The following independent literary magazines and presses champion the work of writers of color. To send us suggestions for adding to this list, please email [email protected].
aaduna
An online literary and arts publication, aaduna features work that addresses multicultural themes and bolsters human dignity with diverse audiences. A core aspect of aaduna is to provide a publication venue for artists of color.
The Acentos Review
Co-edited by Raina J. León and Lupe Mendez, The Acentos Review publishes fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translations, and more by emerging and established Latinx writers.
African American Review
African American Review is a quarterly scholarly aggregation of insightful essays on African American literature, theatre, film, the visual arts, and culture; interviews; poetry; fiction; and book reviews.
African Heritage Press
African Heritage Press (AHP) is a publishing house “with vested interest in quality creative writing on Africa and the Diaspora.”
African Voices Communications
African Voices is a nonprofit cultural arts organization that “strives for artistic and literary excellence while showcasing the unique and diverse stories within the African Diaspora.”
Alternative Field
Alternative Field is a Los Angeles–based reading room, multi-lingual library, lab, and resource center. It also publishes chapbooks, some of which “are curated and designed to respond to the specific issues that plague our communities of working class people of color.”
Apogee Journal
A journal of literature and art “that engages with identity politics, including but not limited to: race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and intersectional identities,” Apogee Journal aims “to publish fresh work that interrogates the status quo, and to provide a platform for underrepresented voices, prioritizing artists and writers of color.”
Aquarius Press / Willow Books
Founded by Heather Buchanan, Aquarius Press focuses on amplifying the voices of underrepresented writers; the mission of its imprint Willow Books is to develop, publish, and promote writers of color.
Arkana Online Literary Journal
Arkana “seeks and fosters a sense of shared wonder by publishing inclusive art that asks questions, explores mystery, and works to make visible the marginalized, the overlooked, and those whose voices have been silenced.”
Backbone Press
Founded in 2012 as a response to the lack of diversity in publishing, Backbone Press “debuts and supports writers who are considered marginalized voices and whose work may not be published elsewhere.”
Black Poetry Review
Founded and edited by Emily Spencer, Black Poetry Review is a free, online literary journal “of poetry written by poets of the Black diaspora.” The first issue is forthcoming later in 2020.
BLACKBERRY: a magazine
BLACKBERRY: a magazine is a literary magazine featuring black women writers and artists and aiming “to expose readers to the diversity of the black woman’s experience and strengthen the black female voice in both the mainstream and independent markets.”
Black Sunflowers
Based in the United Kingdom and founded by Amanda Holiday and Geffen Bankir, Black Sunflowers is “an art oriented small poetry press with a focus on poetry from women, especially older women and black poets.”
BLF Press
Led by Stephanie Andrea Allen, BLF Press is an independent Black feminist press dedicated to amplifying the work of women of color and providing “an outlet for the expression of various types of writing that exemplify the experiences of Black women and women of color in the United States.”
Brain Mill Press
Brain Mill Press publishes work by underrepresented authors and “discovers immediate, immersive, and urgent books in order to inspire and represent readers everywhere and support a just publishing paradigm.”
The Briar Cliff Review
Founded in 1989, The Briar Cliff Review is “an eclectic literary and art magazine” focusing on, but not limited to, Siouxland writers and topics.
The CALLALOO Journal of African Diaspora
The central purposes of Callaloo—which was founded in 1976 by its current editor, Charles Henry Rowell—are to “provide a publication outlet, in English or English translations, for new, emerging, and established creative writers who produce texts in different languages in the African Diaspora” and to “serve as a forum for literary and cultural critics who write about the literature and culture of the African Diaspora.”
Catalyst Press
Catalyst Press “emphasizes books emerging from the African continent and about Africa but not exclusively”; they plan to expand to “publishing indigenous writers from other parts of the world, all with the goal of publishing literature that exposes the truth and pursues justice and peace.”
Dryland
Established in Los Angeles in 2015, Dryland is a print literary journal aiming “to publish the best in Black and Brown (POC) poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from around the world.”
DSTL Arts
DSTL Arts is a nonprofit arts mentorship organization that inspires, teaches, and hires emerging artists from underserved and historically-marginalized communities.
Duende Literary
An online literary journal, Duende is committed to featuring work by artists “from groups that are underrepresented in today’s U.S. literary ecosystem.”
The Feminist Press
Led by Executive Director Margot Atwell, The Feminist Press “publishes books that ignite movements and social transformation.” Their mission is to “lift up insurgent and marginalized voices from around the world to build a more just future” and to “create a world where everyone recognizes themselves in a book.”
FIYAH: Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction
FIYAH is a quarterly speculative fiction magazine that “features stories by and about Black people of the African Diaspora,” asking the question, “What does it mean to be Black and look at intersectional issues of equality through the lens of science fiction and fantasy?”
Futurepoem
Futurepoem is a publishing collaborative “dedicated to presenting innovative works of contemporary poetry and prose by both emerging and important underrepresented writers.”
A Gathering of the Tribes
A Gathering of the Tribes provides a pan-disciplinary, multicultural environment for artists to exchange ideas, create peer relationships, and find mentorship.
Hawai’i Review
A Kanaka Maoli–led press at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Hawai’i Review centers “Native Hawaiian, Indigenous Pacific Islander, and local voices, including Pidgin speakers, on a worldwide stage, as well as… the work of LGBTQIA, māhū, and Two-Spirit writers and artists in a variety of genres and media.”
