Fence is committed to publishing from the outside and the inside of established communities of writing, seeking always to interrogate, collaborate with, and bedevil all the systems that bring new writing to light.

As a non-profit, Fence is mandated to make decisions outside of the requirements of market force or capital concern, and only in keeping with its mission:

to maintain a dedicated venue for writing and art that bears the clear variant mark of the individual’s response to their context; and to make that venue accessible to as many, and as widely, as possible so that this work can reach others, that they may be fully aware of how much is possible in writing and art; such that Fence publishes almost entirely from its unsolicited submissions; and is committed to publishing the literature and art of queer writers and writers of color.

Journals that have published debut stories later selected for this award honoring exceptional first-time published short story writers.

Lit Mags That Have Published PEN/Robert J. Dau Award Winners

Publications with stories in this respected annual flash fiction showcase. Perhaps the most prestigious flash-specific recognition.

Lit Mags in Wigleaf's Top 50

Are there agents that rep poets? Of course there are! While your writing matters most, certain publications are shinier than others and help widen that toe-in-the-door space—like the ones below.

Poetry Magazines That Will Make Agents Notice You

The mags in this list are competitive and publish physical print editions, so you get the satisfaction of seeing your work in print: pocket-sized, book-like, tangible. Way cooler than you'd expect.

Reputable Lit Mags with Print Issues

Story-focused publications with works chosen for Pushcart Prize anthologies. Less than 5% of nominated fiction typically makes the anthology.

Fiction Magazines Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

Online publications putting forward exceptional short stories for Best of the Net.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

A targeted resource for short story placements with potential for Pushcart recognition.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Specialized publications that recognize exceptional brief fiction through Pushcart nominations.

Digital publications advancing very short fiction for Best of the Net consideration.

Flash Fiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Publications with verse selected for America's foremost poetry anthology. These journals consistently publish poetry representing the most significant contemporary verse across styles and approaches.

Lit Mags Featured in Best American Poetry Anthologies

Publications with stories selected for America's oldest prestigious short fiction award, established in 1919. Editorial committee selections only.

Lit Mags Featured in O'Henry Award Anthologies

Publications with pieces chosen for Pushcart Prize anthologies. Recognition of exceptional quality across poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Lit Mags Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

Looking for balance between prestige and accessibility? These magazines are competitive but attainable for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writers.

Literary Magazines in the Sweet Spot

Journals that forward outstanding nonfiction to this respected anthology series founded in 1986. These publications identify exceptional essays that might reach the broader readership BAE provides.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best American Essays

A curated selection of publications that regularly submit work to this prestigious annual anthology showcasing 50 poems from emerging writers.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best New Poets

Identifies publications that put forward outstanding online work for this respected digital anthology established in 2006.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Publications that nominate work for this respected anthology series founded in 2015 by Tara Masih to celebrate fiction under 1,000 words.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best Small Fictions

A comprehensive guide to journals that regularly nominate work for the Pushcart Prize.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

BASS represents the most mainstream recognition for short fiction in America. These journals serve as the initial screening layer for potential inclusion in this widely-read collection.

Literary Mags That Nominate for Best American Short Stories

All-time most competitive literary magazines. Getting published in these is a significant achievement for any writer.

Most Competitive Literary Magazines of All Time

Explore the most popular literary magazines of all time. These long-established publications are a staple in the literary world for writers of all genres.

Most Popular Literary Magazines of All Time

Essay-focused publications with works selected for Pushcart Prize anthologies. These journals have repeatedly identified nonfiction that resonates with Pushcart editors and readers.

Nonfiction Magazines Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

Digital publications nominating outstanding essays and creative nonfiction for Best of the Net.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Highlights publications that regularly put forward essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction for Pushcart consideration.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Verse-centered publications with poems chosen for Pushcart Prize anthologies. These journals have consistently identified poems that stand out in this intensely competitive field.

Poetry Magazines Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

Online journals that specifically champion poetry for Best of the Net consideration.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Focuses specifically on poetry journals with established histories of Pushcart nominations.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Fence

The Ottoline Book Prize is open to full-length poetry manuscripts by any person who identifies as a woman and/or female, including trans women as well as people of variable gender who were Assigned Female at Birth. People who identify as men are not eligible for this prize.
An award of $5,000 will be paid upon publication.
The selected book will be published in fall/winter 2028.
The poet will be given a two-week residency at the T.S. Eliot House in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The book will be distributed throughout North America by Consortium Books / Ingram.
The author will receive 40 complimentary books and royalties, as part of the contract with Fence Books.
The first printing of 1,000 will be printed offset at Versa Press in East Peoria, Illinois.
First round readers include Fence editors and volunteers.
Emily Wallis Hughes will select the manuscript for the Ottoline Book Prize, which she will edit in collaboration with the author.
The submission fee is $25, and all entrants receive a complimentary two-issue subscription or renewal to Fence. International applicants will receive a digital subscription to Fence through Exact Editions.
Please review the following:
First, second, third, fourth, and beyond books are welcome. Poets at any stage in their writing life, published or unpublished, are eligible to submit.
Poets living in any country are welcome to submit their manuscripts. There are no limitations on country of origin or immigration status.
Manuscripts should be at least 45 pages. There is no maximum page limit.
Multilingual poetry manuscripts are welcome, as well as self-translations into English.
Manuscripts may be submitted to other Fence Book submission calls simultaneously.
Poetry created through collaboration is welcome. Please provide the contact information of your collaborator(s) in the ‘cover letter’ field. Your collaborators need to also qualify based on the Ottoline guidelines.
Current and/or former students and teaching colleagues of Emily Wallis Hughes are ineligible to submit.
Current Fence volunteers, editors, board members, and editorial advisors are ineligible to submit, as well as family and partners of the above-mentioned Fence community.
Fence Books is an imprint of Fence Magazine, Inc., a small, fully independent literary publisher. The reading fees help cover the editorial labor involved in the serious, deep process of fully considering each manuscript we receive and may be allocated to various necessary operational expenses.
Fence Magazine, Inc., a 501(c)(3) independent not-for-profit based in New York, is a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses [CLMP].
While Fence does not have an identity-hidden reading process for this prize, the editors care deeply about editorial integrity and reading objectively; all Fence editors and readers agree to the "Editorial Guidelines and Code of Conduct" approved by the Board of Directors.
Please write to fence.fencebooks@gmail.com with any questions.

