Founded in 1962, MQR has been publishing urgent and powerful literary voices for over sixty years as the flagship journal of the University of Michigan.

Michigan Quarterly Review, founded in 1962,  is an interdisciplinary and international literary journal, combining distinctive voices in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as works in translation. 

The flagship literary journal of the University of Michigan, our magazine embraces creative urgency and cultural relevance, aiming to challenge conventions and address long-overdue conversations. 

As we continue to promote an expansive and inclusive vision, we seek work from established and emerging writers with diverse aesthetics and experiences.

Twice a year, we curate an array of perspectives on a single theme. Past special issues have included writing on Iran, the Global Water Crisis, and Persecution.

The most trending literary magazines based on tracked submissions in the last 24 hours.

Chill & Trending Lit Mags Today

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

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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

We asked, you guys answered. Here are more of the community's spring 2026 favorites for you cool kids, weird kids, very serious adults, etc.

Want to check out Parts 1-3? We've un-paywalled them for you guys, so get them before they're gone.
Part 1: https://www.chillsubs.com/lists/cool_kids_3
Part 2: https://www.chillsubs.com/lists/Cool_kids_2
Part 3: https://www.chillsubs.com/lists/cool_kids_pt3

Where The Cool Kids Are Submitting Their Writing: Part 4

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.

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Publications with nonfiction in BAE, the premier American essay anthology. These journals consistently publish thought-provoking, beautifully crafted nonfiction defining contemporary essay excellence.

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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.

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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

Best Microfiction, edited by Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke, celebrates the art of the extremely brief narrative. These publications have editorial teams with particular sensitivity to the craft.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best Microfiction

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

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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.

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Essential publications that nominate short fiction for the O'Henry Prize anthology, one of America's most venerable literary awards. Established in 1919.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for the O'Henry Prize

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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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.

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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.

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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

Michigan Quarterly Review

The Jesmyn Ward Prize will be awarded annually by the Michigan Quarterly Review to one short story submitted for consideration. The Michigan Quarterly Review has established this prize in honor of Helen Zell Writers’ Program Alumna Jesmyn Ward and her significant contributions to the literary arts.
Submissions to the Jesmyn Ward Prize include a one-year digital subscription for four issues of MQR beginning with the Winter 2026 issue.
Please submit one unpublished short story of 1,500-7,000 words. Simultaneous submissions are welcome but please withdraw your submission as soon as it is accepted elsewhere.  
We ask entrants not to include their names or contact information within the document they upload to Submittable, its title, or its file name.
First readers for the prize will be the Helen Zell Writers’ Program students who currently review submissions on behalf of the journal. 
Submissions will go through two rounds of consideration by graduate students before 10 finalists are passed on to the judge.
Current faculty and students and recent graduates (in the past 3 years) of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program are barred from submitting. Close friends, relatives, and current and former students (in the past 3 years) of the Judge are barred from submitting. MQR’s staff and editorial board, as well as their immediate family members, are also excluded from the contest.
The 2025 Judge is Kevin Wilson. The winning story will be published in the Summer 2026 issue of MQR.
The prize will be in the amount of $2,000 and publication. All submissions will be considered for publication in MQR.

Jesmyn Ward Fiction Prize

This prize is named honor of former University of Michigan English Professor James A. Winn. Each year’s winner receives $1500 and publication in MQR.

James A. Winn Prize

Please submit up to five previously unpublished poems with a total page count of no more than 10 pages. Poets at all stages of their careers are encouraged to submit. Multiple submissions are permitted with multiple fees. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but please leave us a note to withdraw individual poems if they are accepted elsewhere. All submissions will be considered for publication. This year's final judge will be Hala Alyan. The prize is $1,000 and the winning submission will be published in the Summer 2026 issue of the journal.
Submissions for the Laurence Goldstein Poetry Prize include a one-year digital subscription for four issues of MQR beginning with the Winter 2026 issue.
Goldstein Prize Guidelines

  We accept submissions via Submittable and use its tools to ensure that all identifying information is hidden from our contest readers throughout the selection process.
  We ask entrants not to include their names or contact information within the document they upload to Submittable, its title, or its file name.
  Up to 20 submissions will be passed on, without identifying information within them, to the judge.
  Close friends, relatives, students, and former students of the judge, are excluded from the contest. Likewise, the current Editorial Board and staff of MQR, as well as their immediate family members, are excluded from the contest. Graduates of the Helen Zell Writers Program in the last 3 years and current faculty and staff of that program are also excluded.  If any of the selected authors fall under these categories they will be disqualified, and a replacement will be chosen from among the finalists.
         We feel acquaintance and/or participation in a workshop (outside of semester-long academic settings) taught by the judge should not be a disqualifying factor, so long as none of the poems in a manuscript is recognizable to the judge.
         For the purposes of this contest, we'll call a “close friend” anyone with whom we have regular direct correspondence. And please remember that if a poem is recognizable to the judge, it will be disqualified.

