Best Literary Magazines in 2026

Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

The Sun is an independent, ad-free magazine that for more than forty years has used words and photographs to evoke the splendor and heartache of being human. The personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photographs that appear in The Sun's pages explore the challenges we face and the moments when we rise to meet them.

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Online magazine for Fiction, Poetry,

State of Matter is on a quest to define what Speculative Fiction means from a South Asian perspective. We publish fiction and poetry from international authors, with a keen eye for South Asian writing.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

The annual literary journal of Boise State's MFA program, publishing fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.

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Online magazine for Art, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry,

Outlander is a digital zine and online platform that celebrates the awkward, the eccentric, and the weirdly beautiful. While its website is always open for submission, it also releases four themed issues throughout the year. Outlander is additionally home to THE LAB, an interview platform that amplifies the voices of upcoming creators.

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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 & Online magazine for Art, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Short Fiction,

Clarkesworld is a monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine first published in October 2006. Each issue contains interviews, thought-provoking articles, two reprints, and at least four or five works of original fiction. Our fiction is also available in ebook editions/subscriptions, audio podcasts, print issues, and in our annual print/ebook anthologies.

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

Black Warrior Review is the oldest continuously-run literary journal produced by graduate students in the United States. BWR publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and art twice a year.

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Print magazine for Short Fiction,

PROMPTED is a celebration of the power of inspiration, and the places our imagination can take us with the slightest nudge. Each story is inspired by a one-sentence prompt, and written in a single week.

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Online magazine for Art, Fiction, Short Fiction, Translations,

Lightspeed is a digital science fiction and fantasy magazine. In its pages, you will find science fiction: from near-future, sociological soft SF, to far-future, star-spanning hard SF—and fantasy: from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, and contemporary urban tales, to magical realism, science-fantasy, and folktales.

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

Tampa Review celebrates the creative interplay of contemporary literature and visual arts. Each issue of the journal features current art and writing from Florida and the world, emphasizing our connections to the Tampa Bay region and the international cultural community.

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

Copper Nickel, the national literary journal housed at the University of Colorado Denver, was founded by poet Jake Adam York in 2002. Work published in Copper Nickel has appeared in the Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, and Pushcart Prize anthologies, and has been listed as notable in the Best American Essays anthology.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

The Missouri Review is based at the University of Missouri and publishes four issues each year. Each issue contains new fiction, poetry and essays. We also run author interviews and found-text features where we print never before published works such as a short story by William Faulkner or one of Tennessee Williams' plays.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

Issued triannually, American Short Fiction publishes work by emerging and established voices. These are stories that dive into the wreck, that stretch the reader between recognition and surprise, that conjure a particular world with delicate expertise — stories that take a different way home.

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Print & Online magazine for Fiction,

We are excited by writing that is difficult to classify—whether specifically speculative, substantially surreal, or slightly strange. We’re interested in realist pieces that verge on the dreamlike or surreal; speculative stories that are almost realist; and, on top of that, any form of literary fantasy/science fiction/speculative fiction.

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Print magazine for Fiction,

One Story Inc. is an award-winning, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit literary publisher committed to supporting the art form of the short story and the authors who write them: through One Story, One Teen Story, education, community, and mentorship.

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