The bulk of the journals we review are based in North America, with a smattering in the UK. Although we sometimes seek out and include international journals, the bulk of the journals we’ve reviewed are in these two regions.
All of the journals in this list are not in either of these regions. They span the world, and are a great way to have your work published internationally, or perhaps in your home country.
Not all of them are currently open to submissions, but the majority are.
Some of the journals have additional areas of focus or demographic limitations. If that is the case, we make it clear in our mini review.
Mediterranean Poetry
A literary journal focusing on publishing poetry/prose inspired by the Mediterranean region in some way. The journal itself is based in Sweden. They are open to reprints.
New Contrast
New Contrast is focused mainly on publishing original work by South African writers. They are a print journal and have been around for over 60 years. Submissions are accepted in all 11 official South African languages, including English (see their Submittable page for details).
QLRS: Quarterly Literary Review Singapore
An electronic literary journal based in Singapore – “Our mission is to promote the literary arts in Singapore, to stimulate the feedback mechanisms in the literary scene, and to develop Singaporean writers to international standards.” QLRS accepts submissions from Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans alike.
EgoPHobia [εγωφοβια]
A Romanian journal focusing on literature and philosophy, that publishes some work in English. They accept submissions in English and Romanian.
Amsterdam Quarterly
Founded in 2011, this online literary journal publishes poetry and prose and is based in the Netherlands. Each issue is themed, and the theme is made clear in the submission guidelines.
Raising Mothers
Based in the Netherlands, Raising Mothers is a literary journal that only publishes work by women of color and non-binary parents of color.
Expanded Field
A biannual English-language journal for creative writing and image/text experimentation, based in the Netherlands.
Kyoto Journal
Kyoto Journal is a print journal that welcomes Asia-related articles, essays, reportage, personal observations, interviews, poetry, reviews, fiction, humor, and translation. They are based in Kyoto.
Plato’s Caves
Plato’s Caves invites poetry, fiction, reviews and articles on society, culture and politics from prospective contributors of all ages. They are based in India.
Anodyne Magazine
This Substack publication is based in Berlin but publish authors and artists around the world on the topic of FLINTA* health experiences. What is FLINTA* you may ask? According to Wikipedia is is “the German abbreviation that stands for “Frauen, Lesben, Intergeschlechtliche, nichtbinäre, trans and agender“, meaning women/females, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender people. The asterisk represents all non-binary gender identities. They only accept free submissions are the first week of each open submission period.
Panel Magazine
Their submissions are restricted to people who live and work in Central and Eastern Europe. They are based in Hungary.
BALLOONS Lit. Journal (BLJ)
BALLOONS Lit. Journal (BLJ) is an independent literary journal of poetry, fiction and art primarily for young readers from around 12 years onwards. They are based in Hong Kong.
The Kalahari Review
This weekly African literary magazine is based in Botswana. They are seeking work that explores modern Africa and Africans. They are open to work from the continent and from the Diaspora. They do not consider simultaneous submissions, and all submissions must follow their guidelines.
The Shallow Tales Review
An African journal established in 2019 by Nigerian writer, Nzube Nlebedim, they focus on publishing excellent literary work.
Samjoko
A new literary magazine based in South Korea that is open to a wide variety of work including screenplays. They pay.
Third Lane
Third Lane is an independent bilingual (English and Bengali) digital magazine that was launched in March 2021. They are based in India.
Kitaab
They bill themselves as connecting Asian writers with global readers. They are open to submissions from Asian writers as well as writers of any ethnicity that are writing on Asia want to provide a platform to Asian writers as well as to writers of any ethnicity writing on Asian themes (no matter where you live). They are based in Singapore. I could not get their web page to consistently load in Firefox, but they worked fine in Safari.
Pratik: Magazine of Contemporary Writing
Pratik is a purely non-profit literary publication and is published by White Lotus Book Shop, Kathmandu. Their submission guidelines are here.
The Bombay Literary Magazine
They publish three times a year. They publish a wide range of writing including graphic fiction, and have an excellent website. They also pay an honorarium for accepted work. They are based in India.
The Woolf
An online literary journal based in Switzerland that publishes new writing and visual art.
Lolwe
Lolwe is an online magazine that publishes fiction, literary criticism, personal essays, photography, and poetry. They were founded in January 2020 and they are based out of Kenya. They publish work by Black (African, Caribbean, Diaspora) artists.
Agbowó
A Nigeria-based lit mag that pays. They are open for African writing. Some issues are themed, others are not.
AFREADA
AFREADA bills itself as an African literary magazine and it is not based in any specific country (on Duotrope it’s listed as international). They publish fiction and creative nonfiction from emerging writers across the continent. “A fusion of the words ‘Africa’ and ‘Reader’, we live for the well-crafted narratives and effortless reads that speak to our daily realities as Africans at home and abroad.” They pay. They are currently closed to submissions.
Flash Frontier
This Aotearoa New Zealand based lit journal publishes flash fiction, and some submission periods are open to international authors and some are not.
The Bureau Dispatch
Based in Hong Kong, The Bureau Dispatch is an “ode to the writer’s bureau; an ongoing collection of stories accompanied by photographs of writers at their places of work”. They pay. They have yet to announce their next reading period.
The Wise Owl
Based in India, this journal publishes a wide range of work. They ask that you assume your work was rejected, if you haven’t heard from them within three weeks of submitting it to them.
On Eating
This multilingual magazine is based in India, and accepts submissions of essays, poets, stories, graphic narratives, photo essays, video essays, and original artwork about various eating cultures in India, as well as food history.
Nokturno
A Finnish website that has been presenting digital, experimental and cross-disciplinary literature, especially poetry, since 2005. For their submission guidelines scroll down to the bottom of this page.
ZiN Daily
An online magazine based out of Croatia, they consider work in Bosnian, Croatian, English, French, German, Italian, Montenegrin, Serbian and Slovenian, or any playful combination of these languages.
The Mamba
Based in Ghana, and run by the African Haiku network, The Mamba is a journal that publishes Africa themed haiku i.e. haiku about African sights, sounds and settings, as well as haikus which explore a universal theme, that they connect with. They are open to some variations on haikus. Please read their submission guidelines to learn more.
Literary Cocktail Magazine
Based in India, this online journal focuses on publishing international work.
Rollick Magazine
Based in Australia, this journal prioritizes new writers and publishes prose, poetry, and creative nonfiction.
The Suburban Review
Based in Australia, this literary journal pays all contributors. Occasionally they have limited demographics for themed issues, so please check on that before submitting. They publish a wide variety of work, including comics.
Eucalypt
An Australian journal focused on publishing Tanka.
The Remnant Archive
A women-run organization with a dedicated team of editors, volunteers and guest-writers based in India, Spain, Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. The journal itself is based in India. They are currently open to creative nonfiction submissions.
Tarot Poetry Journal
This Aotearoa based poetry journal, publishes two issues a year, and they prefer submissions from poets with a connection to Aotearoa.
Juste Literary
A brand new literary journal based in Nigeria, they list if they are open or closed to submissions on their landing page rather than their submission guidelines, so you can check their submission status here. They bill themselves as “An arbitrary online literary magazine dedicated to random poetry, arts and creative writings”.
AntipodeanSF
AntipodeanSF is devoted to ‘down under’ science/speculative fiction stories of about 500-1000 words or less. They are an Australia based specultive fic journal open to submissions from anyone, as long as “the story has a surprise ending, twists normal notions of SF/F/H upside-down, is especially humorous, takes an oblique perspective on otherwise ‘normal’ events, or attempts to subvert the foundations of Western capitalist ideology.”
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2023 Guide to Manuscript Publishers.She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
