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Top 50 Literary Magazines -Every Writer

Welcome to our list of the top 50 literary magazines. Our criteria for this list have changed. We considered a wide range of standards for this list. We looked at close to 20 data points. The most important criteria we used this time were:

  • The date of founding.
  • The number of national anthologies publications (and we looked at many of them).
  • The quality of work and names of past authors published in the magazine.

We have a database listing 1000s of magazines:  Find a complete list of literary magazines here.

We were the first site on the web to develop a list of the top 50 literary magazines. Many news outlets and websites have copied this list. Our methods are systematic in compiling numbers for placement on the list. This list aims to help writers find a place to publish their writing that will get them recognition. When a magazine is published over a long period and is recognized nationally, it gives authors more opportunities for exposure. Also, these magazines have a very good name in literary circles. Many will not agree and feel we’ve left a good or great publication off the list. That’s okay. The best thing to do is leave a comment below.

This list of top 50 literary magazines culminates in 20 years of hard work. I first thought about this list when I got my BFA in Creative Writing. In the early days of the internet, people in the BFA and MFA programs would talk about good and bad literary magazines. It took a lot of work to find online publications. Only some reputable magazines took online submissions. At that time, I started collecting a list of magazines. It was the Big List, and it started this site. Then I put this list together. I started looking for the best literary magazines, and then later, I realized I could turn different indicators into a point system, and so on. Later as EWR grew, others helped to compile this list. These magazines are very special to us; we purposefully constructed this list. It’s one of the reasons it takes so long to update.

We have also included interviews with some of the editors of these magazines. It was an honor to interview them, and we recommend you read those interviews. The editors tell you what they are looking to publish in their magazines. The best practice and best way to get your work published in these Top 50 literary magazines are by reading them. Understand what they want before you submit your manuscript. Having a thriving scholarly community is about supporting each other, not just supporting your work by publishing with them. Now here is our list of the top 50 literary magazines.

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Stack of magazines

Top 50 Literary Magazines – Every Writer

 

1 New Yorker 

Since 1925 this magazine has published some of the best writers in the country. They consistently publish outstanding work. Please support them. They have over a million readers.

2 Ploughshares

Founded in 1971, Ploughshares is our best and highest-ranked university non-commercial literary magazine. It is more honored by national anthologies than any other magazine except the New Yorker. It is an outstanding publication. We had the honor a little while back of interviewing Editor Ladette Randolph. Ploughshares is excellent and exceptional. Please support them.

3 Paris Review

The Paris Review started in 1953 and is one of the best-known literary magazines in the world. It is constantly publishing great authors and great works.

4 New England Review

It started in 1978 and is one of the country’s best-known and best-loved literary magazines. It is outstanding.

5 Granta

An outstanding literary magazine that has been publishing since 1889. They are honored with awards often.

6 Harper’s Magazine

Founded in 1850 and has always been honored. It is an outstanding commercial literary magazine with a circulation of 220,000 readers.

7 Kenyon Review

Since 1939 the Kenyon Review has been one of the best literary magazines in the country. You can always find great writers on its pages. It started in 1939. We recently interviewed the great Poet David Baker, one of the editors of the Kenyon Review. The magazine is one of the best out there, always.

8 Georgia Review

It started in 1947 and has won many awards. It is a significant literary magazine that publishes great authors and great works.

9 Southern Review

Originally started in 1935, Southern Review has contributed to great literature for over 50 years. A publication of the Louisiana State University and a great literary magazine.

10 Virginia Quarterly Review

One of the very best journals out there. This journal is often honored and published by The University of Virginia since 1925.

11 Threepenny Review

Founded in 1980 and is one of the best literary magazines out there. It’s always in national anthologies and winning awards. We had the honor of interviewing the Threepenny Review editor Wendy Lesser a little while ago; please check out the interview.

12 American Short Fiction

Founded in 1991, the magazine is always a leading source of well-honored fiction. The magazine takes online submissions. Buy the magazine, read the magazine, and support it.

13 Yale Review

For 100 years, this literary magazine has published great works by great authors. It’s always worth a read and a submission.

14 Southwest Review

This literary magazine can trace its roots back to 1915. Published by Southern Methodist University, the magazine is consistently publishing great work.

15 Green Mountain Review

Green Mountain Review, or GMR, was founded in 1987; they consistently win awards and publish famous names in the literary world. Northern Vermont University publishes them. 

