By Literary Hub | Created at 2026-09-30 16:33:22 | Updated at 2026-09-30 17:31:18
2 hours ago
If you love or have ever loved a literary magazine, I bring glad tidings. This week heralds a new appreciation rite for the discerning reader. Happy #LitMagWeek, everyone!
#LitMagWeek is the brainchild of Brett Van Emst, editor and publisher of the online journal Midnight Mind. Through Friday, Van Emst—with the support of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), and more than 100 participating journals—is inviting readers to recognize trusty lit mags like his own.
In that spirit, select mags are offering discounted print copies and digital access, and sharing their origin stories and masthead inspirations with subscribers.
Though we love a book party, you may wonder: why a week? “I felt we needed something to showcase all the cutting edge things lit mags are doing,” Van Emst told me, via email. “They get classified as sort of boring and most mags are just the opposite.”
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It’s true that there is something very un-boring happening with magazines. Earlier this year, we covered the unlikely alliance of dating app culture and American letters. And alongside the proliferation of trendy rags like AFM—whose new issue is out this week—we may note buzzy facelifts and rising additions.
The Rumpus got a rebrand this spring, thanks to Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman. And earlier this year, Equator arrived on the scene with a thrilling commitment to international prose. Meanwhile, reliables like The Baffler, Granta, and The Dial continue to hit critical home runs, defying the narrative that says letters are on the outs.
In the spirit of that cause célébrer, here are just three literary magazines whose new issues are worth celebrating.
From “Power Play,” N+1’s fall 2026 issue.
N+1 has hopefully been on your radar for a while now. Founded in 2004, (“in opposition to an intellectual scene that felt disturbingly fragmented,” per the masthead) the Brooklyn-based journal has a rep for nurturing erudite, witty voices and a materialist lens. The new issue is a humdinger.
A highlight is a new short story from Walker Caplan, the author, playwright, and co-editor of Joyland magazine. “Attention,” follows an unfulfilled copywriter with a vivid imagination.
Our narrator, lately severed from a thumb-headed boss called Mark Uptick, is as droll as she is insightful. Though one senses her powers of persuasion are being misused at this corporate advertising agency. Staffer Cameron Leo called the story “a pioneering entry in the ‘corporate surrealism’ genre.”
In the fall 2026 issue—out now!—you can also find non-fiction from Mary Turfah and Colin Vanderburg, and an excerpt from Chad Harbach’s new novel, The Brightness.
The cover of Protean‘s forthcoming issue VI.
Protean bills itself as an “independent, ad-free leftist magazine of critical essays, poetry, fiction, and art.”
Committed to publishing thoughtful and affecting prose in its annual print edition and on its consistently updating website, the eight year old journal is carving out a niche where the incisive, the accessible, and the morally rigorous analysis can meet.
The forthcoming print issue includes new work from Hanif Abdurraqib, Ish Ibrahim, and Bayan Haddad. One highlight is a stirring essay on the poet-philosopher Friedrich Hölderlin by Kate Wagner, architecture critic at The Nation.
Arguing that he was “a kind of patron saint of disempowered freelancers,” Wagner’s essay explores Hölderlin’s mental disintegration in the face of world-historical forces.
The critic draws a parallel between the saint and her own experience with crises and unravel in the face of political events. Which inquiry teases a theme for the whole issue.
Look for the new Protean this Friday. Print subscribers can expect to receive issues in November.
The Toronto Review is a new kid on the block—and an online journal to watch, IMHO. Aiming to center Canadian voices, the currently volunteer-run pub has a big ambition. The masthead means to identify vanguard critics, poets, and authors for a lively new readership.
TR‘s latest issues feature an excerpt from the novelist Lucy Ives’ new book, three, six, five. Stay for the ongoing column on “2SLBTQIA+ aesthetics,” which invites readers to apply theory to prose. Joshua Whitehead’s summer essay on Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and indigenous literature is an especially exciting entry in that vertical.
Who’s ready to read? Happy #LitMagWeek, friends. Join the party, and subscribe to something today! And for a longer list of magazines to watch out for, look no further.
