This is our list of the top 50 literary magazines. Our criteria for this list has changed. We considered a wide range of criteria for this list. We looked at close to 20 data points. The most important criteria we used this time was date of founding, number of national anthologies publications (and we looked at a lot of them), and the quality of work of and names of past authors published in the magazine.
We have a database listing of 1000s of magazines: Find a complete listing of literary magazines here.
We were the first site on the web to develop a list of top 50 literary magazines. It has been copied dozens of times. Our methods are methodical when it comes to compiling numbers for placement on the list. The purpose of this list is to help writers find a place to publish their writing that will get them some recognition. We feel when a magazine is published over a long period of time and is recognized nationally it gives authors more opportunity for exposure. Also these magazines tend to have a very good name in literary circles. We know that many will not agree fully and will 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 is a culmination of about 20 years of hard work. I first had the idea for this list when I was getting my BFA in Creative Writing. I had talked to some of the MFAers. They would talk about good and bad literary magazines. This was in the early days of the web. It was difficult to find online publications. Few reputable magazine took online submissions. It was at that time that I started to collect 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, and this list isn’t thrown together. It’s one of the reasons it takes so long to update.
We have also included interviews with some of these editors of these magazines. It was an honor to interview them, and we recommend you read those interviews if you want to better understand what these magazines are looking for. The best practice, and best way to get your work published in these Top 50 literary magazines is by reading them. Understand what they want before you submit your work. Having a thriving literary community is about supporting each other not just supporting your work by publishing with them. Now here is our list of top 50 literary 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. They deserve your support. 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 outstanding. 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 always publishing great authors and great works.
4 Tin House
Started in 1998 but quickly became one of the most awarded 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. We interviewed Editor Rob Spillman awhile back, see what he had to say. Tin House is a great magazine, read the interview, buy the magazine.
5 New England Review
Started in 1978 and is one of the best known and best loved literary magazines in the country. It is outstanding. Online submission by payment.
6 Granta
An outstanding literary magazine that has been publishing since 1889. They are honored with awards often. No online submissions.
7 Harper’s Magazine
Founded in 1850 and always well honored. It is an outstanding commercial literary magazine with a circulation of 220,000 readers. Online Submissions.
8 Kenyon Review
One of the best literary magazines in the country. You can always find great writers in its pages. Started in 1939. We recently did an interview with the great Poet David Baker, one of the editors of the Kenyon Review. The magazine is one of the best out there, always. Submissions online.
9 Georgia Review
Started in 1947 and has won many awards. It is a great literary magazine that publishes great authors and great works. No online submissions.
10 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.
11 Virginia Quarterly Review
One of the very best journals out there. This journal is often honored. Published by The University of Virginia since 1925. Online submissions
12 Threepenny Review
Founded in 1980 and 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. Online submissions
13 American Short Fiction
Founded in 1991, the magazine is always leading source of well-honored fiction. The magazine takes online submissions. Buy the magazine, read the magazine, and support it.
14 Yale Review
For 100 years this literary magazine has published great works by great authors. It’s always worth a read and a submission.
15 Southwest Review
This literary magazine can trace its roots back to 1915. Published by Southern Methodist University. The magazine is always publishing great work. No online submissions.
16 Mcsweeney’s
This magazine was founded in 1988 and has a large following. They also publish book. The literary magazine publishes great names in writing.
17 Iowa Review
Founded in 1970 this literary magazine publishing great work again and again.
18 Glimmer Train
Glimmer Train is only way down here at 38 because they do not publish poetry. Most of our numbers that go into this list are based on awards and anthologies, and magazines on our list take a big hit for only publishing Short stories or only poetry. It’s not a perfect method. Glimmer Train is one of the best literary magazines in the country. If they published poetry they would most-likely be in the top 10. We had the honor of interviewing Susan Burmeister-Brown a little while back. Please read the interview, and support Glimmer Train.
19 American Poetry Review
This literary magazine only publishes poetry and was founded in 1976. It is one of the top 2 poetry magazines in the country. No online submissions.
20 Poetry
The best poetry magazine in the country. Founded in 1912 and always publishing great poets. Publishes poetry online. Online submissions.
22 Zoetrope All-Story
Founded by Francis Ford Coppola in 1997, the literary magazine consistently publishes outstanding works of fiction.
22 One Story
Launched in 2002 and immediately began getting recognition for it’s high quality stories. They publish fiction only.
23 Zyzzyva
First published in 1985, and has published outstanding stories every year it has been in publication. They are consistently honored.
24 Agni
Published by Boston University since 1972. This literary journal is always publishing great work.
25 Antioch Review
Publishes great authors and great writing. It has been published by Antioch College since 1941. We love the Antioch review. They are in our database, and an outstanding literary magazine.
