Literary Magazines

On the rise and fall of the lit journal

Welcome to A Narrative of their Own, where I discuss the work of 20th century women writers and their relevance to contemporary culture.

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I recently stumbled across an article in The Guardian about the demise of literary magazines, and one specific magazine editor who was determined to overcome this.

Literary magazines have had a long and somewhat illustrious tradition of providing writers with a space in which to share their work, as well as a much needed income.  A periodical devoted to publishing literature (in a varied and broad sense) often contains (or contained) short stories, poems, essays, literary criticism, and book reviews.  These are often also referred to as literary journals, with the first known example thought to have dated back to 1684 France and the launch of Nouvelles de la république des lettres.  

Literary magazines became more widespread during the 19th century, along with the rise in the publication of books, magazines, and scholarly articles (and presumably, literacy).  In the UK, the Edinburgh Review was launched in 1802, with other popular journals following, such as Westminster Review in 1824, and The Spectator and Athenaeum both appearing in 1828.

Meanwhile in the US, early journals included the Philadelphia Literary Magazine and the Monthly Anthology in 1803 (which later became the North American Review), and the Yale Review in 1819.  Whilst the North American Review is cited as the oldest American literary journal, it reportedly had its publication suspended during WWII, therefore the Yale Review claims the title of oldest literary magazine in continuous publication. 

By the end of the 19th century, the literary magazine or journal had become an established part of intellectual society around the world.  Many celebrated writers first found fame within the pages of the literary magazine.  TS Eliot’s first poem ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’, for example, started life in Poetry magazine.

The middle of the 20th century saw an explosion in literary magazines as well as the rise of the small press, with a further surge in the 1970s.  Many short fiction writers built successful and esteemed writing careers from these small magazines, which were a good way to share short fiction and poetry in an otherwise difficult market. 

Prestigious writing awards began appearing for works published within these magazines, including the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Awards, as well as the journals providing much of the writing appearing in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Essays.

Some of the most admired women writers of the 20th century were published in literary magazines.  Virginia Woolf and Adrienne Rich’s writing regularly appeared in magazines such as The Yale Review, whilst the modernist poet Marianne Moore published her work in Poetry.   

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Of course, as is to be expected, the dawn of the internet saw the rise in popularity of the online literary space.  The first online literary magazine was SwiftCurrent in 1984, but featured more as a database of literature than a publication of new work.  The first large literary magazine to launch fully online was the Mississippi Review in 1995, with Fence and McSweeney’s following in 1998.  These online magazines were disregarded by some readers and writers to begin with, initially being seen as not providing the same level of quality or prestige of the print magazines.

When I began sending out my own writing around a decade ago, I was delighted to see the plethora of online journals and literary presses publishing short fiction, reviews and literary essays - all forms in which I enjoyed writing.

Whilst my longtime ambition had been to write essays and literary criticism for print magazines as many of the women writers I admired had done, the opening up of the literary landscape into internet publications meant that smaller magazines were often more willing to take a look at an unknown writer, and the fact that the internet is open to all meant that potentially many more readers could read your work.  This even led to one of my micro stories being nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the editor of a small online literary magazine. 

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One of the downsides of this explosion in online literary magazines however was the expectation of writers to write for free.  As many of these journals operate on the willingness of voluntary editorial staff, and are usually free to read, they often can’t afford to pay writers for their work.   

Recently looking back over some of the smaller magazines who first published my work led me to realise that, sadly, many of these have folded in recent years.  Some of the published work of myself and other writers has now disappeared forever.  This also means that for a new writer, it can be more difficult than ever to find magazines to write for. 

The demise of the larger print magazines is a further blow. Without a supply of esteemed publications featuring up-and-coming writers, we may never have discovered poets like TS Eliot, Adrienne Rich and Marianne Moore.  We might not have read the short stories of Willa Cather and Flannery O’Connor, or the delights of Virginia Woolf’s modernist prose.  

Recently, one of the highly regarded literary magazines, The White Review, announced that it would cease publishing for an indefinite period due to its loss of Arts Council funding for three years in a row.  Many others have recently followed suit, citing a loss of funding and high printing and publication costs.  

But one editor is trying to fight back.  As referenced in the article at the beginning of this piece, Amy Mae Baxter founded the magazine Bad Form four years ago.  The magazine is produced by and for writers of colour, established in an attempt to rectify the lack of media coverage for published writers of colour in the UK.  Writers such as Bernardine Evaristo have featured in their pages, and the magazine was started by Baxter and other young writers as a volunteer-run publication.  After selling thousands of copies, however, it went on to pay its writers and illustrators.  

Sadly, in October 2023, Baxter stated that she could no longer afford to run the magazine in its current form and still pay its writers what they deserved.  In an unusual step, she decided to fold the online version of the magazine and focus all her energy on events, community building, and the print issues.  Baxter states in this article that print editions of literary magazines can be life-changing ‘For unpublished, radical writers’.  Such magazines, according to Baxter, give weight to voices often ignored by mainstream publishers, providing an essential space in which to raise their voices.  

This statement by Baxter resonated: many of the women’s narratives I research and write about in this newsletter are stories that have often been forgotten or were not heard at the time they were written.  Women, and particularly women of colour, have struggled in a publishing industry blind to the weight of their stories, and a society often ignorant to the reality of women’s lives.

In a digitally driven world, we are often inundated with “content” streamed to us from all over the world.  This can be invigorating - or exhausting.  Platforms like Substack, I believe, provide a half-way house for writers and artists to share their stories and for readers to discover new and potentially life-changing voices.  

It feels more essential than ever in our current climate to support writers and artists.  With the cutting of arts funding, and educational institutions and government departments often sidelining art subjects in favour of more ‘useful’ subjects, we all need to do our bit to ensure that small presses, magazines, and online creators whom we value can continue to put out words and pictures and stories for future generations to discover.

Quick note! I was honoured to be interviewed by the lovely Haley over on Closely Reading this week.  If you’d like to hear more about my reading and writing habits, check out the link - and maybe considering subscribing to her newsletter, which is one that I love seeing appear in my inbox 😀

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