Ottoline Book Prize

The Fence Modern Poets Series Prize, founded in 2001, is open to full-length poetry manuscripts.
An award of $2,000 will be paid upon publication. 
The selected book will be published in fall/winter 2028.
The poet will be given a two-week residency at the T.S. Eliot House in Gloucester, Massachusetts. 
The book will be distributed throughout North America.
The author will receive 40 complimentary books and royalties, as part of the contract with Fence Books. 
The first printing of 1,000 will be printed offset at Versa Press in East Peoria, Illinois. 
First round readers are Fence editors and volunteers. 
Delicia Daniels, Fence poetry editor, will select the manuscript for the Fence Modern Poets Series Book Prize, and Fence Books Editor Emily Wallis Hughes will edit the book in collaboration with the author.
The submission fee is $25, and all entrants receive a complimentary two-issue subscription or renewal to Fence. International applicants will receive a digital subscription to Fence through Exact Editions.
 

GUIDELINES + ELIGIBILITY
***Submissions will be read in an identity-hidden process. Please remove your name and any identifying information from your manuscript. Manuscripts containing the author's name anywhere in the document will not be read, and will be disqualified.***
Open to full-length poetry manuscripts. Minimum 45 pages. No page limit. 
Poets at any stage in their writing life, published or unpublished, are eligible to submit. 
There are no citizenship limitations or requirements.
Poets of all identities and genders are encouraged to submit their manuscripts.
Collaborations and all kinds of poetry experiments are welcome, including those which incorporate visual art.
Poetry in self-translation is welcome.
Manuscripts may be submitted to other Fence Book submission calls simultaneously. 
Current or former students (within 10 years) and teaching colleagues of Delicia Daniels or Emily Wallis Hughes are ineligible to submit.
Current Fence volunteers, editors, board members, and editorial advisors are ineligible to submit, as well as family and partners of the above-mentioned Fence community. 

Fence Modern Poets Series Prize

Please submit up to three poems and no more than ten pages of poetry per submission (one or two more pages is permissible if necessary due to the length of a poem).
Poetry with varying typography is welcome, but please keep in mind that Fence has a 7" x 9" trim size with one-inch margins.
Please note: Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after at least four issues and/or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.

FENCE Poetry Submissions

Please limit your submission to one story of no more than 8000 words or three flash fictions of up to 1000 words each. Submissions containing more than one story or three flash fictions will not be read.
Individuals are limited to one submission per submission period.
Please note: Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after at least four issues or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.

FENCE Fiction Submissions

FENCE Flash Fiction Submissions

Find Sarah and Adam's breathing-thinking about the feature below, so that you may think/inhale/exhale along with us, and give yourself radical permission:
Other editor Sarah Falkner writes: “It’s been 30+ degrees Fahrenheit above normal for weeks here in France. While in the South high temperatures are not unknown, my northwestern region is the temperate agricultural and fishing center of France. Now some crops are already failed, and others are combusting in the fields—the farmers can only harvest the ripe wheat at night for risk of equipment sparking a blaze. Fish and marine animals are washing up dead on the shores, wild birds are dropping dead from the sky, and farms are turning into mass burial sites for the (at last count, 5 million) domesticated animals who can't adapt to such an extreme and sudden change. A family of toads somehow made their way through the stone foundation of my house to seek comfort in our bathroom—adorable, but also apocalyptic. Nobody really knows what's going to happen to the forests, besides the ones that are on fire at the moment, but I can tell you that in my garden despite watering at night, many plants and trees have given up the ghost. So, the climate emergency isn't so much of an abstraction for me. It's hard to focus on anything else!”
Other seeks work that engages with, reports back from, & investigates this intersectional ecological moment. We’re keen to see work from artists who resist despair & contemplate ways forward—or who thoughtfully alchemize grief and anger—via action, art, architecture, care work, chemistry, politics, horticulture, culinary arts, housing, industrial design, sociology, beekeeping, history, & et cetera. Reportage / documentation is welcome. As always, we're looking for work that’s hard to categorize, that hybridizes & transgresses; we like visual work, but all categories of poetry should be submitted to poetry—that includes vispo, found poems, erasures, et cetera.
Please send in a single submission of up to three short pieces and/or no more than twelve (12) pages. If you have multiple, distinct pieces that fit within the twelve page limit, please include them in one submission.
Please note: the trim size of an issue of Fence is 7"x 9"—if your piece is page-size specific, be sure to format it to fit on a 7" x 9" Fence page with one inch margins, and provide a PDF.
Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after at least four issues or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.

FENCE Climate & Ecology Special Feature Submissions

Please send in a single submission of up to three short pieces and/or no more than twelve (12) pages. If you have multiple, distinct pieces that fit within the twelve page limit, please include them in one submission.
Any writing or text that feels outside of the bounds of what is designated by "poetry" or "fiction" should be submitted here. All are welcome.
Please note: the trim size of an issue of Fence is 7"x 9" -- if your piece is page-size specific, be sure to format it to fit on a 7" x 9" Fence page with one inch margins, and provide a PDF.
Please note: Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after at least four issues or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.

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FENCE Poetry Submissions

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