Glossy, heavy, and floppy, with a wingspan of seventeen inches and a page count of 310, Hotel Amerika, from a physical standpoint, is a struggle to read. The cover image, a sullen self-portrait by Canadian photographer Kourtney Roy, taken from her Autoportraits series, reimagines Snow White as a 1950s school dance wallflower, setting the mood for the eclectic mix of poetry and prose that follows. Roy’s wider body of work, available through her website, is an intriguing retro tour of America’s (and the wider world’s) physical and psychic landscape.
NewPages Blog :: Magazines
Find the latest news from literary and alternative magazines including new issues, editorial openings, and much more.
Saw Palm – 2018
Fiction carries the day in Saw Palm 12, and the editors begin the issue with the genre via John Brandon’s smooth and seemingly unassuming “Hillsborough County Crime Report.” This was my first encounter with Brandon’s work—a fiction writer out of Florida who’s published almost exclusively through McSweeney’s. His story invites the reader into a side of Florida life captured often in film: the apparent world of organized crime. In this tale we meet The Driver and a chatty New Guy who was recently released from prison and is assigned to work with The Driver to tail a Subject.
Kestrel – Summer 2018
The Summer 2018 issue of Kestrel is particularly focused on the theme “Love, Labor, and Loss.” In the Editor’s Note, Elizabeth Savage introduces work that “indicate[s] the unwitting effects and lessons of labor. . . . what counts as labor [ . . . ] —work valued for what it created or for the wages it earned.”
Cherry Tree – 2018
Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal @ Washington College invites writers to submit their best poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and literary shade.
Ruminate – Summer 2018
This month, I had the joy of reading Ruminate’s Summer 2018 issue “Hauntings,” and I know some of these stories will “haunt” me for a long time to come. Ruminate is a reader-supported contemplative literary arts magazine that explores the creativity, beauty, and irony in the human experience. They publish works from the viewpoint of all world religions and spiritualties, although many of the published stories, artwork, and poems do not have an overt connection to faith or spirituality. Continue reading “Ruminate – Summer 2018”
Wordrunner eChapbooks – Summer 2018
I generally don’t like to play favorites, but chapbooks are hands down my favorite books to read. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry—it doesn’t matter. If it’s a chapbook, I want to get my hands on it. Wordrunner eChapbooks offers a twist on the usual chapbook by bringing them online. Dedicating each of their issues to one writer, they create a digital chapbook, a great little showcase of one author’s work.
Able Muse – Summer 2018
Anyone searching for a traditional approach and literary collection will be comfortable and entertained by the Summer 2018 edition of Able Muse. This edition of artwork, poetry, essays, fiction, and interviews provides both entertainment and insight in what can best be complimented by its traditional approach and content. The literary works and the featured art theme encourage the reader to look further into the associated online poetry workshop Eratosphere.
Little Star – 2017
Little Star 7 is understated, well-designed, bulky at nearly 400 pages, and packed with quality. The cover features “Blueblack Cold XIII” by Alison Hall, a work of subtle beauty best described by its title. The issue’s poetry is strong but mainly safe, invoking familiar gods and wonder at the workings of the world.
The Antioch Review – Spring 2018
The Antioch Review is a literary magazine produced in Ohio since 1941 and is one of the oldest literary magazines still published in America. It contains essays, fiction, and poetry from a variety of authors and has played a role in literary history, having included pieces produced by some of the most well-known writers, like Ralph Ellison and Sylvia Plath. The Spring 2018 issue of The Antioch Review sticks to the theme of “Love & Kisses, Lust & Wishes.” It’s an issue about love, about lust, about what we could want, and about what we never got to keep.
Nimrod International Journal – Spring/Summer 2018
While it’s not new to group “the arts” under a single umbrella of creativity, Nimrod expands this umbrella even further to consider the arts merged with diversity. Editor Eilis O’Neal breaks the poetry and fiction down into two categories: work about the arts (broadly speaking), and work by diverse artists (broadly speaking). There’s no division between these two categories within the table of contents or anywhere in the magazine, creating a seamless flow from piece to piece. Nimrod is expansively inclusive in what defines art and what defines diversity. This inclusivity aids in how welcoming the magazine is. Nimrod creates a place to gather and share stories.
