The Journal

02/09/2024

We are open for submissions
Sep 2 — Dec 2 !!!

We're looking for fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, interviews & reviews, and ART. Get your submissions ready!

*Poetry submissions capped at 300; will reopen at the beginning of each month!

For more details and to submit visit : thejournal.submittable.com

01/09/2024

Poets! The Journal’s Wheeler Poetry prize is open for submissions NOW! September 1st! In addition to $2500, one winner will receive a full-length poetry collection published through Ohio State Press !!! Judged by OSU's very own Marcus Jackson !!! You have until October 7th to submit 📖✍️

20/02/2024

We at The Journal are happy to announce Austin Araujo as the winner of the 2023 Charles B. Wheeler Contest! This year’s selection was judged by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of forthcoming book “Bite By Bite.” Araujo is a poet from northwest Arkansas, and he is currently a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Araujo’s “At the Park on the Edge of the Country” will be published through Mad Creek Books, an imprint of The Ohio State Press.

The runner up for this year’s Charles B. Wheeler Contest was “Unrivering” by Donna Vorreyer. The finalists included Preeti Parikh, Meghann Plunkett, and Delaney Olmo. More information about these fantastic writers and the very talented semi-finalists can be found on The Journal’s website, thejournalmag.org.

12/01/2024

We’re so thrilled to announce The Journal issue 47.1! Featuring the work of Stephanie Burt, Abigail Carlson, Victoria Chang, Jamaal May, Mandy Shunnarah & more, this issue is a celebration of 50 years of The Journal. Check out a selection online, and order a copy now!🌱

With returning contributors and new voices, translated work and collaborative poetry, 47.1 is a celebration of art and its transformative potential. We’re so grateful for the editors, readers, printers, and contributors who made this issue possible.

Featured art by

06/01/2024

Columbus! 🚨 Join us on Friday, January 19th to celebrate the launch of The Journal Issue 47.1 and the 50th anniversary of The Journal! Come grab a snack and a book at Two Dollar Radio and hear contributors and editors read from the issue. We can’t wait to build literary arts community with you in the New Year!
Mandy Shunnarah (they/them) is an Alabama-born, Palestinian-American writer who now calls Columbus, Ohio, home. Their essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in The New York Times, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and others. Their first book, Midwest Shreds: Skating Through America’s Heartland, is forthcoming from Belt Publishing. Read more at mandyshunnarah.com.
Abigail Carlson was raised in Ohio and received her M.F.A. from New Mexico State University. Her work has previously appeared in the Rappahannock Review, and she lives with her partner and dog in southeastern Ohio, where she works from home, writes distastefully sad stories, and gasps, “Oh, a bluebird!” every time she sees a bluebird.

15/12/2023

On grief and resilience, by Mandy Shunnarah.

We are so lucky to feature Mandy’s work in The Journal. Mandy Shunnarah (they/them) is an Alabama-born Appalachian and Palestinian-American writer who now calls Columbus, Ohio, home. Their essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in The New York Times, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and others. Their first book, Midwest Shreds: Skating Through America’s Heartland, is forthcoming from Belt Publishing. Read more at mandyshunnarah.com.

21/11/2023

A statement from editors of the journal in solidarity with Palestine. We call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israeli apartheid. We reaffirm art’s political commitments and stand in solidarity with cultural worker being silenced and censured. None of us is free until we are all free 🍉
Read the full statement at the link in bio.

10/10/2023

Gotcha! 😎

We’re greedy for more poems! You have six more days to submit!

Link in Bio

29/09/2023

We’re thrilled to announce our 2023 Best of the Net nominations!! Check out these stunning voices online at The Journal

14/09/2023

THANK YOU to everyone who came out last week to celebrate the launch of issue 46.4!!! Special thanks to 46.4 contributors and for sharing their stunning work, and for our Journal editors .arden .nahar for reading from the Journal’s 50 year archive. Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of who continues to champion literary community in Columbus ✨

16/08/2023

🎉 Columbus!! 🎉 We’re having a party!! Join us on Wednesday, September 6, at the fabulous for a launch party and reading to celebrate Issue 46.4. We’ll schmooze, have some delicious drinks, and hear work from The Journal’s 50 year (and counting) run! Come grab a journal and join us in growing this gorgeous literary community ✨

Much thanks to .arden for the design, for the art, and for their space and generosity

12/08/2023

Welcome to the world our special themed issue 46.4: Collapse: Rebuild🌱

This is work that excavates, salvages, and reverberates; that explores the aftermath of neglect and inaction, the repercussions of fallout; work that emerges from smog.

