Best Fiction Literary Magazines in 2026

Print magazine for Fiction,

Hayden’s Ferry Review looks for well-crafted work that takes risks, challenges readers, and engages us emotionally and artistically. A small portion of our publication is solicited from established authors, while the majority of our contributors are chosen from the thousands of manuscripts we receive each year.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

Callaloo was founded in 1976 by its current editor, Charles Henry Rowell, when he was teaching at Southern University (Baton Rouge). He originally described the fledgling periodical as a "Black South Journal," whose function was to serve as a publication outlet for marginalized writers in the racially segregated US American South.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

From its inception in prohibition, through depression and war, in prosperity and peace, the Virginia Quarterly Review has been a haven for the best essayists, fiction writers, and poets, seeking contributors from every section of the United States and abroad. It has not limited itself to any special field. No topic has been alien: literary, public affairs, the arts, history, the economy. If it could be approached through essay or discussion, poetry or prose, VQR has covered it.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

Prairie Schooner, a national literary quarterly published with the support of the English Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Press, is home to the best fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews being published today by beginning, mid-career, and established writers.

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Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

Established in September 2003, The Cincinnati Review draws together within its pages the finest creative and critical work from across the country. We provide a venue for writers of any background, at any point in their literary careers, to showcase their best writing.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

The mission of New Letters magazine, its radio companion, New Letters on the Air, and BkMk Press, is to discover, publish and promote the best and most exciting literary writing, wherever it might be found. We publish and serve readers and writers worldwide. In recent years, New Letters has won a National Magazine Award, the industry's highest honor, plus multiple Pushcart Prizes, and is reprinted often in Best American anthologies.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

Ninth Letter is a collaborative arts and literary project produced by the Creative Writing Program and School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Edited and designed by faculty and students as part of the core curricula of both programs, the journal's mission is to present original literary writing of exceptional quality, illuminated by cutting-edge graphic design.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

Founded in 1970, The Antigonish Review is the third longest-running creative-writing journal in the Maritimes and one of the oldest continuing literary magazines in Canada.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

Let the power of your imagination be your guide. We're interested in stories, essays, and poems that speak to this idea of Transcendence.

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Online magazine for Fiction,

Invisible City is an online publication of the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco that publishes in the fall and spring. We seek work that encourages us to see the world from new perspectives and different angles, ones that we may not have previously considered or imagined.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

We began as a free print pamphlet featuring just one short story. Now we're a pocket-sized monthly magazine — still free — with a handful of short stories and the occasional spot of nonfiction and poetry for the reading pleasure of London commuters. We aim to discover emerging writers and give them a platform to be read alongside stalwarts of the literary scene.

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Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

On Spec adheres to a strong mandate that has served us well over the years. We discover and showcase quality works by predominantly Canadian writers and artists, in the genre we call “Fantastic” literature. We foster the growth of emerging writers in this genre, by offering support and direction through constructive criticism, education, mentoring, and manuscript development.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

We like stories that start quickly and have a strong narrative arc. Poems that are passionate about subject, language, and image are welcome, whether they are traditional or experimental, whether in formal or free verse (closed or open form). We publish all forms of creative nonfiction, from personal narrative to lyric essay to immersive journalism; we appreciate when an essay moves beyond the personal to tell us something new about the world.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

West Branch is a twice-yearly magazine of poetry and fiction, published by Bucknell University.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

The Denver Quarterly is a well-regarded, avant-garde literary journal based at the University of Denver. Founded in 1966 by novelist John Edward Williams.

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