Continue reading “Nimrod International Journal – Spring/Summer 2018”
Solstice Offers Diverse Voices
Primarily an online publication of fiction, poetry, nonfiction and photography, Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices also provides the community with unique essays on its SolLit Blog. Recent features include:
“A Writer-Photographer’s Poignant Essay about Smelter Town” by William Crawford
“Women Writers’ Roundtable: Judy Juanita, Melinda Luisa de Jesús, and Dr. Raina J. León on Life-Changing Art” by Rochelle Spencer
“Misogyny and the Acceptance of Violence Against Women” by Patricia Carrillo [pictured]
“The Immigrant Experience Then and Now — and Hope for the Future” by Diane O’Neill
“Neurodiverse Students Need Creative Arts” by Donnie Welch
“Protesting Police Brutality: From Taking a Knee in the U.S to Striking in Catalan” by Chetan Tiwari and Sandell Morse
“Writing, Meditation, and the Art of Looking” by Marilyn McCabe
Guest bloggers are invited to contribute: “We seek inspirational and informative content from diverse voices on writing craft, writing process, diversity (or lack thereof?) in the lit world, recent trends in writing and/or literature, brief author interviews, and more.” See full submission guidelines here.
New Delta Review – May 2018
For over thirty years, New Delta Review has been publishing quality poetry, prose, interviews, and art, produced by students of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Louisiana State University. They host annual contests, produce chapbooks, and publish online issues twice a year. The latest issue offers a strong selection of writing, with particularly strong prose.
Star 82 Review – 2018
Available open access online with the ability to order quality print copy, reading Star 82 Review is like walking through an old home and discovering all kinds of cool nooks and crannies. It is filled with imagination and smart and searing perspectives succinctly conveyed in poetry and prose, including Word + Image, art, and erasure text. Each issue is identified by an erasure poem featured on the front cover. This issue: “applying for worlds of compromises and empathy.”
Brilliant Flash Fiction – “Wow Us” 2018
Brilliant Flash Fiction promises to be even more brilliant than usual as they present the winners and shortlist of the “Wow Us” Writing Contest. Out of the 350 writers that entered, Eileen Malone, Suzanne Freeman, and Laton Carter stand out as the three placing winners.
RHINO – 2018
Each poem in this issue of RHINO seems to be in the throes of observing disaster or its aftermath and attempting to make sense out of senseless tragedy and sorrow. The result is powerful poetry from beginning to end, some poems so intense that time must pass to allow the turmoil to settle before reading on. Yeats’s haunting phrase “A terrible beauty is born” is apt to apply to these poems. They are beautiful in their lyric distillation of fear, sorrow, and grief, and are fitting in the current social and political climate.
EVENT – Spring/Summer 2018
EVENT, a Canadian magazine published out of Douglas College, celebrates its thirtieth year printing a Notes on Writing issue. Established Canadian authors open the issue with essays reflecting on their lives as writers and writing as a piece of their lives. But more than simply reaching out to writers, EVENT grapples with questions writing can help answer, questions about discomfort and, at times, violence. Benjamin Hertwig’s Notes on Writing essay leaves us with the phrase, “uncomfortable in a most necessary way.” I couldn’t help but read the issue through that lens.
Sheila-Na-Gig online – Fall 2018

Sheila-Na-Gig and I share a couple things in common, I recently discovered. We both came into the world in 1990, and neither of us can get enough poetry. The journal has grown and adapted in the past twenty-eight years, now an online magazine with quarterly contests for poets. The latest issue of Sheila-Na-Gig online features two poems by the latest winner, Rebecca Dettorre, as well as work by eighteen additional poets.
The Meadow – 2018
This month, I had the enjoyment of reading the 2018 issue of The Meadow, a literary and arts journal published by the Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada. This annual publication pulls together poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and artwork to make a collection that really encompasses great stories and representations of life, both in Nevada and throughout America’s heartlands.
