Best Literary Magazines in 2025

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 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,

Ploughshares has published quality literature since 1971. Best known for our award-winning Ploughshares literary journal, we also publish Ploughshares Solos (digital-first long stories and essays) and a lively literary blog. Since 1989, we have been based at Emerson College in downtown Boston.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

Founded by the poet Tom McGrath in Los Angeles in 1960, Crazyhorse continues to be one of the finest, most influential literary journals published today. We look forward to another 50 years of the publication of McGrath's visionary foray into the world of letters, and hope you'll join us in encountering the best new writing we can publish.

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Print magazine for Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction,

Published three times a year by the Georgia State University Department of English, each issue features poetry, fiction, essays, and interviews with the most compelling writers working today.

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

Spellbinder is a quarterly literary and art magazine which celebrates artists, dramatists and poets, as well as fiction and nonfiction writers. Inclusivity and diversity are at the core of Spellbinder’s ethos. They strongly value being able to provide a platform for an international range of voices from many different backgrounds and cultural experiences.

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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, 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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Online magazine for Poetry,

Impostor: A Poetry Journal was created for writers who may feel intimidated by the established literary world or who feel as if their credentials—or lack thereof—don't fall in line with what's expected. Impostor desires diverse voices to fill its pages regardless of history; age, academic background, or the length of curriculum vitae.

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

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