26 Michigan Quarterly Review
MQR began publishing in 1962, they are always publishing outstanding work. Published by the University of Michigan. Online Submissions.
27 Gettysburg Review
Founded in 1988 This literary magazine has been publishing since 1927 and is one of the very best. Their new website is very well done, and they now take online submissions!
28 Prairie Schooner
This literary magazine has been publishing since 1927 and is one of the very best. Their new website is very well done, and they now take online submissions!
29 Cincinnati Review
Started in 2003 this literary magazine has published many outstanding authors and outstanding work. Online submissions.
30 Colorado Review
In 1956 Colorado State University established the Colorado Review. They consistently publish good work from authors. Online submissions.
31 Boulevard
The literary magazine has been publishing great work since 1985. It’s one of the best. Online submissions.
32 Harvard Review
Has been publishing outstanding work since 1986. Online submissions.
33 Subtropics
This literary magazine has only been publishing for 6 years, but has been honored so many times it made our list.
34 Shenandoah
This literary magazine began publishing in 1949 and is one of the very best. Online submissions.
35 Five Points
Is published by Georgia State University and is in our top 10 of these 50 for being always in national anthologies and winning awards. Founded in 1996 still less than 20 years old but a great literary magazine. Online submissions
36 Conjunctions
An outstanding literary magazine. From Bard College, they do have online content.
37 Epoch
Published by Cornell University since 1947 and always publishes great authors and great writing.
38 Hudson Review
Founded in 1947 this literary magazine publishes outstanding work and authors.
39 Triquarterly
Founded in 1958 Triquarterly has always published great work. The magazine is honored often by national anthologies. Online submissions.
40 Alaska Quarterly Review
Founded in 1980 and published at the University of Alaska of Anchorage. The magazine publishes great work.
41 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 . Online submissions.
42 A Public Space
Was founded in 2006 but has won many honors in the short time it has been publishing. Online submissions
43 Chicago Review
Founded in 1946 this literary magazine is always publishing great works. No online submissions.
44 Black Warrior Review
This literary magazine was founded in 1947 and always publishes great works. The Black Warrior Review is always publishing outstanding works by amazing authors. We are big fans of this unique and long standing magazine. Online submissions.
45 Witness
First published in 1987 the literary magazine has come on strong lately with many honors. Online submissions.
46 Barrow Street
The literary magazine only publishing poetry and was founded in 1998. One of the best.
47 New Ohio Review
Started in 2006, this Ohio University Magazine has consistently published outstanding work from the day it was opened. They have a nice site on the web, and online submissions.
48 Crazy Horse
This literary magazine has been publishing great authors since 1960. We really enjoy Crazy Horse Magazine. This is a rare gem among many magazines of its kind. They are old school, so to speak. We recommend you buy a copy. Online submissions.
49 Narrative
Since 2003 they have been published fiction and poetry by great authors. We had them listed as the best online literary magazine, and they do have an outstanding website, but they now publish in the real world, so we’ve moved them. This magazine is certainly worth reading a paying attention to. Online submissions.
50 Ecotone
University of North Carolina-Wilmington established Ecotone in 2005. They consistently publish good work.
I’ve been asked many times how we come up with this top 50 literary magazines list. It’s very difficult! Some other lists on the web basically just tally the most appearance in Best American Short Stories or other anthologies. Basically the literary magazine gets points for the number of years it has been publishing. Then we tally the appearances of these literary magazines in several national anthologies. We then give points for certain awards like Pushcart. We turn all these into a point system and then rank the magazines. So it would be like this, top 50 magazines in order are based on age + awards + anthology appearances =best. That’s why this list was number one for literary magazines for the last 10 years. It’s a painstaking process. Anyway we hope this list of top 50 literary magazines is helpful.
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Any idea why The Atlantic fell off the list? The last time I checked (maybe a couple of years ago), it was #3. That seems like a pretty precipitous drop, unless you excluded it for some reason.
ZYZZYVA also publishes poetry.
Thank you Jersey!
Good list! However, I’ve got one correction for you. I clicked on the link above for Ecotone, and it took me to the magazine’s website. I clicked on its “About” page and it says that it was launched in 2005 by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, not University of South Carolina, as you state above. I’m at Clemson and have connections to University of South Carolina. Its literary publication is called Yemassee. Hope that helps!
We are working on updates. Sorry about the errors. Our site is about 10,000 pages, so sometimes it’s hard to make all the changes we want to make. If you see errors point them out. Mike, I’ve made the changes you pointed to. Thank you so much, and yes, it does help.
Thank you for all your work! I’m chiming in to say that Michigan Quarterly Review now accepts online submissions via Submittable.
Your comment popped up in my board, but it was so difficult to find where you left this. These new reply buttons. I made the changes…thank you for the note.