16 Iowa Review

Founded in 1970, this literary magazine publishes excellent work again and again.

17 Painted Bride Quarterly 

Published in 1973 in Philadelphia, PBQ puts forth amazing authors in poetry and fiction. 

18 American Poetry Review

This literary magazine only published poetry and was founded in 1976. It is one of the top 2 poetry magazines in the country.

19 Poetry

Poetry is the best poetry magazine in the country, hands down. They were founded in 1912 and consistently published great poets. 

20 Zoetrope All-Story

Founded by Francis Ford Coppola in 1997, the literary magazine consistently publishes outstanding works of fiction.

21 One Story

Launched in 2002 and immediately began getting recognition for its high-quality stories. They publish fiction only.

22 Zyzzyva

First published in 1985 and has published wonderful stories every year it has been in circulation. They are consistently honored.

23 Agni

Boston University has published them since 1972. This literary journal is continuously publishing great work.

24 Antioch Review

Since 1941, The Antioch Review has published great authors and excellent writing. We love the Antioch review. 

25 Michigan Quarterly Review

MQR began publishing in 1962; they are continuously publishing outstanding work. The University of Michigan publishes them.

26 Gettysburg Review

The Gettysburg Review, founded in 1988, publishes fiction, essays, and poetry. They publish quarterly and have won numerous awards and honors. 

27 Prairie Schooner

This literary magazine has been published since 1927 and is among the best. 

28 Cincinnati Review

Starting in 2003, this literary magazine has published many outstanding authors and outstanding works.  

29 Colorado Review

In 1956 Colorado State University established the Colorado Review. They consistently publish good work from authors.

30 Boulevard

The literary magazine has been publishing great work since 1985. It’s one of the best.

31 Harvard Review

The Harvard Review started in 1986, publishes top writers in the country, and has won many awards and honors. 

32 Subtropics

This literary magazine has only been published for six years but has been honored so many times it made our list.

33 Shenandoah 

This literary magazine began publishing in 1949 and is one of the best.

34 Five Points

Five Points is published by Georgia State University and is in our top 10 of these 50 for always being in national anthologies and winning awards. Founded in 1996 still less than 20 years old, but a great literary magazine.

35 Conjunctions

An outstanding literary magazine from Bard College, they do have online content.

36 Epoch 

Published by Cornell University since 1947 and always publishes great authors and excellent writing.

37 Hudson Review

Founded in 1947, this literary magazine publishes outstanding work and authors.

38 Triquarterly

Founded in 1958, Triquarterly has continuously published great work. The magazine is honored often by national anthologies.

39 Alaska Quarterly Review

Founded in 1980 and published at the University of Alaska of Anchorage. The magazine publishes excellent work.

40 The Missouri Review

Since 1978 this magazine has won many honors and has published great works by great authors. The Missouri Review is one of those old.

41 A Public Space

The site was founded in 2006 but has won many honors in the short time it has been published.

42 Chicago Review

Founded in 1946 this literary magazine is consistently publishing great works.

43 Black Warrior Review

This literary magazine was founded in 1947 and has continuously published great authors. The Black Warrior Review is consistently publishing outstanding works by notable authors. We are big fans of this unique and long-standing magazine.

44 Witness

First published in 1987 the literary magazine has come on strong lately with many honors.

45 Barrow Street

The literary magazine only accepts poetry and was founded in 1998—one of the best.

46 New Ohio Review

Starting in 2006, this Ohio University Magazine has consistently published outstanding work from the day it opened. They have an excellent site on the web and online submissions.

47 Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse was established in 1960. The magazine is consistently publishing excellent writing by fantastic authors. We highly recommend you pick up a copy. 

48 Hanging Loose

Hanging Loose first appeared in 1966. They have won many awards, and their authors appear regularly in national anthologies. 

49 Narrative 

Since 2003 they have published fiction and poetry by great authors. We had them listed as the best online literary magazine, and they do have an excellent website, but they now publish in the real world, so we’ve moved them. This magazine is certainly worth reading and paying attention to.

50 Ecotone

The University of North Carolina-Wilmington established Ecotone in 2005. They consistently publish good work.

