These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They’re open now, or will soon open for submissions.
The Stinging Fly
This Ireland-based journal is open for submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry for their Winter 2026-27 issue. They also accept translations. They also have a submission FAQ page.
Deadline: 20 May 2026 (5 pm Irish time)
Length: One prose piece; up to three poems
Pay: Fiction and non-fiction: €50 per magazine page, with a minimum/maximum payment of €375/€1250; Flash fiction/shorter essays (1 – 2 pages): €175; Poetry: €50 per magazine page, but with a minimum payment of €80 per poem
Details here and here
(– Submissions will soon open for Electric Lit for The Commuter and Personal Narrative essays; The Commuter (their home for short prose, poetry, and graphic narrative) and Personal Narrative (“While there are no restrictions on form or subject matter, submissions should center narrative and consider what it means to essay; in other words, write to interrogate, investigate, adventure, and introspect”). Both sections will open on 18th May, and will close on 24th May, or when they reach a submission cap, whichever is earlier. Length guidelines are up to 1,500 words for prose or 4-6 poems for The Commuter (see guidelines), fiction of 2,000-6,500 words for essays. Pay is $100; details here.
— And, AGNI charges for online submissions (via Subfolio) of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid forms, but postal submissions are still free. Also online submissions of conversation/interviews, reviews, art, and submissions for Proximity: An AGNI Portfolio of Writing and Art by Women of Color – see guidelines for details – are free. They pay $30/page for prose, $50/page for poetry, up to $300, and the deadline is 31 May 2026; details here and here.
— The Paris Review‘s submission portal will open for prose submissions on 1st June and close when they hit their submission cap. “Submissions of prose are also accepted via Submittable in February, June, and October, and unsolicited submissions of poetry are accepted via Submittable in January, April, July, and October, until we reach capacity.” They accept prose and poetryyear-round by mail. Details here.)
TOLKA Journal
They publish nonfiction by Irish and international writers; they’re now reading submissions for Issue 12. “We publish all forms of non-fiction: personal essay, memoir, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, and the writing that falls in between. Our guideline word count for work is 1,000–3,000 words.” Submission is via a form.
Deadline: 31 May 2026
Length: 1,000-3,000 words
Pay: €600
Details here (click on Submit to Tolka) and here.
Escape Artists: Escape Pod
Escape Pod is an online magazine and podcast for science fiction. “We are fairly flexible on what counts as science (superheroes! steampunk! space opera! time travel!) and are interested in exploring the range of the genre. We want stories that center science, technology, future projections, and/or alternate history, and how any or all of these things impact individuals and society.
Escape Pod leans in the direction of escapism, hopepunk and optimism rather than grimdark and gloom.” They also accept translations. They’re currently also open for novelette reprints. They are also open for fiction and fiction reprints for a special theme, Democratic Futures, relating to the future of democracy, the deadline for which is end-June; see the submission portal for details.
Deadline: 31 May 2026 (see schedule)
Length: 1,500-6,000 words for original stories, 1,500 – 7,500 words for sort story reprints; and 7500 to 18,000 words for novelette reprints
Pay: $0.08/word for original fiction; $100-175 for novelette reprints
Details here and here.
(– And, Three-Lobed Burning Eye is accepting submissions of speculative fiction: horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction. They also accept translations. Pay is $0.08/word for stories of 500-7,499 words, and the deadline is 15 May 2026; details here.
— Apex Magazine, a digital dark science fiction and fantasy magazine publishing short fiction which also accepts non-fiction pitches (not submissions). They’re open during certain months this year, including May, for short fiction. Send fiction up to 9,000 words; they pay $0.08/word for fiction and additional $0.01/word if story is podcast; details here and here.
— Adventitious will soon open a brief submission period for fiction, from 1st to 5th June. You can read about them here, and their first issue is here. And, ““Surprise” doesn’t only mean twists. We want stories that offer a sense of wonder through their language, characters, plots, or all of the above. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and all speculative/surreal will always be welcomed, but we’re also happy with stories that shock and delight right here on this plane of existence.” They will accept stories from micro to novelette length. They also accept reprints. They pay $0.08/word for originals. They accept art year-round. Details here and here.
— Brown Hound Press, a new online fiction magazine, is open now for Mystery, Offbeat, Dark Humor, Southern Gothic, and Literary fiction. And, “Story length should be around 1,000 to 3,000 words (a couple hundred over is fine). Fewer than 800 words likely won’t be a fit. Flash is not really our thing.” They pay $25. Details here and here.)
Poetry Magazine
This prestigious magazine, run by the Poetry Foundation, publishes various kinds of poetry, poetry translations, and poetry-related prose. They have detailed guidelines for each section, please read them carefully. They close for submissions from June 15th to September 15th annually. They’re also reading work from Chicago poets till 15th May; see their Submittable for details.
Deadline: See above
Length: 2-6 poems, 1,500-2,500 words for prose
Pay: $500-600 for poems, including visual and video poems, and $400/page for poetry-related prose
Details here and here.
Matter Press: The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
They read fiction, including fictional prose poems, and creative nonfiction, including creative nonfiction prose poetry.
Deadline: 15 June 2026
Length: Up to 600 words
Pay: $50
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
