect the nuanced perspectives of writers living between cultures or navigating multiple identities. The magazine values quiet intensity and work that reveals depth through finely crafted language.

The Typescript features fiction, essays, poetry, and criticism that examine cultural, political, and artistic questions through rigorous, attentive prose. Contributors often combine sharp analysis with literary craft. The publication values work that situates personal insight within wider intellectual or social frameworks.

TYPO: The International Journal of Prototypes showcases poetry, short prose, and hybrid forms that test the boundaries of what literature can do on the page. Many pieces explore visual arrangement, conceptual play, or structural invention as integral elements of meaning. The publication highlights ambitious work that engages form as a site of discovery.

Ubwali Literary Magazine amplifies African voices and storytelling traditions, presenting work that engages boldly with contemporary realities and cultural inheritance. Its issues often blend lyrical experimentation with grounded narrative force. The publication’s editorial vision highlights authenticity, innovation, and the breadth of African literary expression.

Unbroken specializes in prose poems, offering a space for compressed, lyrical narratives that blur the line between poetry and flash. Contributors often explore emotional immediacy, sharp imagery, and inventive structural approaches. The journal maintains a curated, minimalist aesthetic that foregrounds the potency of the form.

Under a Warm Green Linden centers poetry that honors ecological awareness, contemplative attention, and the intimate connection between humans and the natural world. Its pages often feature meditative, finely tuned work that invites sustained reflection. The journal’s tone is serene, meticulous, and rooted in environmental consciousness.

Under the Gum Tree publishes creative nonfiction that prioritizes emotional honesty and unguarded personal storytelling. Its contributors share narratives shaped by vulnerability, lived insight, and careful narrative architecture. The magazine’s editorial philosophy emphasizes truth-telling without pretense, allowing real experiences to stand in full clarity.

Unlost focuses on found poetry and inventive recombinations of language, showcasing work that uncovers meaning within existing texts. Its curation highlights poets who transform source material with precision, restraint, and an eye for subtle emotional resonance. The journal’s aesthetic celebrates creative recovery and the art of reshaping what might otherwise be overlooked.

Up the Staircase Quarterly publishes poetry and visual art defined by clarity, momentum, and a strong sense of emotional or imagistic lift. Each issue favors work that balances accessibility with craft-forward ambition. The magazine’s voice reflects an appreciation for pieces that move the reader—sometimes quietly, sometimes with force.

Usawa Literary Review centers African and diasporic voices, foregrounding equity, artistic range, and cultural truth. Its issues span poetry, fiction, and nonfiction unified by a commitment to nuance and depth. The publication brings forward perspectives that interrogate power, identity, and lived experience with clarity and conviction.

Valiant Scribe Literary Journal publishes writing rooted in conscience, ethics, and global awareness. Its contributors often address social issues, personal resilience, or the search for meaning through well-crafted prose and poetry. The journal’s guiding principle is to amplify voices that aim to serve, challenge, or uplift.

Valley Voices: A Literary Review highlights work from the American South while welcoming a broad range of national and international perspectives. Its issues emphasize narrative strength, lyrical clarity, and writing that reflects the complexity of regional identity. The publication’s editorial tone balances tradition with contemporary sensibility.

Valparaiso Poetry Review curates poetry marked by precision, formal awareness, and emotional acuity. Its selections often pair established poets with emerging voices to create a dynamic, balanced issue. The journal has earned a reputation for championing work that is both technically accomplished and deeply felt.

Vanity Papers: Oxford Literary Review publishes work that interrogates language, thought, and the shifting terrain of contemporary criticism. Its selections often bridge creative and theoretical modes, inviting readers into essays and experimental texts that challenge familiar interpretive frameworks. The journal maintains a sharp, intellectual tone grounded in curiosity and critique.

Variety Pack curates fiction, nonfiction, and poetry unified by narrative force and an eye for emotional truth. Its issues balance accessible storytelling with craft-driven ambition, offering work that resonates across genres without losing focus or coherence. The publication’s editorial sensibility leans toward pieces that surprise while remaining grounded in strong character and voice.

Vassar Review showcases writing that reflects the college’s long-standing artistic tradition, highlighting emerging and established voices across genres. Each issue blends creative work with visual art, emphasizing pieces that display precision, originality, and a deep engagement with theme. The curation prioritizes thoughtful, polished craft and a willingness to push boundaries.

Verdad publishes fiction, essays, and poetry characterized by clarity of language and emotional immediacy. Its contributors often explore personal and cultural tensions through intimate, carefully structured narratives. The journal’s aesthetic is disciplined and resonant, favoring work that leaves a lasting impression without excess.

Verse-Virtual is shaped by a community-focused ethos that brings together poets from across backgrounds and styles. Its issues emphasize connection, responsiveness, and the shared experience of reading and writing poetry. The magazine’s editorial voice leans toward sincerity, craft awareness, and work that invites readers to engage fully.

Vestal Review remains one of the longest-running flash fiction journals, dedicated exclusively to stories under 500 words. Its editors prize precision, narrative urgency, and endings that strike with clarity or surprise. The publication’s long reputation rests on consistently sharp, memorable stories that demonstrate what compression can achieve.

Vestiges publishes writing that lingers at the edges of memory, perception, and lived experience, favoring work that excavates what remains after change or loss. Its issues often move between the intimate and the uncanny while maintaining clarity of craft and emotional precision. The journal’s curation highlights voices that approach familiar subjects from unexpected angles.

