As part of our commitment to providing writers (and readers!) with the very best selection of publications, we’ve compiled this selection of exemplary journals that promote authors of color from all walks of life.
This list of diversity-oriented literary journals comes from our extensive database of markets for creative writers. At Writer’s Relief, we maintain a constantly updated database to identify the publications best-suited to our clients’ particular writing styles and content. This is just a sampling of the journals that feature writers of color (and are accepting submissions!); the list is not complete.
A Gathering of the Tribes: an arts and cultural organization dedicated to excellence in the arts from a diverse perspective.
Aaduna: provides a publication venue for artists of color.
Acentos Review: publishes poetry, fiction, memoir, interviews, translations, and artwork by emerging and established Latino/a writers and artists.
African American Review: the official publication of the Division on Black American Literature and Culture of the Modern Language Association.
African Voices: strives for artistic and literary excellence while showcasing the unique and diverse stories within the African Diaspora.
Apogee: specializes in art and literature dealing with issues of identity politics: race, gender, sexuality, class, and hyphenated identities.
Asian American Literary Review: a space for writers who consider the designation “Asian American” a fruitful starting point for artistic vision and community.
As/Us: showcases the creative literary expressions and scholarly work of both emerging and established women writers from around the world…particularly indigenous women and women of color.
Bamboo Ridge: publishes literature by and about Hawaii’s people.
Bilingual Review: focuses on the linguistics and literature of bilingualism and bilingual education. (U.S. Hispanic themes only.)
BLACKBERRY: A Magazine: devoted to sharing the literary voice of black women.
Black Magnolias: celebrates the social, political, and aesthetic accomplishments of African American poetry, fiction, and prose with an emphasis on Afro-Mississippians and Afro-Southerners.
Blue Lyra Review: aims to unite writers and artists from a diverse array of backgrounds.
Callaloo: the premier literary and cultural journal of the African Diaspora.
Cecile’s Writers’ Magazine: a literary magazine for “intercultural” writers.
Cha: focuses on Asian-themed creative work and work done by Asian writers and artists; the first Hong Kong-based English online literary journal.
Colere: publishes works dealing with the subjects of culture and race.
Duende: the all-online literary journal of the BFA in Writing program at Goddard College featuring writers and artists from groups that are underrepresented in today’s U.S. literary ecosystem.
Eastlit: focuses on creative writing specifically from or connected to East and Southeast Asia.
Festival Writer: aims to celebrate both established and emerging writers with a variety of voices, particularly interested in publishing that which is traditionally marginalized.
Glint Literary Journal: published by Fayetteville State University (a Historically Black University); welcomes submissions in poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual art from persons of diverse cultures, nationalities, and religions.
Hinchas de Poesia: publishes the fiction, poetry, and prose of authors from “América” (North, Central, South).
Huizache: features works that challenge ethnic, gender, or social stereotypes of Latino/a culture.
Hyphen Magazine: explores cultural issues while tackling what is Asian American.
Jaggery: offers writing by and about South Asians and their diaspora.
joINT. Literary Magazine: publishes work from writers and visual artists across the African diaspora, who exist within the margins of gender, sex, religious, cis, able-bodied, and class privilege.
Kartika Review: publishes Asian Pacific Islander American fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and art; sponsored by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC).
Killens Review of Arts and Letters: published by the Center for Black Literature; highlights work related to the various cultural, sociopolitical, and historical experiences of writers and artists from the African diaspora.
Kweli Journal: provides a platform for the voices of writers of color; celebrates cultural kinships.
Kyoto Journal: about society, beliefs, traditions and new developments—how people live, and live well—through the lens of Asian experience.
Lantern Review: aims to provide a virtual space in which to showcase Asian-American poetry and to engage with issues relevant to its production and dissemination.
LONTAR: speculative writing from and about Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Mandala Journal: a multicultural journal that celebrates diversity by publishing a wide range of voices, experiences, and aesthetics.
The Margins: published by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop; dedicated to inventing the Asian American creative culture of tomorrow.
Mascara Literary Review: particularly interested in the work of contemporary migrant, Asian Australian and indigenous writers.
Munyori Literary Journal: Zimbabwean-American literary platform.
Muzzle Magazine: features poets from a diverse array of backgrounds, especially those from communities that are historically underrepresented in literary magazines.
Mizna: Arab-American themes that reflect the diversity of our community.
Moko: publishes fiction, poetry, visual arts, and nonfiction essays that reflect a Caribbean heritage or experience.
Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora: acknowledged by the National Endowment of the Arts as one of the premier journals dedicated to Africa and African Diaspora Literatures.
Palabra: presents the future of Chicano and Latino writing.
Papercuts: writers of South Asian origin and writing on South Asia.
pluck!: features poetry, prose, and visual art from writers who identify with multicultural experiences based in the Appalachian region.
Polychrome Ink: for writers who are, in one way or another, outside of the typical White Cishet writer.
Raising Mothers: for mothers, focuses on writers of color, gender non-conformists, LGBTQIA, and differently-abled communities. Their aim is to represent all walks of life and every stage of motherhood.
Raspa Magazine: queer literary magazine that focuses on the Latino perspective.
The Raven Chronicles: publishes work which reflects the cultural diversity of the Pacific Northwest, Cascadia, and other regions.
Sinister Wisdom: a multicultural lesbian literary and art journal
Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices: writers of diverse nationalities, races and religions, and also writers from diverse cultures within our culture.
Spook: “founded and edited by people of color who seek out and publish specifically people of color.”—quote from Columbia Poetry Reviews
Sukoon: an Arab-themed, English language, online literary magazine reflecting the diversity and richness of the Arab world.
TAYO Literary Magazine: dedicated to the creation, cultivation, and promotion of Filipino/Filipino-American arts and culture.
Transition Magazine: a unique forum for the freshest, most compelling, most curious ideas about race; aims to be both an anchor of deep reflection on black life and a map charting new routes through the globalized world.
Tidal Basin Review: “a journal that is concerned with innovation, craft, and diversity as its mainstays.”—letter from the journal’s Editor-In-Chief.
Waxwing: promoting the tremendous cultural diversity of contemporary American literature, alongside international voices in translation.
Xavier Review: the oldest American literary journal based at a historically Black university. Special interests include the American South, New Orleans, the Gulf and Caribbean sphere, African-American culture, ethnography, and religion.
Yellow Medicine Review: encourages submissions from indigenous (defined by YMR as “representative of all pre-colonial peoples”) perspectives.
Zona de carga/Loading Zone: especially interested in works that explore, question, and invigorate the cultural tradition of Spanish America, Spain, Portuguese-speaking countries and the Caribbean, as well as their diasporas.
QUESTION: Do you know of any other literary journals or magazines not listed that emphasize diversity? Share them with us in our comments section!
Nepantla is a new journal for queer poets of color!
Glint Literary Journal is an annual publication of the Department of English at Fayetteville State University,a historically black university founded in North Carolina in 1867. Glint celebrates innovation in style and voice. We welcome submissions in poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual art from persons of diverse cultures, nationalities, and religions.
I know that Storm Cellar is looking for work by authors of color and by members of minorities of all sorts: http://stormcellarquarterly.com
Please include in this list of Literary Journals Featuring Writers of Color the following journal:
Asian American Literatures: Discourses and Pedagogies
http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/aaldp/
A fully online journal that is free for all to access, which focuses on discussing literature by and about Asian American Pacific Islanders, with a particular interest on the teaching of that literature in elementary through university levels.
Fine list! Two important ones to add:
Black Renaissance Noire is a stunning journal edited by Quincy Troupe. It features poetry, visual art, essays, drama, interviews, and fiction.
Mosaic literary magazine is a long standing publication that contains many resources for teachers and has a yearly conference.
Thank you for featuring African Voices!
Please note that Kimiwan magazine is open to Indigenous writers globally and just did a special edition on Indigenous Futurisms coming out now in November 2014.
I’ve subscribed!
Did it!
Subscribed to Blackberry: a magazine and Solstice Literary Magazine
These journals were very interesting. As a woc myself I didn’t know there were so many options for me out there.
I’m now subscribed to Apogee and Hinchas de poesía
I just subscribed to Kweli Journal and Cecile’s writers; I hope that I can learn and grow from these experiences.
Mud Season Review, an online journal with potentially two print volumes each year, is open to any and all contributors regardless of race, gender, or sexual identification. With only three issues under its belt, it has already featured a woman of color who writes fiction. Since each issue so far includes only one each of poetry, short story, nonfiction, and art, this is n exemplary showing. We actively encourage all to submit their work, knowing that any personal identifying information may be unavailable to the reviewer until after the work has been assessed. In this manner, we choose the best of the submissions regardless of the identity of the artist or writer.
I subscribed to online newsletters and blogs by Apogee and Mandala Journal. I’m looking forward to reading and being inspired!