The Hellebore Press & HUES Foundation
The Hellebore Press is an independent publishing hose prioritizing “writing from underrepresented communities, who are often overlooked in the literary and creative world.” The HUES Foundation, Hellebore’s partner organization, is an educational nonprofit “committed to creative expression and innovation among artists, writers, musicians, and poets of color.”
Indolent Books
A nonprofit poetry press based in Brooklyn, Indolent Books “publishes innovative, provocative, and risky work by poets and writers who are queer, trans, nonbinary (or gender nonconforming), intersex, women (of all races and ethnicities), people of color (of all genders), people living with HIV, people with histories of addiction, abuse, and other traumatic experiences, and other poets and writers who are underrepresented or marginalized, or whose work has particular relevance to issues of racial, social, economic, and environmental justice.”
Jaded Ibis Press
Jaded Ibis Press is a feminist press “committed to publishing socially engaged literature with an emphasis on the voices of people of color, people with disabilities, and other historically silenced and culturally marginalized voices.”
Kaya Press
Founded in 1994, Kaya Press works to “publish the most challenging, thoughtful, and provocative literature being produced throughout the Asian and Pacific Island diasporas.”
Kegedonce Press
Since 1993 Kegedonce Press has been crafting books that involve Indigenous Peoples at all levels of production and “committed to the development, promotion, and publication of the work of Indigenous writers nationally and internationally.”
Kelsey Street Press
Kelsey Street Press was founded in 1974 to address the marginalization of women writers by small press and mainstream publishers. Their editorial policy is linked “to a poetics of allowance, encouraging women to write directly from their own creative imperatives, and to a poetics of inclusion that embraces racial and cultural diversity.”
Kissing Dynamite
Kissing Dynamite publishes twelve poems each month, curated around a thematic thread. The online journal is committed to “providing accessible venues for multiple voices.”
Kweli Journal
Kweli Journal’s mission is to “nurture emerging writers of color and create opportunities for their voices to be recognized and valued.” Edited by multidisciplinary artist Laura Pegram, the journal “empowers writers to share stories that engage and impact our communities.”
Linden Avenue Literary Journal
Linden Avenue Literary Journal offers a “safe space for writers of all backgrounds and publication histories” and aims to “increase diversity in publishing by encouraging art from writers and storytellers traditionally underrepresented in the industry.”
Lucky Jefferson
Lucky Jefferson is a quarterly literary journal founded in 2018 by NaBeela Washington. It also includes a new digital zine, Awake, which seeks “to amplify the experiences and perspectives of Black and African American writers in American society.”
The Margins
Published by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, The Margins is a magazine of “literature, arts, and ideas, dedicated to inventing the Asian American creative culture of tomorrow.”
midnight & indigo
midnight & indigo is a literary magazine dedicated to short stories and narrative essays by Black woman writers, seeking to “make a meaningful contribution to the Black literary tradition, and provide a space amplify and elevate our stories and voices in media.”
Mizna
A critical platform that includes the literary magazine Mizna: Prose, Poetry and Art Exploring Arab America, Mizna is “committed to being a space for Arab, Muslim, and other artists from the region to reclaim our narratives and engage audiences in meaningful and artistically excellent art.”
Mosaic
Mosaic is a print tri-annual magazine that “explores the literary arts by writers of African descent, and features interviews, essays, and book reviews.”
Nat. Brut
Nat. Brut (pr. nat broot) is a journal of art and literature dedicated to “advancing inclusivity in all creative fields,” serving as “a broadly interdisciplinary safe space that values marginalized voices.”
Obsidian Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora
Founded in 1975 and published biannually in print and year-round online, Obsidian “supports—through publication and critical inquiry—the contemporary poetry, fiction, drama/performance, visual and media art of Africans globally.”
Oyster River Pages
Oyster River Pages is an online literary magazine “committed to disseminating the voices of those who need to and must be heard—Brown and Black voices, Queer voices, decentered and marginalized voices.”
Peepal Tree Press
Peepal Tree aims to bring “the very best of international writing from the Caribbean, its diasporas and the UK” and to “publish books that make a difference.”
RedBone Press
RedBone Press publishes “work celebrating the cultures of black lesbians and gay men, and work that further promotes understanding between black gays and lesbians and the black mainstream.”
Royal Rose Magazine
Royal Rose is a literary magazine “created to be an open space for marginalized writers” and to “inspire and empower women/womxn and the LGBTQ+ community.”
SAND Journal
SAND Journal is a twice-annual literary and art journal that seeks to amplify “the voices of writers and artists who are BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women, nonbinary, disabled, working class, international, and/or geographically marginalized.”
Shade Mountain Press
Shade Mountain Press is a feminist publishing house “committed to publishing literature by women, especially women of color, women with disabilities, women from working-class backgrounds, and lesbian/bisexual/queer women.”
Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices
Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices is a literary publication publishing “underserved writers, or writers on the margins” as well as “writers of diverse nationalities, races and religions, and also writers from diverse cultures within our culture.”
The Spectacle
The Spectacle is committed to “publishing work from underrepresented voices, including people of color, women, people from LGBTQIA+ communities, and people who have disabilities.”
Theytus Books
Theytus Books is an Indigenous-owned and -operated publisher and a leading North American publisher of Indigenous voices.
The 3rd Thing
The 3rd Thing primarily publishes “the work of people who identify as members of minority and historically marginalized groups.”
whet magazine
whet magazine is a biannual print and online publication that “provides a sacred space and literary and visual landscape for women who have been historically marginalized to delve deep into their own experiences to produce art.”
