There are various sites dedicated to ranking lit mags. We can read and submit to lit mags based on their prestige or how many awards they’ve won, or how many times their work has been selected for year-end anthologies.
But, there are many (many many) lit mags that fall outside these categories, and which are highly deserving of our readership and attention.
Today I thought I would ask you what some of your favorite lit mags are. Maybe you read journals regularly. Maybe (bless your heart) you subscribe to some. Or perhaps you’re not a regular lit-mag reader, yet there are a few that stand out in your mind because it was in those pages you discovered a new voice, a new writer, or a new way to envision your own work.
Whether they are well-known or less-discovered, whether they have a circulation of thousands or a circulation of ten, new or old, themed or unthemed, experimental or mainstream, university-based or independent, online or print, what, dear reader, are some of your favorite lit mags? And why?
I have subscribed to Creative Nonfiction for ten years now and get so much out of both the essays and the articles. For multi-genre lit mags, I love The Missouri Review. I like how they publish multiple poems by a single poet together. I don't usually read a lot of fiction or poetry but I would find myself reading TMR cover to cover. I also like their reviews and interviews.
I love n + 1 and recommend it as a place for fiction and essays written by very smart young people, of whom I am not one, but from whom I learn. I'm subscribing to it now.
I get over 15+ lit mags, journals and other publications in the mail on a monthly basis. When anyone asks about my favorite, I always tell them to look up (and subscribe to!) the Threepenny Review. It only comes four times a year, but the editor does an incredible job of bringing together something incredibly special: http://threepennyreview.com/.
Canary: A Literary Journal of the Environmental Crisis. Beautiful online journal that focuses on nature and environmental issues. Very good work, poetry and prose.
Witty Partition (formerly The Wall) has a nice international perspective. Yeah, it helps that they published something of mine. But I liked reading it, too. https://www.wittypartition.org
Cape Cod Poetry Review Spring 2018 issue was a gas! 300+ page special double issue with 10 Chileans in translation, Joanne Kyger, Julia Connor, Susan Dear Cloud, Valentine Pierce, Jim Cory, Jim Dunn, John Wieners, Charley Shively, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward, Deborah major, Everett Hoagland, Kaye McDonough, Thomas Merton, Daniel Berrigan. Each issue interesting, but this was an anthology!
www.dorothyparkersashes.com literary first person essays, great art!
I have subscribed to Creative Nonfiction for ten years now and get so much out of both the essays and the articles. For multi-genre lit mags, I love The Missouri Review. I like how they publish multiple poems by a single poet together. I don't usually read a lot of fiction or poetry but I would find myself reading TMR cover to cover. I also like their reviews and interviews.
Another web-only mag well worth looking at for flash fiction and non-fiction, micros and poetry is The Citron Review. https://citronreview.com/
I love n + 1 and recommend it as a place for fiction and essays written by very smart young people, of whom I am not one, but from whom I learn. I'm subscribing to it now.
I get over 15+ lit mags, journals and other publications in the mail on a monthly basis. When anyone asks about my favorite, I always tell them to look up (and subscribe to!) the Threepenny Review. It only comes four times a year, but the editor does an incredible job of bringing together something incredibly special: http://threepennyreview.com/.
Canary: A Literary Journal of the Environmental Crisis. Beautiful online journal that focuses on nature and environmental issues. Very good work, poetry and prose.
wildness is one of my very faves, they put out some stunning poetry, and their layout is just dreamy and feels like a print literary journal, cheers.
My list includes: https://www.guesthouselit.com/ https://www.sugarhousereview.com/ http://waxwingmag.org/ https://courtgreen.net/ https://www.passagesnorth.com/ http://aotearotica.co.nz/ https://www.presspausepress.org/ (and so many more!)
Witty Partition (formerly The Wall) has a nice international perspective. Yeah, it helps that they published something of mine. But I liked reading it, too. https://www.wittypartition.org
It's great getting information about these for aspiring writers (and readers).
Also, I read poetry submissions for The Rumpus, so I'm partial but it's a great mag as well!
Cape Cod Poetry Review Spring 2018 issue was a gas! 300+ page special double issue with 10 Chileans in translation, Joanne Kyger, Julia Connor, Susan Dear Cloud, Valentine Pierce, Jim Cory, Jim Dunn, John Wieners, Charley Shively, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward, Deborah major, Everett Hoagland, Kaye McDonough, Thomas Merton, Daniel Berrigan. Each issue interesting, but this was an anthology!