Weave Magazine is a magazine that’s always been committed to diversity, and we would love to consider more writing and artwork by people of color. All submissions are thoughtfully considered by our editors. We’re open 9/1 – 5/21 annually.
Lunch Ticket, the literary and art journal from the MFA community at Antioch University Los Angeles, is committed to publishing work by diverse, particularly underrepresented, voices. We are actively seeking work by American authors of color, non-US nationalities, religious minorities, Native American and indigenous, and others. Like the work we are seeking, our editors and reading teams are from diverse backgrounds.
Lunch Ticket is a twice-yearly literary and art journal. LT accepts submissions Aug 1 – Oct 31 and Feb 1 – Apr 30. Amuse-Bouche is a twice-monthly feature showcasing individual writers/artists throughout the year, and accepts submissions in January and July.
“Publishing the mojo of Black women writers”
SUBMISSIONS WANTED. OCTOBER 2015 DEADLINE(S).
Check the site for submission guidelines.
MoJo! is an online journal. There is no submission fee, and it is a nonoatpying market. Published poems are eligible for the “Extra MoJo #2” print anthology.
The HCP Memoir Contest 2015 requires a $15.00 USD entry fee. Publication in Summer 2015 plus 10 copies of the winning book is the prize.
Check out the peer reviewed e-journal, Label Me Latina/o.
Mud City is an online literary journal promoting the ideals and vision of the Institute of American Indian Arts’ (IAIA) Low Residency MFA Program. We publish in January and July of each year to coincide with our biannual MFA residency that occurs on the IAIA campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
While Mud City is rooted in an Indigenous centered program, we look to publish writers from a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, styles, and aesthetics.
I would love to have my literary magazine, Raising Mothers, added to the list!
Raising Mothers was founded as a response to the lack of literary writing focused on mothers of color or parents raising children of color. Raising Mothers is a literary magazine for mothers by mother writers, publishing personal essays, in-depth interviews and creative writing, honoring both parenting and personhood.
We actively seek out and support work by and about those often marginalized in the literary conversation, including people of color and gender non-conformists, and members of the LGBTQIA and differently abled communities. We aim to represent all walks of life and every stage of motherhood.
Types of submissions:
I am looking for original, previously unpublished prose or poetry that explores life and in turn how that affects us as mothers and people. Work is accepted on an ongoing basis and I try to respond as quickly as possible. Writing should be strong and engaging without being academic in tone. I also accept flash fiction under 1,000 words and excerpts of larger works.
Hello! This is Daniel Lanier III & I need some help submitting my literary journals and writings to book publishers/literary agents?!
Hello dear editors,
Would it be possible to add Latino Book Review to your list. Latino Book Review is a platform that hosts and exposes contemporary Latin American authors and literature, ranging from well established to promising emerging authors. Here is our link to Latino Book Review http://www.latinobookreview.com.
Outcast Poetry and Whirlwind Magazine seeks poets of color!
outcastpoetry.com
whirlwindmagazine.org
I just discovered Fiyah, a journal of black speculative fiction.
I would like to add my new literary magazine, Forty-Eight Review, to the list!
Forty-Eight Review is a literary magazine that strives to feature the works of Asian and Asian-American writers of all ages around the world, telling their stories.
Poetic Magazine accepts and highlights submissions from writers and artists of color for annual journal.
You should add Blue Minaret Literary Journal! http://www.blueminaret.com/
The Rumpus is an online literary magazine that seeks voices of color, LGBTQ+ writers, women and nonbinary people, and people of multiple marginalized identities. From their website: “We strive to be a platform for marginalized voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere, and to lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers we love. We work to shine a light on stories that build bridges, tear down walls, and speak truth to power.”
The Rumpus accepts poetry and fiction, as well as interview pitches and finished interview submissions.
https://therumpus.net/
Please note that “Ripe Literary Journal” is a new literary & arts magazine seeking work that focuses on mental health experiences and healing; especially by poc and lgbtq+.
This list is missing The Amistad (amistad.com) (Howard University’s literary journal), Lucky Jefferson (luckyjefferson.com), WusGood? (wusgood.black) and FlyPaper Lit (flypaperlit.com) Another journal which has a diverse staff and welcomes diverse voices is The Offing (offingmag.com).
I noticed that “Somos en Escrito: The Latino Literary Online Magazine” is missing. I’d love for you to include it. Thank you so much! Here is their website: https://www.somosenescrito.com