Made from bed.
Backed by community.
Sustained by Arts Council England.
Welcome to the Aftershock.

The Aftershock Review is a poetry magazine committed to showcasing exceptional work that grapples with trauma in its many forms. But this isn’t about catharsis—it’s about great poetry. We believe that poems about trauma don’t have to be traumatic. They can be nuanced, tender, sharp, or even playful. Above all, they should push the boundaries of language and form, showing us what poetry can do.

Our mission is to become a leading publication for poetry that examines the aftershocks of lived experience with precision, imagination, and artistic integrity. We look for work that challenges the narrative of trauma as simply pain and explores it as a complex force that shapes, complicates, and enriches human life.

We believe that poetry has the power to transform how we see the world—and ourselves.

"After almost dying, there was only one option in front of me: to survive. But not just that, to thrive. This is a celebration of that. This is my manifesto for living. With over 40 confirmed names, our lineup is wildly inclusive and diverse, featuring individuals aged 17 to 93. It includes multinational poets, as well as those who are disabled, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+, and represent all income strata.

We also have BIPOC voices, voices from those who have lived with psychosis, and people who have been affected by terminal illnesses in their lives as well as those with other hidden disabilities among our contributors.

I believe these are voices that need to be heard.

Their poetry is proof of that."

– Max Wallis

"After almost dying, there was only one option in front of me: to survive. But not just that, to thrive. This is a celebration of that. This is my manifesto for living. With over 40 confirmed names, our lineup is wildly inclusive and diverse, featuring individuals aged 17 to 93. It includes multinational poets, as well as those who are disabled, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+, and represent all income strata.

We also have BIPOC voices, voices from those who have lived with psychosis, and people who have been affected by terminal illnesses in their lives as well as those with other hidden disabilities among our contributors.

I believe these are voices that need to be heard.

Their poetry is proof of that."

Every year, we try to highlight some up-and-coming lit mags that were founded in the past year. The lit mag world is ever-changing, and the scene is always shifting to include more and more amazing, diverse publications. For 2025, these are the 20 new magazines (not that it was easy to decide!) we think everyone should keep an eye on.

20 Lit Mags Founded in 2025 That We Think Will Be the Next Big Thing

Discover the all-time most popular poetry literary magazines. These outlets have maintained a significant presence in the world of poetry.

Most Popular Poetry-Only Literary Magazines of All Time

Discover the all-time most submitted-to poetry literary magazines. These publications have consistently attracted a high volume of poetry submissions.

Most Submitted-To Poetry-Only Literary Magazines of All Time

The Aftershock Review

Issue Three is coming. And it’s going to hurt beautifully.

We’re looking for poems that don’t flinch. Poems that feel. Work that speaks to rupture and aftermath; the cracks, the weird joy, the rage, the tenderness, the haunted laughter. Yes, poems about trauma. But also: poems about survival, about sex and shame and swimming again. About getting up. About almost not. About the body, about memory, about whatever shimmers through the wreckage.

We want poems about new love, new longing, new breath, new rage. We want your life to be lived, and your living to be told.

We’re not interested in easy answers or tidy arcs. We want sharp, lyrical, emotionally intelligent poems that risk something, formally, emotionally. Send us your bruised miracles. Your quiet detonations. Your truth, dressed in its best language.

"After almost dying, there was only one option in front of me: to survive. But not just that, to thrive. This is a celebration of that. This is my manifesto for living. With over 40 confirmed names, our lineup is wildly inclusive and diverse, featuring individuals aged 17 to 93. It includes multinational poets, as well as those who are disabled, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+, and represent all income strata.

We also have BIPOC voices, voices from those who have lived with psychosis, and people who have been affected by terminal illnesses in their lives as well as those with other hidden disabilities among our contributors.

I believe these are voices that need to be heard.

Issue Five - The Aftershock Review

'A jolt to the mainstream' - The Guardian
Issue Four of our bestselling magazine is coming. And this time, we ask - how do you follow an aftershock?
We’ve published the rupture. We know the wounds that exist. We’ve traced the tremor through body and system, through love and loss.
But what comes after?
The Aftershock Review will always be rooted in aftermath. In the delayed tremor. In the body remembering. In the quiet detonations that arrive years later. The aftershock is integral to who we are.
For Issue Four, we want to see what it becomes next.
We’re looking for poems that carry voltage. Poems that hold consequence. Work that understands that survival is not soft, and joy is not simple. We want poems about rebuilding — about systems and their failures, about inheritance: queer, familial, political, bodily. About what you keep. About what you refuse.
Send us poems about desire that doesn’t apologise.
 About class and hunger and power.
 About cities. About illness. About sex. About faith.
 About tenderness that arrives armed.

And yes — send us the aftershock still moving through you. The fracture line. The reverberation. The language you had to invent in order to survive.
We want sharp, lyrical, emotionally intelligent work that risks something: formally, emotionally, intellectually. We’re not interested in platitudes or tidy redemption arcs. We’re interested in craft. Precision. Heat.
We publish poetry that reverberates.
If your poem leaves a mark — if it alters the air slightly after it’s read — it belongs here.
Most of all? We want to be surprised. 
Prove how poetry reshapes our understanding.
Show us how trauma is defined by a tea towel you can't throw away. By a train ticket that is not a train ticket anymore. Show us what we cannot possibly know without reading your work.
We have a preference for poems under 22 lines (they’re more likely to fit on a single page), but we are absolutely open to longer, multi-page pieces when the work demands it.
Submission GuidelinesSend up to 3 poems in a single Word or PDF document
Poems must be previously unpublished
Include a short third-person bio (50 words max)
No simultaneous submissions (as stated in the call)
Submission fee: normally £3 (with an optional tip-jar tier available when activated)

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Category: Poetry
Translations: Permitted.
File types: .doc, .docx, .pdf
Number of Pieces: Up to 3 pieces per submission.
Single File: Not required; may include a separate file/link for each piece.
Anonymous submissions are not required.
Simultaneous submissions are not allowed.
Reprints are not allowed.
Multiple entries are allowed.
AI-assisted works are not allowed.

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The Aftershock Review

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Issue Five - The Aftershock Review

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