Birmingham Poetry Review – Spring 2018
The spring issue of Birmingham Poetry Review (BPR) is an assemblage of numerous pieces to inspire and stimulate. Form and function bestow imagery and metaphor in new and distinctive ways. The issue contains sixty-eight poems plus seven from featured poet, Gerald Stern, in addition to essays, reviews, and an interview, so there is much to savor and revisit at every reading.
Sugar House Review – Fall/Winter 2017
There is something unusual about Sugar House Review. With its glossy paper and curious formatting, this magazine not only stands out among others but also delivers aesthetic pleasure to its readers. The Fall/Winter 2017 issue features simple yet bold design which, I am sure, will charm anyone holding it in their hands. In addition to its appealing design, Sugar House Review offers a great number of pieces that will excite attentive readers. This issue features poetry, “sugar astrology,” and an interview with Kevin McLellan whose poems appear on the earlier pages of the issue. Always curious to know about a poet’s process, I was delighted to see the inclusion of an interview that asks all of the indispensable questions giving a sneak peak into Kevin McLellan’s creative process.
The Aurorean – Spring/Summer 2018
The Aurorean is a powerhouse of poetry. Published biannually out of Farmington, Maine, the Spring/Summer 2018 issue is sixty-one pages packed with works by seventy poets. For this reason, I would never recommend anyone read this full volume in one sitting. Doing so would leave any reader in a state akin to post-marathon exhaustion. Instead, this slim journal should be carried along your daily journey as a companion to life, to refresh your perspective, renew your vision, and deepen the experience of your existence.
Ninth Letter – Spring/Summer 2018
The Spring/Summer issue of Ninth Letter is flashy, streaked through with fluorescent orange, graphic illustrations, and altered photographs. A self-described “collaborative arts and literary project,” the journal, which is based out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, connects art and design students with the MFA in Creative Writing program. The result is a fully-rounded version of the typically literature-dominated student-run journal.
The Cincinnati Review – Summer 2018
Not long ago, the food writer Jeffrey Steingarten asked an intern where she was from. Amused by her answer, he replied with his trademark sneer, “I didn’t think one could live in Cincinnati.” The Queen City has taken its lumps over the years, but despite chocolate in chili and the often-frustrating Bengals, Cincinnati is emerging as one of America’s great, underrated cities. The culinary scene is exploding, vibrant murals bring life to street corners, the city’s sweetheart soccer team has just snagged an expansion slot from Major League Soccer, and community revitalization efforts shift the focus back from gentrified hotspots to the neighborhoods that need it most. Somewhere in this swirl of cultural growth sits The Cincinnati Review, a product of the University of Cincinnati’s Department of English and Comparative Literature.
New Lit on the Block :: Thriller Magazine
With a name like Thriller Magazine, there’s little room for mistaking the genre of this new online biannual publishing short stories and flash fiction under the umbrella of thriller/suspense/mystery. And with Editor in Chief Ammar Habib’s background, readers of this publication can expect to experience quality genre literature, while writers can expect that their work will be respectfully considered. Continue reading “New Lit on the Block :: Thriller Magazine”
Here – 2017
“. . . poetry is no more or less important now than it ever has been,” writes Professor and Editor Daniel Donaghy in the inaugural issue of Here: a poetry journal. Published out of Eastern Connecticut State University, Here engages student readers and editors for its submissions process, and seeks “diverse, wide-ranging, and powerful responses in poetry to the essential and endless questions related to ‘being here’ that are implied by the journal’s title.” After reading this first issue, there is no doubt that Here has established a place for itself.
Lou Lit Review – 2018
Having traveled down south on numerous occasions, I have found there is much to love about North Carolina. Lou Lit Review adds to that adoration, a new international journal of fiction and poetry published at Louisburg College. While a slim inaugural installment, with solid mentorship from the editors of Raleigh Review, Lou Lit has established itself with resounding force. As Co-editors Tampathia Evans and Tommy Jenkins express in the Editors’ Note: “Lou Lit is still ‘becoming’ and we are not quite sure what we are as of yet. What we do know is that we will continue to publish writers whose work represents the complexity of the human condition and makes us want to read on.” Absolutely.
