Experimental Writing

PUBLISHERS

This list is just our idiosyncratic core sample from the wider landscape of experimental publishers. We hope it helps you to discover some publishers that champion new work that aligns with some of the genres, aesthetics, and sensibilities we mention in the book. It is not meant to be comprehensive. We recommend aggregate sites that list a broad range of publishers, too, such as Poets & Writers, Duotrope, New Pages, and Heavy Feather’s “Where to Submit” page. This compilation of publishers, much like the list under Institutions on our website, has plentiful biases, one of the most obvious being that it’s Anglophone and American-centric. With a little sleuthing, you can discover the literary journal and small press publishing scenes in your country, region, or locality.

These journals and magazines run the gamut from well-known legacy publications such as n + 1 and Zoetrope to top-tier university-sponsored journals such as Colorado Review and Washington Square to well-regarded newer, independent magazines such as Fence and PANK to top online journals such as DIAGRAM and diode to up-and-coming publications such as Foglifter and DREGINALD to little-known, regional, or emerging journals such as Nice Cage and The Collidescope. This reflects the diverse ecosystem of affiliations, platforms, and venues of experimental writing that allows it to keep a healthy and heady mix of viewpoints and venturesome aesthetics, despite the short shelf life of most little magazines over the decades.

Little magazines come and go quite quickly, which is part of their beauty; don’t be shocked if you find a dead link. Although paywalls—and submission fees—are becoming more common, there is still an abundance of literature with open access online. Several of these magazines offer fee-free submission periods, as well.

We also include an array of small presses, many of which are run as passion projects by a couple dedicated editors, others of which have slightly more established backing and wider distribution. Hopefully, you will find something of interest to check out. We encourage you to support independent publishers. Buy a book! (Ours, of course.) And then buy another one if you like. Check out your local or academic libraries, too: needless to say, there’s tons of great stuff there that you can access gratis. Keep reading.

Links

● N + 1

● Diode

● [PANK]

● DIAGRAM

● Black Warrior Review

● Hotel Amerika

● Zoetrope

● McSweeney’s

● FENCE

● Ninth Letter

● Sixth Finch