When a few literary journals aren't enough

Jesse left a comment here asking for more lit journals, and I admit, it can be hard to find them (unless you happen across this pile on my living room floor). More useful, indeed, is Newpages, a site that perfectly fits the bill for his hope for "maybe one website that lists many."

Newpages is kind of internet old-school in that it's one site that collects and vets many links (remember when that's what Yahoo did?); the site is described as "News, information and guides to independent bookstores, independent publishers, literary magazines, alternative periodicals, independent record labels, alternative newsweeklies and more."

I'm not entirely sure it makes sense to divide literary journals into two categories, print and online, since many magazines now do both. But one thing's certain: there are so many of these periodicals that they publish more than you're likely to be able to read. (Unless you read very fast. And are immortal.)

Which makes Newpages' filtering that much more valuable. If you're not interested in poetry, skip Bateau and Earthshine; or if you're looking for creative nonfiction, look for Event's special issue each year.

So Jesse, go over to Newpages for your literary journal fix. Hope you find what you need.

Carolyn Kellogg

Comments

[Denise Hill]

Thanks for the nod, Carolyn! It's nice to know that what we do is useful and appreciated (hard to tell in cyberspace sometimes).

I understand your comment about joining the print and online lit mags. We've had that conversation MANY times here - even about combining both with alternative magazines as well. Still, I don't think lit mags are at a point where a majority of print publications have online content available (either the same or distinct, as Agni and Kenyon Review have now started), nor do the online publications come out with print versions or even printable versions (PDFs).

Larger is the issue which seems to prevail about the "legitimacy" of online publications. I don't think the writing and/or reading community has yet fully embraced online as being the same caliber as print - I make no argument here, only the statement of my observations (myself not being a writer that submits works, but certainly a reader of both print and online).

It would be interesting to see some more current comment on the attitude/environment about this. Maybe online is a younger generation thang that will slowly seep in and become more normalized and accepted (and print become secondary?). For now, I still get the feeling, for all their hard work and incredible efforts, online publications struggle to get their props.