Featuring work from the brilliant minds of and more ✨

Featured art by the amazing

We're calling on our community to support the work of organizers in East Palestine, Ohio, rebuilding and fighting back against environmental injustice. You can donate directly to RVO, sign their petition, and share their work with your communities

28/07/2023

🌟We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2023 Non/Fiction Collection Prize judged by Lee Martin is Miles Harvey's THE REGISTRY OF FORGOTTEN OBJECTS! It will be published by Mad Creek Books from The Ohio State University Press in 2024🌟

27/07/2023

⭐️ We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2023 Non/Fiction Collection Prize judged by is ’s THE REGISTRY OF FORGOTTEN OBJECTS! It will be published by Mad Creek Books from in 2024! ⭐️ Also congratulations to all of our finalists and semi-finalists🥳🎉 and to everyone who submitted and trusted us with your beautiful work—it was our great pleasure to read so many vibrant and wonderful manuscripts!

13/04/2023

SUBMISSIONS OPEN for our themed issue until 4/15!

Collapse: :Rebuild

On February 3rd 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, dumping 25-33,000 gallons of vinyl chloride. The fear is that toxic chemical exposure will linger in the water, air, and soil.

What happened? Where do we go from here? What is on the other side of tragedy? We seek work that excavates, salvages, reverberates; that explores the aftermath of neglect and inaction, the repercussions of fallout; work that emerges from smog.

In short, we are interested in writing that collapses and rebuilds—and imagines the space between.

Submit here: https://thejournal.submittable.com/submit or link in bio.

Given the proximity, The Journal will be working closely with climate activists and mutual aid efforts to provide attention & fiscal relief to the inhabitants of East Palestine. However, the theme of this issue extends to all crises of the Anthropocene.

We're calling on our community to support the work of organizers in East Palestine, Ohio, rebuilding and fighting back. Since 2014, has been organizing for environmental justice and more, and in the wake of the Norfolk Southern disaster they have been on the ground supporting community members, working with environmental experts and lawyers, and fighting for accountability and answers. You can donate directly to RVO, sign their petition, and share their work with your communities.

Donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/river-valley-organizing-1

13/04/2023

A stack of our print issue 46.2 😍

Grab your copy or read some of it online: https://thejournalmag.org/archives/21716

We will also be selling these along with back issues at AWP next week at Table T235.

Our current issue features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, artwork from: , , Su Hwang, , , , & more.

13/04/2023

SUBMISSIONS OPEN for our themed issue until 5/1!

Collapse: :Rebuild
In short, we are interested in writing that collapses and rebuilds—and imagines the space between.

Submit!
http://thejournal.submittable.com/submit

19/10/2021

Big news!! We are thrilled to announce that Rebecca Bernard is the winner of the 2021 Non/Fiction Collection Prize! 2021 prize judge Nick White says of Rebecca Bernard’s work: “Each story walked such a tightrope - from the first one onward, there were moments these characters and their situations had me gasping, shuddering, looking up from the page to catch my breath.”
Bernard’s collection is forthcoming from Mad Creek Books, the literary trade imprint of The Ohio State University Press.

11/10/2021

Issue 44.4 is now live!! Enjoy poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and artwork from our incredible contributors on our website. Featuring works by Diana Khoi Nguyen, nicole v basta, Grace Q. Song, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Elle Wheeler, Aurelia Wills, Valyntina Grenier and many more. Available online for free!
http://thejournalmag.org/archives/19423

Our current issue features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork from: Diana Khoi Nguyen, nicole v basta, Grace Q. Song, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Elle Wheeler, Aurelia Wills, Valyntina Grenier, and many more.

10/10/2021

Poets, The Wheeler Poetry Prize judged by Kathy Fagan Grandinetti closes TONIGHT @ midnight EST! There’s still time to enter your manuscript for a chance at publication and $2,500! Learn more at http://thejournal.submittable.com/submit

A Special Note Regarding Submissions  Given OSU's switch to remote learning and the closure of campus due to COVID-19, we at The Journal are all adjusting to new schedules and responsibilities.   We'd like to ask for your patience during this process. We've experienced a huge increase in submissio...

06/10/2021

Willow Springs Issue 88 is now available. Order your copy here: https://secure.touchnet.net/C20347_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=103

Visit their website: https://inside.ewu.edu/willowspringsmagazine/

06/10/2021

Tell your poet pals, we have 5️ fee waivers still available for BIPOC writers! Email us at [email protected] to inquire about fee waivers and send in your beautiful poetry manuscripts by October 10! 🌻

https://thejournal.submittable.com/submit/

05/10/2021

Writers, don’t forget that Superstition Review is currently accepting submissions of Guest Posts to be featured on their blog. Click here for more information: https://superstitionreview.submittable.com/submit

03/10/2021

Poets! We’re extending the deadline to submit to the Wheeler Poetry Prize! Now you have until October 10 to get in those manuscripts. Judged this year by Kathy Fagan Grandinetti the Wheeler Prize awards $2,500 and publication by The Ohio State University Press. Past winners include Teri Cross Davis and Quintin Collins. Tag a poet friend who you want to submit in the comments!
https://thejournal.submittable.com/submit