Best Short Fiction Literary Magazines in 2026

Print & Online magazine for Short Fiction,

A collectible lit object with a mischievous streak, Folly is New Zealand’s fastest-selling literary journal that scooped recognition at the 2025 New Generation Best International Indie Book Awards. Each beautifully produced annual pairs lush design with writing that startles: razor-sharp essays, lewdly lyrical fiction and some of the best collectable art. We publish emerging talents beside prize-winners and prize social commentary that captures the cultural moment (with profanity welcome). International voices encouraged; roughly half our pages go to work from outside NZ and Folly sells globally.

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Short 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 Short Fiction,

Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine continues to bring together celebrated authors, new talent, and award-winning stories, poems, and articles, as it has since its launch in 1930. Originally published as Astounding Stories of Science Fiction, Analog remains the unparalleled literary magazine in the genre, and rewards readers with realistic stories that reflect both the highest standards of scientific accuracy and the far reaches of the imagination, as well as lively articles about current research on the cutting edge of science.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Short Fiction,

Harvard Review publishes short fiction, poetry, essays, and book reviews. Writers at all stages of their careers are invited to apply; however, we can only publish a very small fraction of the material we receive. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with Harvard Review before you submit your work.

Submission guidelines →

Online magazine for Short Fiction,

The Incandescent Review is an entirely non-profit, teen-run literary magazine, and our team hails from across the globe: from San Jose to Shanghai, from Atlanta to Athens. Our purpose is to create a platform for teens and young adults to express their opinions and emotional response to world issues in the form of poetry, prose, visual art, and more.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for 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.

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Short Fiction,

Islandia Journal is a subtropical print periodical of art and writing. We publish work by people from South Florida or by writers and artists whose work deals with our region. All contributors are paid - starting at $50 for poems and visual art and $100 for prose pieces of all kinds, scaling upwards depending on amount work or research involved.

Submission guidelines →

Online magazine for Short 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 Short Fiction,

Founded by Stevan V. Nikolic and Adelaide Franco Nikolic in 2015, the magazine’s aim is to publish quality poetry, fiction, nonfiction, artwork, and photography, as well as interviews, articles, and book reviews, written in English and Portuguese.

Submission guidelines →

Online magazine for Short Fiction,

A new literary and art magazine dedicated to showcasing emerging artists and writers.

Submission guidelines →

Online magazine for Short Fiction,

Elegant Literature is a monthly eZine that features new talent only. Each issue is filled with short fiction of all genres, handcrafted stories by new brilliant writers from around the globe. We pay all our published, aspiring writers professional rates & each issue one writer is awarded $3,000.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Short Fiction,

For over sixty years, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine has been one of the foremost publishers of mystery, crime, and suspense short stories, offering mystery fiction of the broadest range and the highest quality.

Submission guidelines →

Print & Online magazine for Short Fiction,

From its earliest days in 1977 under the editorial direction of Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine has maintained the tradition of publishing the best stories, unsurpassed in modern science fiction, from award-winning authors and first-time writers alike.

Submission guidelines →

Print magazine for Short Fiction,

NER was founded by poets Sydney Lea and Jay Parini in New Hampshire in 1978. By publishing new fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that is both challenging and inviting, New England Review encourages artistic exchange and thought-provoking innovation, providing publishing opportunities for writers at all stages in their careers.

Submission guidelines →

Online magazine for Short Fiction,

Sky Island Journal is an independent, international, free-access literary journal. We publish accomplished, well-established authors—side by side—with fresh, emerging voices. Our mission is to provide our over 100,000 readers in 145 countries with a powerful, focused, advertising-free literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally.

Submission guidelines →