University of Houston's English Department

A journal of literature, art, and critical art writing, publishing contributors who represent a flow of international cultures, voices, and aesthetics

In 1986, the name Gulf Coast premiered. It stuck. After some experimenting, the journal found its dimensions and, eventually, its audience. The journal has since moved beyond the student body of the University of Houston and into the larger world. Our readership of the print journal currently exceeds 3,000, with more and more coming to our ever-expanding website. The print journal comes out each April and October.

Gulf Coast is still student-run. We seek to promote and publish quality literature in our local and national communities while simultaneously teaching excellence in literary publishing to graduate and undergraduate students. While we are committed to providing a balanced combination of literary approaches and voices, all of the editorial positions are two-year terms, thus ensuring a regular turnover in the specific personality and style of the journal.



What's dumb money for poetry? Anything substantial. These magazines pay at least $200, often more, for poems.

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

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These lit mags are some of the titans and mainstays of the lit mag landscape. They've won tons of awards, published tons of people who have gone on to win tons of awards, etc.

Lit Mags with Excellent Reputations

Main characters publish in them, read them, and run them! Please note this list is far from exhaustive. All poets have main character energy, honestly.

Poetry Magazines with Main Character Energy

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

The top nonfiction lit mags in our database, ranked by how many users have bookmarked them.

The Ultimate List of Places to Submit Your Nonfiction

Abstractly named, prestigiously positioned publications that look good italicized in your bio. You know, the kind of magazines that open doors.

These Prestige Mags Want to Make You a Star

These high-quality poetry magazines nominate for Pushcart and pay. For real!

Top-Tier Pushcart-Nominating Poetry Mags (That Pay)

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.

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

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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.

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

Lit Mags Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

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.

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

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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.

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

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

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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

Gulf Coast

Stories should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages. We are unable to read submissions of more than 7,000 words.

Print Edition Fiction

Stories should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages. We're less likely to publish pieces longer than 3,000 words.

Online Exclusive Fiction

Interviews and reviews of literary collections or anthologies:
Single-book reviews should be no longer than four pages. We are particularly interested in reviews of first or second books. Interviews should not exceed twelve pages. All reviews and interviews should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages.
All interviews and reviews will be considered for Print and Online editions of the Journal.

Print Edition Nonfiction or Lyric Essay

Online exclusive nonfiction and lyric essays should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages. We're less likely to publish pieces longer than 3,000 words.
Gulf Coast will be closed to submissions for online exclusives from December 21st to January 25th.

Online Exclusive Nonfiction and Lyric Essay

Critical Art Writing essays should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages. We are unable to read submissions of more than 7,000 words. We look forward to reading your work!

Print Edition Critical Art Writing

Translations of poetry (up to 5 poems per submission) and prose (up to twenty pages double-spaced) should include a brief bio of the author and indicate whether the translator has been given permissions. For poetry, we encourage authors to include the departing language in their submission.

Print Edition Translations - Poetry

Poems for Online Exclusive consideration (up to 5 per submission) should be typed with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address in the header on each page.

Online Exclusive Poetry

Print Edition Translations - Fiction

Print Edition Translations - Nonfiction

Print Edition Reviews

Print Edition Interviews

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gulf Coast is given annually for a piece of short prose or prose poetry. Two honorable mentions will each receive $250. All entries will be considered for publication. This year's final judge is Leyna Krow.
Submit a piece of flash fiction, prose poems, or micro-essays of 500 words or fewer. Each entry can include up to three pieces. The fee for each entry is $20, which includes a yearlong subscription (2 issues) of Gulf Coast.
Only previously unpublished work will be considered. The contest will be judged blindly, so please do not include your cover letter, your name, or any contact information in the uploaded document.
Deadline: September 7, 2026

Gulf Coast Barthelme Prize for Short Prose — Fiction

Gulf Coast Barthelme Prize for Short Prose — Nonfiction

Gulf Coast Barthelme Prize for Short Prose — Poetry

Gulf Coast is now accepting entries for the 2026 Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing.
Established in 2017, the Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing provides a platform for the thoughtful exchange of ideas in visual arts scholarship, criticism, and research. Named in honor of Toni Beauchamp—board president of Art Lies from 2002 to 2004 and a lifelong supporter of the arts in Houston and across Texas—the prize celebrates her legacy by supporting emerging and mid-career writers who demonstrate a distinctive voice, combine scholarship with journalistic insight, and exemplify literary excellence.
The prize invites submissions of expository writing, scholarly essays, and exhibition reviews written or published within the past year. The 2026 Toni Beauchamp Prize awards $3,000 to the first-place recipient and $1,000 each to two runners-up. The winning essay will be published in Gulf Coast’s print journal.
This year’s judge is Andrew Berardini, His poems, essays, and criticism ease into each other, shaped by class, illness, and pleasure. A contributor to Mousse since 2007 and Artforum since 2006, he is the author of Relics (2015), a memoir-once-removed on the work of Danh Võ, and Colors (2023), a literary atlas of 110 shades of color. His writing has appeared in Purple, BOMB, and elsewhere, as well as for SFMOMA, the Whitney Biennial, and documenta 14.
He co-curated Kris Lemsalu's Estonian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, orchestrated Bruce Nauman's first-ever skywriting, performed as the Public Writer at Pierre Huyghe's retrospective, and has organized exhibitions at MOCA, Los Angeles; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and Castello di Rivoli, Turin.
Berardini is Editor-in-Chief of Art Bae Agenda, a longtime faculty member at the Mountain School of Arts, and a recipient of the Creative Capital / Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. In Fall 2026, he will begin as a Clarendon Scholar at the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford. His collected writings about Los Angeles are forthcoming. He composes through exhibitions, love letters, posters, pamphlets, performances, and songs. Often disabled by illness, he keeps language tender, strange, and alive.
GUIDELINES:
Submit one piece of critical art writing, of no more than 1,500 words, in a single .doc, .docx, or .pdf file.
Submissions may include previously unpublished work or work published within the past year.
The contest will be judged blindly, so do not include your name or contact information in the uploaded document.
If selected, writers are responsible for securing image permissions and, if applicable, reprint rights for previously published work.
There is no entry fee.
Submission Deadline: September 14, 2026

Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gulf Coast will be given annually for a work of prose translation into English. Honorable mentions will each receive $250. All entries will be considered for publication in print or online. This year's final judge is Mira Rosenthal.
Submit up to 10 pages of prose, fiction or non fiction translated into English and a copy of the original text. Excerpts from longer works are welcome.
Full entry fee is $20 and includes a yearlong subscription to Gulf Coast (2 issues).   Only previously unpublished work will be considered. The contest will be judged blindly so your personal information should not appear in the uploaded document.   *In your submission, please provide one of the following:
A note (from the translator) in the Comments section of our Online Submission Manager stating that permissions are granted.
From the copyright holder (in the event the piece makes it to the final judging round): Written permission granting you rights to translate the work in your contest submission. Permission should name the work being translated, date consent was given, and identify the copyright holder.
Deadline: September 7, 2026

Gulf Coast Prize in Translation

Poems (up to 5 per submission) should be typed with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address in the header on each page.

Gulf Coast

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Gulf Coast Barthelme Prize for Short Prose — Fiction

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