Best Fiction Literary Magazines in 2026

Print magazine for Fiction,

The Layered Onion is looking for submissions for their publication, The Shallot: Journal of Mental Health, Art, and Literature. The Shallot’s goal is to amplify the voices of artists with lived mental and emotional health experience and accepts poetry and short stories/fiction under 1,001 words. The Shallot is part of The Layered Onion, a social benefit organization dedicated to uplifting the voices of artists with mental and emotional health struggles.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

Our editorial mission is to encourage writers, new and established, to take themselves as seriously as possible — to write with as much energy and daring as possible, and to connect their own deepest concerns with the broader social and political environment; that is, to write, while it happens, a history of the present day. We welcome submissions from all writers. If you are considering sending work, please start by reading an issue or two. The best submission guidelines are those implied by the magazine itself.

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Fiction,

The Antioch Review, founded in 1941, is one of the oldest, continuously publishing literary magazines in America. We publish fiction, essays, and poetry from both emerging as well as established authors.

Submission guidelines →

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.

Submission guidelines →

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.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

Able Muse predominantly publishes metrical poetry and poetry translation complemented by art and photography, fiction and non-fiction including essays, book reviews and interviews with a focus on metrical and formal poetry. We are looking for well-crafted poems of any length or subject that employ skillful and imaginative use of meter and rhyme, executed in a contemporary idiom, that reads as naturally as your free verse poems.

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Fiction,

Redivider is a nationally distributed journal of new art and literature produced by and representing the graduate students in the Writing, Literature, and Publishing program at Emerson College in Boston. Published twice a year, we welcome art, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry submissions from new, emerging, and established artists and writers. And if you're wondering about the name, it's a palindrome!

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Fiction,

Founded in 1892 by the teacher and critic William Peterfield Trent, the Sewanee Review is America's oldest continuously published literary quarterly. SR has a long tradition of cultivating emerging talent: we published excerpts of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor's first novels, and the early poetry of Robert Penn Warren, Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and Christian Wiman.

Submission guidelines →

Online magazine for Fiction,

The mission of the Awakenings is to MAKE VISIBLE the artistic expression of survivors of sexual violence. Awakenings is home to a multi-media art gallery featuring the artistic expressions of rape and sexual abuse survivors. By showcasing stories of survival, we are helping survivors find peace while simultaneously challenging the cultural taboos that prevent an honest discussion of sexual violence.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

Featuring the world’s most celebrated crime writers alongside brilliant new voices. Cutting-edge content includes suspense thrillers, whodunits, and noir, reviews, and an editor’s blog. Join us … if you dare!

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

Dedicated to publishing fine fiction, nonfiction, plays, screenplays, poetry, literary cartoons, photography and art, The Southampton Review opens its pages to writers from across the globe whose work is compelling. Our pages are equally devoted to emerging and established writers and artists.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

The Atlantic is always interested in great nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. A general familiarity with what we have published in the past is the best guide to what we're looking for. All manuscripts should be submitted as a Word document or PDF. Succinct pitches may be submitted in the body of an email.

Submission guidelines →

Online magazine for Fiction,

Uncanny Magazine is an online Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine featuring passionate SF/F fiction and poetry, gorgeous prose, provocative nonfiction, and a deep investment in the diverse SF/F culture. Each issue contains intricate, experimental stories and poems with verve and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs, from writers of every conceivable background.

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Fiction,

BOMB Magazine has been publishing conversations between artists of all disciplines since 1981. BOMB's founders decided to publish dialogues that reflected the way practitioners spoke about their work among themselves. Annually, BOMB serves 1.5 million online readers through its free and searchable archive and BOMB Daily, a virtual hub where a diverse cohort of artists and writers explore the creative process within a community of their peers and mentors.

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Fiction,

Founded in 1948, The Hudson Review is a quarterly magazine of literature and the arts published in New York City. It has a distinguished record of publishing little-known or undiscovered writers, many of whom have become major literary figures. Each issue contains a wide range of material including: poetry, fiction, essays on literary and cultural topics, book reviews, reports from abroad, and chronicles covering film, theatre, dance, music and art.

Submission guidelines →