How did we come up with this top 50 literary magazines list? It’s challenging! Some other lists on the web tally the most appearance in Best American Short Stories or other anthologies. The literary magazine gets points for the years it has been publishing. Then we tally the appearances of these literary magazines in several national anthologies. We then give points for specific awards like Pushcart. We turn all these into a point system and then rank the magazines. So it would be like this, the top 50 magazines in order are based on age + awards + anthology appearances =best. This list was number one for literary magazines for the last ten years. It’s a detailed process. We hope this list of Top 50 literary magazines is helpful.

About admin

Richard Edwards is a writer and an educator and the owner editor of Every Writer. Follow him on Twitter, and check out our Submissions page.

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Comments

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  2. Satya Pattanaik says

    January 16, 2019 at 6:55 am

    Anyone can help me giving a list of the magazines who accept translation work from other languages from around the world? Thanks

    Reply
  3. Anita Gail Jones says

    January 27, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    Thanks for your past and present devotion to this much needed list. I look forward to using…

    Reply
  4. Krishnamurthy N says

    February 18, 2019 at 9:52 am

    The literary magazines, ilike have not made the grade! Litrery Review (LR), New York Times Book Review, London Review of Books (LRB), Times Literary Supplement (TLS)

    Reply
  5. Every Writer says

    February 18, 2019 at 9:57 am

    We are looking at rewriting this list. It is based on numbers, many factors. The first time we did this list, it was over 10 years go. If you want a complete list of literary magazines, you can go to our literary magazines site (searchable) https://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/

    Reply
    • Cynthia says

      March 17, 2019 at 12:41 am

      It’s absolutely bananas of you not to include The Sun Magazine in your list. By your own stated criteria, it’s top of the heap. It was founded in 1974, recommends the most Pushcart prize winners of any literary magazine, and publishes consistently high-quality stuff.

      Why did you overlook this gem???

      Reply
      • Every Writer says

        March 21, 2019 at 4:32 pm

        I’m looking to see why The Sun was removed from the list. I believe, at the time of writing the list that The Sun was ONLY taking solicited submissions, but I honestly cannot remember. We will be redoing this list soon.

        Reply
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      July 3, 2019 at 8:36 pm

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    • Tony B says

      November 27, 2020 at 11:25 pm

      Thank you. Great, thoughtful work in creating this list and posting it here online. Please continue your work. I look forward to the update as, for example, some publications accept online publications. Thank you for the support of the work of writers everywhere especially at this time. Long live the written word of stories and the supportive readers of such words. Thanks.

      Reply
      • Ken W Simpson says

        March 19, 2021 at 1:40 am

        I don’t agree. The list may be okay for non contributors – but for poets such as me – there are virtually no opportunities. There are publishers listed that are supposed to accept submissions – but don’t. The utter arrogance of some publishers is evident here. They don’t give a damn about contributors. Of course this sort of thing happens in other lists – in poets and writers for example.

        Reply
  15. Ken W Simpson says

    March 30, 2021 at 12:43 am

    I only see things from the point of view of the a poetry and occasional prose submitter. Writers are the backbone of any literary journal – yet all – except for a few at the very top – either don’t get paid or get paid very little for the years spent honing their skills – for little or no purpose other than as a vocation. It’s a part time occupation at best – and for most a humiliating experience.
    Perhaps if publishers published more and better books – rather than the rubbish they publish that sells – such as horror – science fiction – craft – gardening and cooking books – the industry would be better off. Sex sells and so does stupidity. All you need to do is drop by any of the very few places that sell books – apart from Amazon – and you will see lots of books – but very little literature.

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  17. Sinclaire says

    October 23, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    Started in 1998 but quickly became one of the best and best known literary magazines in the country. It has been honored by national anthologies more times than many literary magazine that have been publishing for over 100 years.

    Reply
  18. Bruce says

    December 4, 2021 at 3:32 pm

    No mention of The Sun on your list? Clifford Garstang ranks it as the #1lit mag for non-fiction.

    Reply
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    July 4, 2022 at 4:11 am

    Completely agree with the rating. Only I think that a novice writer will not be able to immediately get on the pages of these magazines. Again, you need to move from small magazines and gradually earn fans and fans.

    Reply
  21. ROSY DIXON says

    September 2, 2022 at 9:33 am

    How could you not include TLS – the Times (UK) Literary Supplement? Founded in 1902, it’s long been considered the world’s best literary magazine!

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