VIA: Voices in Italian Americana documents and elevates literary work connected to Italian American identity, history, and cultural memory. Its issues often mix scholarship, creative writing, and hybrid forms to explore the evolving character of the community. The journal’s long-standing mission emphasizes preservation, reinvention, and authentic representation.

Vincent Brothers Review showcases fiction, poetry, and essays shaped by attentive craft and a strong sense of human complexity. Its selections often explore moral tension, psychological depth, or the subtle shifts that define relationships and interior life. The editorial vision favors clean prose, resonant imagery, and work that rewards multiple readings.

Visions International brings together poets from across the world, emphasizing translation and cross-cultural dialogue. Each issue pairs distinct literary traditions to create a conversation grounded in texture, voice, and artistic exchange. The journal’s aesthetic reflects a long-standing commitment to global literary connection and poetic precision.

VoiceCatcher features Pacific Northwest writers whose work reflects the region’s artistic diversity, emotional landscape, and evolving cultural identity. Its pages include poetry, fiction, and personal essays united by clarity of voice and an emphasis on lived experience. The publication maintains a community-driven mission that nurtures emerging and established writers alike.

Vestal Review remains one of the longest-running flash fiction journals, dedicated exclusively to stories under 500 words. Its editors prize precision, narrative urgency, and endings that strike with clarity or surprise. The publication’s long reputation rests on consistently sharp, memorable stories that demonstrate what compression can achieve.

Voices de la Luna highlights writing that blends literary craft with social awareness, often engaging themes of culture, history, and emotional resilience. The journal features poetry, prose, and visual art curated to foster dialogue between local and global perspectives. Its editorial approach values work that is heartfelt, thoughtful, and rooted in community connection.

Voyage of Verse centers its mission on poetry that charts emotional, imaginative, or experiential journeys with precision and depth. Each issue gathers work that demonstrates careful attention to language and an ability to move the reader across internal or external landscapes. The magazine’s curation favors lyrical clarity and poems that leave a lingering resonance.

W-Poesis presents poetry and hybrid work that interrogate form, perception, and the boundaries of contemporary expression. Its contributors often experiment with structure or voice while maintaining a grounded emotional or intellectual core. The publication values pieces that invite reflection and reward close reading.

Waccamaw publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction characterized by strong narrative presence and a sense of rootedness in both voice and setting. The journal tends to gravitate toward pieces that evoke atmosphere or emotional urgency without sacrificing structural discipline. Its selections reflect a commitment to craft-forward, resonant storytelling.

Wallstrait publishes work that bends form and expectation, offering a space for writers drawn to inventive structures and voice-driven experimentation. Its pieces often probe identity, belonging, and creative tension, giving each issue a sharp contemporary edge. The editorial vision favors precision, distinctiveness, and risk-taking over conventional polish.

Washington Square Review centers its mission on showcasing fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that reflect both urban complexity and international breadth. Contributors frequently echo the magazine’s New York roots, merging cosmopolitan perspective with high literary craft. Each issue balances established voices with emerging talent in a rigorously curated format.

Watershed Journal draws much of its character from northwestern Pennsylvania, foregrounding writing shaped by rural life, small-town histories, and working-class experience. Its blend of creative work and community-minded documentation gives every issue a strong sense of place. Contributors often explore the tensions between tradition and change across the Appalachian and Rust Belt regions.

Wax Paper approaches each issue as both a literary publication and an art object, embracing a newsprint aesthetic that highlights the tangible qualities of reading. Submissions tend to be intimate, offbeat, and quietly disruptive. The journal’s hybrid sensibility brings together prose, poetry, and visual work with an eye for pieces that linger.

Waxing & Waning organizes its volumes around shifting themes that invite contributors to examine an idea from eclectic, unexpected angles. Its pages frequently feature hybrid forms, experimental cadences, and pieces that blur the boundaries between poetry and prose. The magazine’s curation leans toward atmospheric work with a bold, stylistically fearless spirit.

Waxwing highlights writing that engages cultural complexity, linguistic richness, and the intersections of identity. Its issues often feature multilingual work and voices from historically marginalized communities. The magazine is known for its polished curation and its commitment to pushing contemporary literature toward greater breadth and acuity.

Wayfarer Magazine grounds its vision in reflective writing that explores meaning, mindfulness, and the relationship between the inner and outer world. Its pages often feature essays, poetry, and hybrid forms united by contemplative tone and thematic depth. The journal’s curatorial approach emphasizes emotional intelligence and a strong personal or philosophical anchor.

Waymark Literary Magazine focuses on work that captures a sense of direction, transit, or discovery, whether literal or metaphorical. Submissions often highlight pivotal emotional moments, subtle shifts in self-understanding, or scenes defined by movement across landscapes or identities. Each issue cultivates a cohesive atmosphere shaped by attentive editing and a strong narrative pulse.

Wayne Literary Review showcases writing connected to the diverse voices of Detroit and its surrounding communities, offering a platform that blends regional identity with national literary ambition. Its issues balance student and professional contributors, emphasizing craft, honesty, and thematic resonance. The journal’s selections often explore resilience, cultural history, and lived experience with clarity and nuance.

WayWords reflects the energetic, global writing community behind The Writer’s Workout, favoring concise, high-impact pieces shaped by strong narrative momentum. Each issue blends fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction selected for clarity, emotional resonance, and craft discipline. The publication’s aesthetic leans toward accessible but artful work that stays with the reader.