Best Literary Magazines in 2026

Print magazine for Fiction,

As the name implies, we only publish fiction; we are looking for the best new writing available, leaning toward the unconventional. Fiction has traditionally attempted to make accessible the inaccessible, to bring the experimental to a broader audience.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Translations,

The Massachusetts Review is one of the nation's leading literary magazines, distinctive in joining the highest level of artistic concern with pressing public issues. As The New York Times observed, "It is amazing that so much significant writing on race and culture appears in one magazine." MR was named one of the top ten literary journals in 2008 by the Boston Globe.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

American Chordata is a biannual magazine of bright voices in fiction, nonfiction essay, and poetry, as well as art and photography. We are founded on the belief that a good literary magazine can celebrate sophisticated design and earnest expression on the same page.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

The Oxford American is a nonprofit, quarterly literary magazine dedicated to featuring the best in Southern writing while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South. Over its quarter century, the Oxford American has won four National Magazine Awards — including an award for General Excellence in 2016.

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Print & Online magazine for Art, Fiction, Poetry, Short Fiction,

Flora Fiction is a collective of creative muses and inspiration. From original writing to reviews in music and entertainment, there’s always something to be discovered.

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Online magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

TriQuarterly is the literary magazine of Northwestern University and of the MA/MFA in Creative Writing program.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

Granta magazine was founded in 1889 by students at Cambridge University as The Granta, a periodical of student politics, badinage and literary enterprise, named after the river that runs through the town. In this original incarnation it published the work of writers like A.A. Milne, Michael Frayn, Stevie Smith, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

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Print & Online magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

For over half a century Shenandoah has been publishing splendid poems, stories, essays and reviews which display passionate understanding, formal accomplishment and serious mischief.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

Bard College's literary journal Conjunctions publishes innovative fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by emerging voices and contemporary masters.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction, Scripts,

Alaska Quarterly Review publishes fiction, short plays, poetry, photo essays, and literary non-fiction in traditional and experimental styles. Although we publish established writers, most of our content comes from unsolicited submissions and the editors are committed to publishing new and emerging writers.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry,

In a land of quick fixes and short view and in a time of increasingly commercial publishing, the journal has an authority that derives from its commitment to bold established writers and promising newcomers, to both challenging literary work and a range of essays and reviews that can explore the connections between academic disciplines and the broader movements in American society, thought, and culture.

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Print & Online magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Art,

The Dark Sire is an online magazine for short fiction, poetry, and art in the subgenres of Fantasy, Gothic, Horror & Psychological Realism

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

The Paris Review is a quarterly English language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. Since relocating to New York City, it has become one of the world's pre-eminent publications of its type.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Short Fiction,

The Greensboro Review is always on the lookout for new short stories and poems from writers at any stage of their career. The work you’ll find in the pages of the GR rarely conforms to any one theme, subject, or style—our editors read for those “bolts of lightning” that come with a surprising poem or story, the pleasure of spotting something new or discovering a fresh take on the familiar.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

Harper's Magazine, the oldest general-interest monthly in America, explores the issues that drive our national conversation, through long-form narrative journalism and essays. With its emphasis on fine writing and original thought Harper's provides readers with a unique perspective on politics, society, the environment, and culture. Non-fiction authors must query the magazine before submission.

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