The short story is one of the most dynamic and creatively challenging literary forms for a fiction writer. With its allowance for intense focus on a single character or moment in time, and its versatility as a medium for experimental styles, the possibilities for short stories feel limitless. What can also feel limitless is the number of potential venues for publishing short fiction. Finding a journal that is the right fit for any given story can overwhelm even the savviest writer. In addition to considering the tone and ethos of the journal, writers may prefer to seek venues that show a commitment to diversifying their list of contributors, mentoring emerging writers, or showcasing a particular aesthetic. To help you find top-notch matches for your stories—and who you are as a writer—here are ten excellent literary journals that meet a variety of needs.
For writers of fiction deeply engaged with place, the Common offers one of the most dynamic sanctuaries. Founded by editor in chief Jennifer Acker, the Common is inspired by the principle of the town common and has deftly created a lasting literary third space that is clearly committed to gathering writers for open creative exchange. Most issues include a special folio of work highlighting an international community, as well as work in translation. Recent issues have included contemporary work by Catalan women in translation; writing from immigrant, seasonal, and migrant farmworkers; and photography and translated prose from Amman, Jordan. Editors at the Common are known to pay special attention to emerging writers who have had few or no publications and take the time to nurture stories with potential.
Ecotone, a project of the Publishing Laboratory at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, takes its name from the scientific word for the transitional space between two adjacent ecological communities. Like the Common, Ecotone seeks place-based writing. The journal’s editors interpret the concept of an ecotone broadly, using the publication to explore the transition between landscapes, literary genres, and scientific and artistic disciplines. Ecotone explicitly welcomes work from writers who have been historically underrepresented in literary publishing and in place-based contexts; they seek work from BIPOC writers, LGBTQIA+ writers, rural writers, writers with low access to wealth, and other marginalized writers in their submissions queue for their themed and non-themed issues. The journal is open to experimental work that reimagines place and pushes creative boundaries and work that engages with the climate crisis.
Writers who are looking to take creative risks with their short fiction, who embrace the unusual, and who write against the grain may find that their work is a good fit for the Normal School. Named for the original moniker for California State University in Fresno, the Normal School is housed within Fresno State’s MFA program and is staffed entirely by graduate students. The journal embraces work that pushes boundaries, experiments with form, and shifts focus toward the nontraditional, consistently publishing a mix of established and emerging authors. The Normal School has historically received high marks for gender parity from the VIDA literary organization and is committed to highlighting work from Black and Indigenous writers, writers of color, writers with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ writers, and other historically underrepresented communities. After eleven years in print, it transitioned to a fully online format in 2019 and publishes two to four issues annually.
Risk-taking writers will also feel at home placing their work in the Adroit Journal. Founded by poet Peter LaBerge, the Adroit Journal is staffed by an international roster of emerging writers who are keen to shape the future of poetry, prose, and art in its pages. For these editors the future must include innovative writing that pushes back against tradition and convention. The journal’s pages reveal wide-ranging editorial tastes and a history of publishing a spectrum of global voices. Some issues include works in translation. LaBerge’s commitment to community building and finding the widest readership for the publication’s authors is evident in the journal’s mentorship programs and its anthology presence. Online issues are published four times per year, and the journal pays $100 for fiction.
Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Hunger Mountain demonstrates its commitment to new talent by reserving 50 percent of each issue for unsolicited work from the submissions queue. The journal publishes two online issues per year and maintains a rotating masthead of student and faculty editors, and while the editorial tastes and overall style of the journal may change from year to year, Hunger Mountain remains committed to promoting historically underrepresented voices and takes particular pride in discovering new voices alongside publishing established writers.
One Story’s unique format does great work in showcasing its writers, featuring a single story per pocket-sized issue, thus ensuring that each piece receives the reader’s undivided attention. The editors place no limits on style or subject; however, submissions must be strong enough to stand on their own and must fall within specific word limits due to the single-story format. Despite its relatively high profile and roster of recognizable contributors such as Dave Eggers, Alice McDermott, and Vauhini Vara, One Story is welcoming to emerging writers. The journal’s annual Literary Debutante Ball, which includes readings, interviews, and a legendary party, celebrates One Story writers as they release their debut books. It’s just one mark of their commitment to emerging writers, which also extends to the publication’s workshops, annual conference, and other offerings.
In 1967, Southern Humanities Review was founded with a mission to publish work that is both moving and meaningful, literature that can “stir the heart.” Today the journal’s pages are still filled with stories that demonstrate such a commitment to excellence. While readers will discover finely crafted realism in Southern Humanities Review, risk-taking, imaginative, and truly innovative literary fiction is wholeheartedly embraced as well. The journal actively seeks work from a broad spectrum of voices, and supplemental pieces such as author interviews showcase emerging writers. While the journal charges a reading fee, during each submission period Southern Humanities Review offers one hundred free submissions per genre for historically underrepresented writers. The review pays $50 per prose piece.
Housed in the English department at Florida State University, the Southeast Review prioritizes publishing work by emerging and well-established writers together on the same stage. The journal has a large and diverse editorial staff, and its publication history represents broad and varied interests. Recent issues have seen Wole Soyinka Prize–winning writer Sefi Atta published alongside writers appearing in print for the very first time, and atmospheric flash fiction alongside detailed realism. This makes Southeast Review an excellent fit for writers across an expansive spectrum of styles or whose work doesn’t fit neatly into a defined category. During the fall and spring, Black and Indigenous writers and writers of color may submit without a fee. Currently or formerly incarcerated writers may submit without a fee during any open submission period.
Based in the University of Houston’s English department, Gulf Coast offers a unique venue for short fiction by publishing prose alongside full-color visual art as well as criticism in two handsome print issues each year. Its previous merger with Texas art journal Art Lies has enabled the journal to cultivate a multidisciplinary creative dialogue with every issue. Every print issue is also paired with online exclusives. Because it is staffed by students on two-year rotating terms, editorial tastes and the general style of Gulf Coast are not static and evolve as new editors bring their unique approaches to the journal. It pays $50 per page for the print edition and $100 for prose online.
The Georgia Review, based at the University of Georgia, originally began in 1947 as a journal committed to publishing regional work but has long since expanded its scope to include writers throughout the United States and internationally. Fiction published in its pages is both imaginative and grounded, with an emphasis on emotional depth and work that challenges the reader. Recent contributors include Julia Elliott, Shruti Swamy, and Karen Tei Yamashita. The journal explicitly seeks literary fiction but has no other limits on content or style, and editors say it’s a top priority that every submission receives a thorough, thoughtful review.
Fiction is often written from the most tender recesses of a writer’s heart and crafted with tremendous care. Every story deserves to be honored with this same care by the journals they are published in. Though the market for short fiction may seem daunting to navigate, for every thoughtfully written story, there is a journal waiting to give it a home.
Talia Lakshmi Kolluri is the author of the short story collection What We Fed to the Manticore (Tin House, 2022), which was a finalist for the 2023 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize, among other honors. Her short fiction has been published in Ecotone, Southern Humanities Review, the Common, One Story, the Adroit Journal, and others. A lifelong Californian, she lives with her husband and two cats in the Central Valley, where she is at work on a novel.
Author photo: Sarah Deragon