True Story – 2018
Each issue of True Story shines a spotlight on one nonfiction piece by one writer. As one of my favorite print magazines, I always look forward to finding out which each new issue’s story will be. This year’s issues have, among other stories, featured a neighborhood coming together to search for a missing woman with dementia (“Search Party” by Stewart Lawrence Sinclair), and a camp counselor reflecting on his treatment of a particular camper in the wake of a sex abuse scandal involving the camp where he was once a camper himself (“Unmolested” by Michael Lowenthal). Readers never really know what to expect with each issue, part of the beauty of the little, pocket-sized magazine.
The Florida Review – Fall 2017
Before I get into discussion of interesting pieces, I want to stop for a moment and draw attention to The Florida Review’s commitment to the education of budding artists. In the Fall 2017 issue, The Florida Review gives a generous note about editorial interns, both graduate and undergraduate, who are “involved in reviewing and discussing submissions in a way that helps the senior editorial staff stay sharp and articulate [their] own reasons for [their] choices.” In addition, on the journal’s website, they outline their educational mission which helps interns to “thrive as writers and to appreciate the intense and collaborative nature of publications.” As a recent graduate, I greatly appreciate and support The Florida Review’s commitment to education which contributes to the literary world.
Split Rock Review – Spring 2018
The image that greets readers at Split Rock Review’s Spring 2018 issue is a photograph of forest that takes up the entire computer screen. Leaves blanket the floor and climb up trees, a perfect visual companion for mid-summer reading. It’s the pieces that resonate with this image of nature that spoke to me the loudest this issue, fully immersing myself in the greens of summer.
Black Warrior Review – Spring/Summer 2018
Lisa Krannichfeld’s “Undomesticated Interior No. 7” dominates the cover of the spring and summer issue of Black Warrior Review. Its subject, a young black woman wearing a flashy blue suit, mint green button down, and screaming red boots, sits defiantly at the edge of a chair, ready for movement. An image of a snarling wolf hangs on the wall just behind her. In her artist’s statement, Krannichfeld says: “Images are vehicles for the teaching of history and it is the historical imagery of the female gender I aim to counterbalance.” Looking over the eight other images Krannichfeld has contributed to the issue, all of women in ornamentally-patterned suits, sitting in wallpapered rooms with framed images of bared fangs surrounding them like a warning, an aura, it’s clear that these are not the “doll-like women,” the “decorations” of the past; instead, Krannichfeld’s subjects throw the male gaze back at their viewers, watching with confidence, hands running together as they contemplate their opponent’s next move. And that move had better be good.
Continue reading “Black Warrior Review – Spring/Summer 2018”
North Dakota Quarterly – Summer/Fall 2017
Published by the College of Arts and Sciences from the University of North Dakota, the North Dakota Quarterly is a literary and public humanities journal that has existed for over 100 years, providing articles, essays, fiction, and poetry. They bring readers another great issue filled to the brim with a wide variety of enjoyable stories, essays, and poems.
Continue reading “North Dakota Quarterly – Summer/Fall 2017”
The Gettysburg Review – Spring 2018
“A good story was always about more than true or false. It was always about more than the story,” contemplates the narrator of Kyle Mellen’s fiction piece “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Couch.” The Spring 2018 issue of The Gettysburg Review offers something more than “the story”: authors and poets share truths, laughs, sometimes along with tears, and always new discoveries. This generously-sized and curiously-executed issue is a great example of editors’ commitment: they “look for writers who can shape language in thoughtful, surprising, and beautiful ways and who have something unique to say, whatever the subject matter or aesthetic approach.”
Barstow & Grand – Fall 2017
First volume, first issue, what should one expect? A group of locals got together to celebrate their neighborhood, what should one expect? A group of writers put together their own journal so being published became easier, what to expect?
