Behind the Submit Button
MFA programs where you can work for a literary magazine while earning your degree
Welcome to The Forever Workshop’s MFA Newsletter, a monthly column about career advancement in the literary space. Everything published here is free to enjoy, courtesy of our partnered universities. (Not interested? Turn off emails from this column here.)
Ciera here! I’m the newest addition to the MFA team at Chill Subs. In our previous newsletter, former Tin House editor Elizabeth DeMeo explained how valuable it was to work for her MFA program’s literary magazine while she earned her degree, and I can only echo her sentiment. If I hadn’t worked for Ploughshares while earning my Master’s, I never would’ve met the Chill Subs team and consequently, landed this job only a few months after graduating.
Working for a literary magazine demystifies what happens after you hit submit. You learn who reads submissions (hint: it’s not just the editors!), and the process for deciding whether a sub is chosen or not. You spend hours achingly formatting a piece so that it’s just so and proofread it not once, not twice, sometimes even more than three times…and hope that no errors are found in the polished product. You promote the issue online, in emails, tell everyone in the world about this masterpiece you’ve helped create. You learn how to become a better writer, garner hands-on skills to help you enter the “real world”, and make some pretty cool friends along the way (:
So without further ado, here are some MFA programs that offer students a chance to work on literary magazines, and who you should factor in when application season comes around. Make sure to check out the Chill Subs blog for even more programs!
MFA Partner Programs with Literary Magazines
University of Alabama
Black Warrior Review
Black Warrior Review is the oldest journal to be continuously run by graduate students in the U.S. It nominates and has won awards for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, PEN America, and Wigleaf’s Top 50.
Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop
Oxford American, Arkana
The Oxford American explores and celebrates the American South's cultural heritage. It received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2016.
Arkana fosters an inclusive literary tradition that “asks questions, explores mystery, and works to make visible the marginalized, the overlooked, and those whose voices have been silenced.” It nominates and has won awards for Best of the Net and Best Micro Fiction.
University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Ecotone, Chautauqua
Ecotone is a place of danger or opportunity, a testing ground, and welcomes perspectives of historically and currently marginalized writers and artists. It received the AWP Small Press Publisher Award in 2022.
Chautauqua believes that “everyday life should integrate leisure, education, fine arts, and spirituality.” It nominates for the Pushcart Prize.
Northern Michigan University
Passages North
Passages North is run by undergraduate interns, a volunteer graduate student and alumni editors, a graduate assistant, and English department faculty. It nominates and has won awards for the Best of the Net, Best Micro Fiction, Best Small Fictions, Pushcart Prize, and Wigleaf’s Top 50.
Bowling Green State University
Mid-American Review
Mid-American Review publishes contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. It nominates and has won awards for the Best American series, Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Award, New Stories from the South, Poetry Daily, and Harper’s Magazine. Every fall, it hosts the Winter Wheat Festival of Writing, bringing together BGSU writers and widely published guests, for a series of lectures and workshops.
University of Minnesota
Great River Review
Great River Review seeks to publish a diverse range poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and special features that foster connection between local, national, and global communities. In 2002, the journal received the Minnesota State Book Award. It also nominates and has won awards for the Best American series and the Pushcart Prize.
University of Nevada, Reno
Sierra Nevada Review
Sierra Nevada Review believes all art is political. They’re on the search for daring poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, and visual art—urgent writing that makes us feel alive and contends with the present cultural moment.
McNeese University
The McNeese Review, Boudin
The McNeese Review is made possible by faculty and graduate students at McNeese University. Recent issues have featured interviews with Michael Martone and George Saunders, and writing from Gabrielle Bates and Ada Limón, among others.
Boudin is the “spicy online cousin” of The McNeese Review. It publishes fiction and poetry, but welcomes hybrid and other non-traditional forms. Boudin seeks work from women, people of color, LGBTQ+ writers, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups.
University of Idaho
Fugue
Fugue biannually publishes poetry, fiction, essays, hybrid work, and visual art. Its Annual Writing Contest has been judged by nationally known writers, such as sam sax, Doiranne Laux, Patricia Hampl, and others. It accepts 3.15% of submissions and makes for a damn good read.
