Nine New Lit Mags You Need to Read

by Staff
From the November/December 2016 issue of
Poets & Writers Magazine

The world of literary magazines is constantly changing, forever evolving, as today’s enterprising editors apply fresh artistic vision, editorial aesthetics, and curatorial instincts to the periodical form. Here are nine new journals that appeared on the scene within the past couple of years and have already made their mark on the literary landscape. What’s more, all of them are open to submissions.


Wildness
“The wildness lives inside of you,” writes editor Michelle Tudor in her introduction to the first issue of this online bimonthly, underscoring the journal’s effort to publish contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that “evokes the unknown.” Launched in December 2015, Wildness features formally inventive work by both established and emerging writers that embraces the mysteries of the self and the outside world. Issue Five, Tranquility, features new poetry from Cynthia Arrieu-King and Christopher Citro, fiction from Renée Bibby and Wyl Villacres, an essay by Keah Brown, and more.
Editor: Michelle Tudor
E-mail: submissions
@readwildness.com
URL: readwildness.com


805 
Named for the Dewey Decimal Classification number for literary journals, this Florida-based online quarterly is a publication of the Manatee County Public Library System. Founded in 2015, the journal reinforces the library’s commitment to “promote the vast creativity of our community and beyond.” The journal seeks “unexpected, striking, and moving” works from poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers, regardless of publication history.
Editor: Stephanie Katz
E-mail: editor@805lit.org
URL: 805lit.org

 

Freeman’s 
Published by writer, critic, and former Granta editor John Freeman, this print biannual features new poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from literary heavyweights—including Anne Carson, Lydia Davis, Haruki Murakami, and Tracy K. Smith—as well as emerging writers. Each issue has a single theme—the debut issue focused on Arrival; the second on Family. With each issue Freeman aims to provide “an essential map to the best new writing in the world.”
Editor: John Freeman
URL: freemans
biannual.com

 

Foglifter
This San Francisco–based queer literary magazine is published biannually, and emphasizes transgressive, intersectional, marginal, and cross-genre writing that calls into question perceived cultural norms. All genres are accepted for publication. Foglifter’s debut issue launched in July and includes new writing from Kazim Ali, Kevin Killian, Ed Moreno, Eileen Myles, Christina Quintana, and Truong Tran, among others.
Editors: Miah Jeffra, Chad Koch
URL: foglifter
journal.com

 

Territory
This unique online quarterly presents a range of writers’ interpretations and responses to different maps alongside images of the maps themselves. Editors Nick Greer and Thomas Mira y Lopez started Territory to interrogate the failure of maps to fully capture the territories they represent. “We are building an atlas knowing it will be a reduction, an anachronism, a distortion,” state the editors. “But we build it anyway.” Submissions of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and hybrid forms are accepted. Ramona Ausubel, Kelly Luce, Ander Monson, Nick Neely, and Sarah Minor are among the publication’s recent contributors.
Editors: Nick Greer, Thomas Mira y Lopez
E-mail: territorylit
@gmail.com
URL: themapisnot.com

 

Hypertrophic
Hypertrophic Press, an independent publisher based in New Market, Alabama, puts out this quarterly magazine in both print and digital formats. The editors seek poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction with a literary bent that elicits physical reactions: “Our goal is to make reading not only a psychological experience, but a physical one, too.” Previously unpublished as well as established writers are welcome to submit. The Fall 2016 issue features work from ten contributors, including poetry from Joyce Chong and Lauren Milici, and fiction by Spencer David Potts and Jesse Kominers.
Editors: Lynsey Morandin, Jeremy Bronaugh, Madeline Anthes
E-mail: hyper
trophicpress
@gmail.com
URL: hypertrophicpress.com

 

The Fem
Highlighting works by women, LGBTQ individuals, people of color, writers with disabilities, and other marginalized groups, this online weekly strives to create an inclusive space for voices underrepresented in mainstream publishing. The Fem features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and interviews, as well as monthly book reviews.
Editor: Autumn Spriggs
E-mail: thefemlitmag
@gmail.com
URL: thefemlitmagazine
.wordpress.com

 

Into the Void
This nonprofit quarterly journal based in Dublin, Ireland, publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in both print and digital formats. While the editors are most interested in literary fiction, most genres and styles are welcome, including science fiction and fantasy. “We are committed to giving writers of all experience levels an opportunity,” the editors write. “Unpublished and emerging writers have just as good a chance as any—it’s all about the writing.” The first issue, released in July, includes work from poets Tamara Drazic and Adam Gottschalk, fiction writer Lauren Bell, and nonfiction writer Joni Bour.
Submission Fee: approx. $1.50
Editors: Philip Elliott, Gabriela McAdams
E-mail: into
thevoidmag
@gmail.com
URL: intothe
voidmagazine
.com

 

Punctuate: A Nonfiction Magazine
Run by the creative writing department at Columbia College Chicago, Punctuate publishes “complex, provocative, and unique” creative nonfiction online year-round as well as in an annual print edition. Experimental writing appears alongside more traditional work, showcasing “a mosaic of forms that push disciplinary boundaries, including personal essays, flash nonfiction, graphic essays, and journal excerpts.” The inaugural print issue features work from Marcia Aldrich, Rochelle Hurt, Bret Lott, Ander Monson, Anne Panning, and Kathleen Rooney.
Submission Fee: $3
Editors: Garnett Kilberg Cohen, Re’Lynn Hansen
E-mail: imorris@colum.edu
URL: blogs.colum.edu/punctuate