Hello there from Cincinnati Review! We do have online submissions now–in fact, we accept only online submissions. Thanks for the list!
This is great to hear. I will make the update soon.
Where are the online magazines? For my own tops list on the net, see my website or my monthly column of “literary booksmarks”
Please don’t just come by to plug your site. We have a large listing of literary magazines, print and online at on our literary magazines pages: http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/ I’ve been listing them on this site since 1999.
Disappointing to see a list like this base so heavily on biased anthology presence. The next article should be about how basing a list of “best” on metrics that are skewed towards cis-hetero white men is flawed. Also, as someone else said, where are the online literary journals that are doing the work right now? Meh, won’t be bookmarking this.
I’m not sure what journals you are referring to as skewed to cis-hetero white men. The three I subscribe to (university journals), and others I grab off the stands, are heavily weighted to feminist and LGBT points of view, with a fair bit of Social Justice War-making.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t the 6th to the last word of the introductory paragraph be “past”? Or are you referring to necrotic authors?
You are of course correct, what really needs to be done is the entire thing needs to be rewritten. I’m sorry for all the mistakes. It was botched long ago. The rewrites coming.
You should think about writing for our contest. http://www.everywritersresource.com/every-writer-halloween-50-word-scary-story-contest/ It’ll make you feel better about all the things that have gone wrong in the world.
Just to clarify: Colorado Review does in fact take online submissions.
I’ve made the changes. Thanks for the note.
A note to editors, the best way to update the information above, and to get a listing on our site for free, is to go here: http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/submit-your-site/ and fill out the form and submit it. We will update your listing, and this page….
Not only does Narrative charge an outrageous fee, but they have options for readers (internally, of course) to flag submissions either by “Noteworthy Authors” or those who have contributed $X to the journal. Narrative is an outright racket.
How do you expect a literary magazine to continue in existence charging $1 to $3 for a submission? Assuming a magazine gets 2,000 submissions at even $3 per, that’s $6,000. Printing costs alone can exceed that total. An independent magazine with no university backing would find it difficult to survive.
There is a lot of debate about literary magazines charging to read….but it is so difficult to make money publishing that it should certainly be understood why. Think of it this way, when you submitted your work did you also subscribe to the magazine? Have you ever bought a copy of the magazine you are submitting to? It cannot be one sided.
Well, we looked at the quality of writing in these magazines, not at their practices. Narrative doesn’t make anyone submit work to them. Writers find a value in it, or they wouldn’t do it. I too worked for a university magazine, and I never made a dime. We have to ask ourselves at some point what is the value of the work we do? Is the end goal only publishing a novel with a big publisher and riding off into the sunset? That prospect is sinking quickly. Making money on ads has become increasingly difficult. So how do you pay your fiction editor? Should literary magazines always be a profitless venture where no one sees value, and it’s just a few selfless souls who produce them? I’m just asking, what is your model to profit from these? Should these editors always work for free? Should it always be a university venture for the sake of art? Do you have a suggestion on how a magazine can make profit? Even major magazines and newspapers are disappearing.
I don’t know, but if they give their fiction editor $20 per submissions, wouldn’t that be nice? On EWR we get 100s of submissions, and many are outright spammed. I get submissions that are just forwarded from other magazines. No cover letters, nothing. You have to think of the value, and submitting your work has a value. If they made it a rule to subscribe to their magazine before you submit, would that be ok? I don’t know, but the model for literary magazines has been around for a very long time. One of my first rejection letters was from the late great Lois Rosenthal of Story magazine. It was hand written and worth much more to me than $20.
I’ve removed a couple nasty comments here. One was from a website owner who has 14,000 backlinks and 53 organic traffic. It kinda tells you what he does with his time. It’s bad form to spam the site while insulting me.
ALthough I appreciate your ranking of SHENANDOAH, I think you should know that the journal has been on line (shenandoahliterary.org) for about 7 years. To assess it’s current quality, someone needs to look at recent issues. In fact, we now ONLY consider mss. sent through our Submittable portal.
Thanks
R T Smith
Editor, SHENANDOAH
Yes, we’ve had you on the list for over 10 years, back when your url was http://shenandoah.wlu.edu/. I am a fan of the magazine. As a side note I’ve read your work since Brightwood. We’d be honored to do an interview….see some other interviews here: http://www.everywritersresource.com/interviews/
Ecotone was of time.
nice standard list – the only detail missing is that many of these magazines charge submission fees. This is like a regressive tax. Writers already earn nothing but are now forced to go negative. The main culprit is their use of submittable I guess. it is being addressed above. it reminds me of the 1990s nyc bar/cafe scene of pay to play for bands and writers.
Alaska Quarterly Review but not Salmagundi? Are you sure?
Thanks
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