Whitworth University
Rock & Sling, Image Journal
Rock & Sling is a Christian literary journal that searches for work which bears witness. They believe that every person is made in the image of God and, for that reason, any witness to a lived human life may let us glimpse a reality beyond us, to catch sight of existence itself.
Image Journal publishes fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and visual art that explore the intersection of art, faith, and the human experience. Author Annie Dillard says the work it publishes is "simple, direct, and without pretension—like the best of all American writing."
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Massachusetts Review
Massachusetts Review publishes work that “provokes debate, inspires action, and expands our understanding of the world around us.” Of the journal, the New York Times wrote, “It is amazing that so much significant writing on race and culture appears in one magazine.” In 2008, MR was named one of the top ten literary journals by The Boston Globe.
Emerson College
Ploughshares, Redivider, Page Turner Magazine
Founded in 1971, Ploughshares is one of the most prestigious literary journals in the U.S. It publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including longform poetry and prose. It nominates and has won awards for the Best American series, Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Award, PEN America, and more.
Redivider is operated by graduate students in the Writing, Literature, and Publishing program at Emerson College. Each issue features a diverse array of content, including short stories, flash fiction, cultural critique, personal essays, and poetry. Its special summer Blurred Genre issue seeks hybrid works.
Page Turner Magazine seeks to spotlight the diverse creativity of students from colleges and universities across the U.S. It publishes student-made art and genre fiction pieces online and in print, and runs a blog that contains reviews, interviews, and articles relevant to genre fiction and the publishing industry.
Colorado State University
Colorado Review
Colorado Review is a national literary journal featuring contemporary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and book reviews. It nominates and has won awards for the Best American series and the Pushcart Prize.
Butler University
Booth
Booth is run by students, faculty, and alumni from the Butler University MFA program. It nominates and has won awards for the Best of the Net and Wigleaf’s Top 50. It’s bold and weird in all the best ways.
Florida Atlantic University
Swamp Ape Review
The Swamp Ape is the smelly southern equivalent of Bigfoot, and Swamp Ape Review works to reflect this creature in its fiction, nonfiction, poetry, visual art, and “‘swamp’—a fifth category for works that defy form to the extent that the piece’s creator might be unsure of where it belongs.”
More MFA Programs, More Lit Mags
Texas Tech University | Iron Horse Review
Iron Horse Review was founded as an inexpensive way to bring literature to serious readers in the West Texas panhandle, and to provide a space for local writers to be read alongside well-known authors. Today, they’re on the search for energizing work, and pushing to include more women, LGBTQ+ writers, and writers of color in their pages.
Named after the Vedic god of fire, AGNI is an award-winning literary journal known “among readers around the world,” as PEN America wrote, “for publishing important new writers early in their careers, many of them translated into English for the first time.”
Florida State University | Southeast Review
Southeast Review is a national literary magazine managed by graduate students at Florida State. SER nominates and has won awards for the Best American series, Best of the Net, Best New Poets, Best Small Fictions, and the Pushcart Prize.
Portland State University | Portland Review
Portland Review publishes prose, poetry, art, and translations that reflect diverse perspectives from both established and emerging writers. It has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oregon Arts Commission, and CLMP/Amazon Literary Partnerships.
Eastern Kentucky University | Jelly Bucket
Slang for a lunch pail and formerly used by Appalachian laborers, Jelly Bucket is also a literary journal that publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art. It is especially committed to publishing writers from, and writing about, marginalized and underrepresented communities.
Bennington College | Bennington Review
Bennington Review publishes “sharp, unexpected, original poetry and prose from a geographically broad and culturally rich spectrum of prominent, up-and-coming, and new voices.”
Speaking of Bennington College… Did you know its MFA program is low-residency? If you’re interested in low-res programs, make sure to check out next month’s newsletter, which will spotlight the benefits of them!
Tell us which literary magazine you’re most eager to work for (:
I did my undergraduate in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona and interned with the graduate-run lit mag Sonora Review. Highly recommend adding University of Arizona to this list; their MFA program ranks highly for writers interested in cross-disciplinary study and southwestern-adjacent writing.
I worked for Florida Review while getting my MFA at the University of Central Florida and it was an amazing experience. It completely changed how I viewed submitting.