Laurence Goldstein Poetry Prize

General submissions for the print journal will be accepted in 2025 from January 1 to April 1 and August 1 to November 1. Average turnaround time is six months, but we may take longer and ask that you do not query us until a year has passed.
Prose submissions: Manuscripts should be double-spaced, right margins not justified; 1,500–7,000 words. All nonfiction submissions will be automatically considered for publication in MQR Online. All stories accepted for publication will be passed on to a judge as finalists for the $2000 Lawrence Prize. There is no additional fee for the prize beyond submission.
Poetry submissions: Please submit up to 6 poems in one document, not to exceed a total of 12 pages. Poems published in MQR by early career writers (those who have not yet published a full-length collection) will be considered as finalists for our Page Davidson Clayton Prize.
Translations: Please submit translations in the appropriate genre and include biographical information for both the author and translator.
Upon publication, MQR takes a nonexclusive license to publish work in print and online in perpetuity, and requests that MQR is formally acknowledged as the first publisher in any reprints.

General Fiction Submissions

General Poetry Submissions

General Nonfiction Submissions

MQR invites submissions for a special issue on the rise of fascism, broadly defined, as a political and cultural force in the U.S. and around the globe. This special issue is to be published in Winter 2027.
While fascism is often associated with historical interwar regimes, scholars increasingly identify “strongman” tactics in the present day: elected leaders who consolidate power, undermine democratic institutions, delegitimize opposition, and cultivate loyalty to personality over policy. In the U.S., these dynamics have manifested in practices that echo key elements of fascist playbooks, from attacks on critical media and courts to the undermining of agreed-up facts and shared understanding.
We are particularly interested in work that addresses:
The slow erosion of democratic norms through legal, institutional, or procedural manipulation.
Leader-centered politics, personality cults, and the delegitimization of dissent.
Disinformation, attacks on factual journalism, and the undermining of shared or commonly recognized knowledge, including scientific understanding.
Nationalist or exclusionary definitions of “the people” and the persecution and marginalization of minorities.
The use of threats, online campaigns, or organized groups to intimidate or target dissenting voices.
Cultural, educational, and environmental interventions that shape memory, identity, and civic imagination.
The normalization or justification of political aggression and threats to electoral integrity.
We recognize that these themes can feel weighty or abstract, but manifestations of fascism are lived realities—sometimes subtly, as norms and expectations shift and as we become unwittingly acclimated to repressive practices. At other times, they appear directly, as in the use of deadly violence, intimidation, and erosion of rights carried out by government forces against unarmed civilians in recent years.
We encourage creative writers and artists to explore these dynamics through lived experience, imagination, and metaphor, showing how authoritarianism, disinformation, exclusion, and the reshaping of memory touch relationships, emotions, and communities. Fiction, poetry, and visual work can make the abstract tangible in ways that analysis alone cannot, illuminating both the subtle and overt forces shaping our world.
We welcome experimental, hybrid, and innovative work that challenges established literary or political hierarchies and responds to threats to human rights, academic freedom, and a livable planet. Submissions presenting global perspectives, including voices silenced by authoritarian regimes, are especially encouraged.
Submissions are welcome in all genres, including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, art, and researched essays. Collaborative works, translations, and visual works suitable for print or digital presentation on MQR Online are also encouraged.
Submission guidelines:
• Maximum length for articles, essays, and works of fiction: 7,000 words.
• Poetry submissions must not exceed 10 pages.
• If Submittable is not accessible, email mqr@umich.edu with your concern.
The issue will be published in Winter 2027.

 A Special Issue on the New Age of Fascism

Our online-only companion to the print journal, MQR Online, publishes book reviews, essays, arts and culture features, and author interviews. We accept pitches for MQR Online features year-round in these genres. Please submit your brief pitch or submission and tag it in the submission form accordingly. Our Online Editor will invite selected pitches to submit a full piece (up to 3,000 words) for consideration.
MQR pays $50 for all MQR Online contributions.

MQR Online Pitches and Submissions

Michigan Quarterly Review invites submissions for a special issue dedicated to creative and critical work focused on the global influence of basketball. We seek scholarly articles, personal and reflective essays, memoirs, short stories, novel excerpts, poetry, and translated works that consider the sport across regions and disciplines.
We welcome contributions about basketball at all skill levels, across recreational, collegiate, amateur, professional, and international environments. Writers are encouraged to send work that engages with basketball in unexpected ways and in particular work that offers perspectives beyond American basketball culture. Hybrid work will also be considered.
Please submit original, unpublished works up to 8,000 words by October 1, 2026. The folio will be published as part of our Summer 2027 issue.
Edited by Aram Mrjoian

Michigan Quarterly Review

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