Creative Nonfiction – Spring 2018
With Mary Shelley’s fiction as the creative muse, it’s unsurprising that Creative Nonfiction’s issue, dedicated to real life Frankenstein stories, boasts all six essays by women. But while editor Lee Gutkind warns, “this issue is not for the faint of heart,” I disagree: the horror elements sprung from Shelley’s novel remain peripheral. This issue establishes the need for compassion, no matter the monsters in our lives.
MAKE – 2017-2018
MAKE, published annually out of Chicago, dedicates this issue to belonging. This theme is unsurprising given the journal hosts the annual Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art in Chicago and in Mexico City, encouraging cross-pollination of creativity across culture and language. Bringing together fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translation, this issue of MAKE stretches belonging to encompass belonging in our bodies, belonging within (and to) a place, and belonging within language.
Salamander – Fall/Winter 2017-2018
Salamander is a diverse and interesting literary publication that includes poetry, fiction, reviews, and even portfolios of artwork. This magazine is produced by the Suffolk University’s Department of English, and they certainly delivered many amazing pieces in Issue #45.
ZYZZYVA – Spring & Summer 2018
Founded in 1985, ZYZZYVA pulled its title from the very back of the Oxford English Dictionary, embracing the proud South American weevil and transforming it into a rather distinguished mascot. Run by Editor Laura Cogan and Managing Editor Oscar Villalon, ZYZZYVA makes near-annual appearances in the Best American series and The Pushcart Prize. Issue 13 introduced American readers to Haruki Murakami with “The Kangaroo Communiqué,” a typically bizarre and humorous story about a merchandise control manager in the midst of a nervous breakdown. Other distinguished contributors have included Amy Hempel, Adrienne Rich, Raymond Carver, and Ursula K. Le Guin. ZYZZYVA still accepts submissions exclusively by snail mail and requests a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply, but is otherwise easygoing, setting no page limits, themes, or limits on submissions—though they do ask submitters to wait until they’ve heard a response before submitting additional work.
Allegro Poetry Magazine – June 2018
Looking back, one of my first introductions to poetry (and enjoying it) was a small set of children’s books, one filled with poetry dedicated to dogs, and the other dedicated to cats. I read them constantly, paging through them until the covers began to curl backward from my incessant touching. I couldn’t help thinking of this set of books when I received the new issue announcement for Allegro Poetry Magazine in my inbox, pleased to see the issue is dedicated to cats. Unable to currently live with any felines myself, the poetry is a nice substitute for a warm cat on the lap.
Memoir Magazine – 2018
Content warning: This issue of Memoir Magazine and this review repeatedly reference sexual assault.
For weeks, the stories trickled across our social media feeds: defiantly and triumphantly smiling selfies with captions that held the hashtag, Twitter threads that detailed the experience, Facebook posts sometimes just two simple words long. #MeToo. In waves we watched and listened as our friends and family told their truths and we told each other “I believe you.” Memoir Magazine continues this wave with the publication of their #MeToo Essay Prize winners.
MAYDAY magazine – Winter 2018
I started reading the latest issue of MAYDAY on May 1, of all days, so as I clicked through the poetry, prose, translations, and art in the Winter 2018 issue, my mind kept going back and forth between distress signals and a day of springtime celebration. While the pieces I gravitated to seemed to have more of that distressed feeling about them, one can also find moments of hope and celebration.
Copper Nickel – Spring 2018
Unlike the vast majority of literary and popular magazines, Copper Nickel does not greet their readers with an editor’s note outlining the materials of the issue. They do not offer a lens for readers to examine featured pieces. And why should they? The featured works of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translation folios speak for themselves; they do not require an approach or an explanation. What the editors do achieve, however, is to provide the magazine’s readers with the freedom to imagine and interpret authors’ works without any imposed limitations. Plus, let’s be honest, no one buys magazines for their editor’s notes; we buy them for art, and in the Spring 2018 issue, art speaks for itself.
Barrow Street – Winter 2017/18
Under the seemingly plain cover of the Winter 2017/18 issue of Barrow Street, featuring a black and white photograph of one of the New York streets, I have found complex colors of poetry seeping through the pages. Barrow Street publishes both “new and established poets writing in a wide variety of styles” offering something captivating for any picky reader.
