Looking for

These journals have specified as their mission, or have identified leanings, on their submissions pages’ particular topics, themes, or the backgrounds of writers they are looking for. In some cases, they ONLY publish what they are looking for, instead of just indicating a preference.

Our stance is always that you are in control of where you want your pieces submitted. If you feel your work is best suited for the below magazines, by whatever logic you are using, go for it. However, with average response times at 85+ days, combined with around a 1-3% chance of any particular piece being accepted, submitting to places where you have a low chance of acceptance only slows down your hike toward Nirvana by degrees of magnitude (probably not accurate, statistically).

To add a finer point on this, most of the literary journals below are looking for pieces that represent their mission, not those that merely intersect with it. For example, if there were a journal that only published Native American writers and/or writing that deals with Native American issues, and you have a short story that has someone in it who is Native American or it happens to be set in Oklahoma or the like… Well, it’s up to you on if this is a correct fit. We would say that you have no better chance of acceptance here than at Georgia Review or Sewanee Review or New England Review, which are journals that aren’t looking for specific work or from specific writers. Manage your expectations appropriately.

Able Muse
Looking for: metrical poetry and poetry translations

Abstract Magazine TV
Looking for: flash non-fiction

Asian American Writers Workshop
Looking for: writing to build conversations around cutting-edge ideas in Asian American literature, art, and social justice

Black Renaissance Noire
Looking for: writing that addresses the full range of contemporary Black concerns

Brevity
Looking for: brief non-fiction essays of no more than 750 words

Camera Obscura
Looking for: essays that engage with current academic and popular discourses in feminism, culture, and media studies

Catamaran
Looking for: themes including the environment, the artistic spirit, personal freedom, and creative ideas

High Desert Journal
Looking for: work from residents of the interior West working with any theme, and from anyone living outside of this region creating with an element or theme of the interior West

Ibbetson Street
Looking for: poetry that is not too abstract

Image
Looking for: sustained engagement with one of the western faiths—Judaism, Christianity, or Islam

J Journal
Looking for: work that examines questions of justice

Kitchen Work
Looking for: food and kitchen related work

Kyoto Journal
Looking for: work written by persons from Asia, or ex-pats, and/or a tangible connection Asia

MIZNA
Looking for: contributors do not have to be of Arab descent provided their work is of relevance to the Arab-American community

Stone Canoe
Looking for: work from current and former residents of Upstate New York

Tikkun
Looking for: articles on social theory, religion/spirituality, social change, contemporary American and global politics and economics, ecology, culture, psychology, and Israel/Palestine

Transition
Looking for: the freshest, most compelling, most curious ideas about race