Ecotone – Fall/Winter 2017
For an issue on craft, let’s start at the end where it all comes together. Ecotone, a journal of place, concludes with contributors offering a single sentence on what craft means to them. Contributor Emily Larned says, “Craft shows us how to live: deliberately, conscientiously, mindfully, and as well as we possibly can.” Ecotone publishes authors and artists whose words are deliberate, whose language and choices are mindful and precise in communication.
Willow Springs – Spring 2018
Aqua, white, and yellow, the cover of Willow Springs 81 is built around Chris Bovey’s silkscreened “Garbage Goat,” a tribute to a local Spokane bovidae. The colors, the image, the typography itself evince freshness, a liveliness that portends well for the content within. Published twice yearly, Willow Springs is funded in part by the MFA program at Eastern Washington University, though its contributors come from all over the country.
subTerrain – Winter 2017
The Winter 2017 issue of subTerrain provides a change of perspective through its Canadian west coast view of fiction, poetry, commentary, art, and book reviews. The subtitle, “Strong Words for a Polite Nation,” piques the reader’s interest, but it may depend on where the reader is sitting. As a Michigander, I can vouch for the politeness of our Canadian neighbors. And, yes, some of this most recent issue will offend some readers, but aside from an opinion writer who believes four-letter words add shock value, there is only a poetry collection that might take someone aback.
American Literary Review – Spring 2018
The American Literary Review has been publishing well-crafted creative writing for nearly thirty years. In 2013, the journal published its final print issue and moved to an online format where it continues the tradition of providing exceptional writing to readers with an even more accessible format.
The MacGuffin – Winter 2018
The MacGuffin is the perfect literary companion. Published three times per year out of Michigan’s Schoolcraft College, The MacGuffin doesn’t overload its issues, and its solid selection of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction carefully placed to compliment the flow of subject or imagery speaks to the editorial care behind this quality production.
Booth – 2018
Booth 11, the Women Writers issue, began, arguably, with male tears. In his introductory letter, Editor Robert Stapleton details an email he received after the 2015 Booth Poetry Prize shortlist was announced, in which a particularly entitled male noted: “Eight of your ten finalists are women. Is this gender bias or chance?” Stapleton kept his cool, explained the process dispassionately, and used the experience for growth. Prior to that email, he notes, two-thirds of the editorial staff at Booth had been men. Since then, the numbers have balanced as more than half of the journal’s editorial positions have been filled by women. Stapleton realized there was more he could do. “American history is dominated by the patience of women,” he writes, “and the world of American publishing, a garden of so much culture and progressive thought, should have been leading this charge long ago.”
Crazyhorse – Fall 2017
After hungrily reading each word of the featured works published on the Crazyhorse website, I was more than excited to get my hands on the entire Fall 2017 issue. Through Shane Brown’s “Blue Hole,” a cover art piece, I fell into the wonderland of prose and poetry. Jonathan Bohr Heinen, the managing editor, notes that “art isn’t some frivolous reflection of aimless escape.” While this issue’s pieces take us on a journey, they nevertheless offer a reflection of reality. As Heinen puts it, “It’s the light that shines so brilliantly and helps us make sense of the world we inhabit. It’s truth.” The editor’s insight offers an entry point for readers as they carefully tread the pages of the 92nd issue seeking “the light.”
Poetry Northwest – Winter & Spring 2018
“You should read while you can,” urges the speaker in Luke Brekke’s poem “Bottom’s Poetics.” This issue of Poetry Northwest offers a number of wonderful pieces that can make any reader appreciate the opportunity to read. Staying true to their mission, the Winter & Spring 2018 issue entices its readers with “the promise of discovery” as it presents both poetry and visual art. The editors Aaron Barrell and Erin Malone note that this issue offers “a communion of eye and ear.” Indeed, careful readers have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a hybrid of visual and textual formats such as poetry comics by Bianca Stone, Colleen Louise Barry, and others.