For the Love of the Periodical

My guide to lit mags PLUS an official invite to the Scremes Report BIRTHDAY PARTY!!

Before I completely bury the lede, an official invite to the Scremes Report First Birthday, featuring the SR Newsstand, comes at the end of today’s send. Come celebrate with me! Now let’s talk magazines xx Scremes 🌞

Several years ago, when I was living in Paris, I came across one of the books I’ve thought most frequently about in the intervening years, at the best magazine stand x bookstore in the French capital, Ofr. The book was not a novel or memoir or even compendium of theory. It was a handbook. A guide to the business of independent magazine publishing aptly titled, So You Want To Publish A Magazine. Compiled by Angharad Lewis, the Welsh writer and editor and Director of the Visual Communication department the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University, the book (published in 2016) features interviews with editors, publishers, distributors, retailers, and art directors, about what it takes to successfully publish an independent magazine.

So You Want to Publish a Magazine? Angharad Lewis (Laurence King Publishing, 2016)

I grew up reading National Geographic, and had a subscription to Architectural Digest from age 16, but I uncovered my love of independent magazines ten years ago, with Kinfolk, which, at the time, was leading the charge of independent magazines (the “matties,” as I called them in a 2021 article about magazines, below) that operated under a slower release schedule and treated the print product as objects to be kept, archived, and likely displayed, unlike the glossies from Condé Nast and Hearst that were more disposable.

In those ten years, my love of independent magazines has not waned. I still collect a great many of them, but my focus has shifted slightly away from the lifestyle magazines of the 2010s — whether generalist like Kinfolk and Monocle, or niche like Racquet and Put A Egg On It — and come to include more literary magazines.

Historically, the literary magazine has been responsible for the publication of several novels of the last century and a half, released in serialized form (Anna Karenina, Middlemarch, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Ulysses, In Cold Blood, to name just a few). It has also been a form lending itself to the philosophical explorations of its editors and contributors.

In recent years, the literary magazine (as, it seems, with all things literary) has had something of a renaissance. Several independently-published magazines featuring fiction, poetry, essays, and art, have cropped up in recent years. These are not magazines associated with universities, nor are they (strictly speaking, though some use the term in their title) zines.¹ They are publications with central theses guiding the type of art they publish, some more explicitly stated than others. They take submissions, purchase commissions, and for the most part, produce distinct issues, each of which often has a thematic focus of its own, falling under the umbrella of the magazine’s overall thesis. Without further ado, my guide to literary magazines…

Part One: Online Mags

I’m a particular fan of literary magazines in print, as I am of all things tactile. But before I get to those, I will shout out some of the online magazines that publish excellent work of which I count myself an admirer.

Angel Food

Co-founded by Miriam Gordis and Sophia Kaufman about a year ago, Angel Food is an online magazine that publishes “writing that would nourish and sustain the angels living among us.” They publish fiction, poetry, interviews, essays, and have become a cult favorite for their “Earthly Connections” …Craigslist 2.0

Read Me: “Can You Hear Me?” by Grace Byron, Issue 2

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Blue Arrangements

Blue Arrangements comes to us from the writers Raegan Bird and Nathan Dragon. Publishing fiction, interviews, poetry, mixed media digital experiments, and even chapbooks, I’m particularly fond of the web design for Blue Arrangements. Though digital, it has a DIY and hand-made media quality to it that I like.

Read me: “It Was A Very Pleasant Day” by Saoirse Bertram

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Muumuu House

Postmodernist darling Tao Lin’s publishing project Muumuu House isn’t a literary magazine per sé, but it does publish short fiction, poetry, translations, and interviews periodically on the site. These are, as I understand it, both commissioned work and material selected from open calls.

Read me: “Best Actress” by Anna Dorn

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Byline

Though not exclusively a lit mag, Byline (which was founded in part by one of the minds behind Covid-era Downtown-darling rag The Drunken Canal, Gutes Guterman) publishes fiction, poetry, and micro-essays among its (very good) reportage. Fiction is now edited by the writer Zans Brady Kohns.

Read me: “How To Know If You’re In Your Saturn Return” by Jane Drinkard

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Kismet

Founded just this year by writer, translator, and editor Samuel Rutter and CEO of Nearness Alec Gerwitz, Kismet is “a new literary magazine offering a fresh perspective on spirituality, religion, and mysticism for seekers and skeptics alike,” according to their About page. Poetry is edited by Aria Aber (Good Girl, 2025).

Read me: “Musical Brushstrokes” by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews

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Part Two: Magazines in Print

Perhaps I fetishize the magazine as objet d’art, and if that’s the case, then so be it! I love the experience of flipping through a magazine. The selection of paper, of binding style, of font — I love all of these elements of the craft of print publishing. The following five magazines deliver excellent writing and art in print.

And are you ready for the most exciting part?

The final four magazines in the following list will be featured in the Scremes Report Newsstand at the party I’m throwing to celebrate one year of writing this newsletter, Monday, May 5th! That means you can buy the most recent release from these titles, as well as selected back issues. Plus, meet some of the writers and editors, and get issues signed!

Heavy Traffic

Founded and edited by Patrick McGraw, I like Heavy Traffic for the simple reason that they exclusively publish short fiction. The launch party for their first issue in July of 2022 at an Italian joint in Little Italy was one of the first literary events I went to in NYC (that influenced the creation of this very newsletter). Since then, their issue launch events, now typically held at Earth on Orchard, have become quite sceney, frequently overflowing capacity.

Only available in print.

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Cake Zine

Launched three years ago by Aliza Abarbanel and Tanya Bush, Cake Zine, “a hedonistic exploration of history, pop culture, literature, and art through sweets,” is now on its sixth volume. Each issue is visually and topically guided by a theme based on a sweets-related phrase — “Tough Cookie,” “Humble Pie,” “Daily Bread.” Cute!

Only available in print. Featured in the SR Newsstand.

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Let’s Stab Caesar

Launched in November 2021 by René Bennett and Sophia Takvorian, Let’s Stab Caesar “publishing art with fangs.” The textual, visual, digital, and mixed media art in Let’s Stab Caesar’s pages pushes the boundaries of experimentation and transgression. Issue 5 dropping at the beginning of May!!! (I have two short pieces in it).

Read me: “Frootloops420” by Leah Abrams, Issue 2

Featured in the SR Newsstand.

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The End

Launched in December 2023, The End, edited and published by the critic Ann Manov, publishes fiction and poetry in thematic issues approximately twice a year. The most offline of the print magazines in this list, you’ll have to go to an event (like mine!) to snag a copy. The Veblen good of magazines?

Only available in print. Featured in the SR Newsstand.

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Notch

Notch, a magazine based in Paris and New York, released their first issue, “Potential Energy,” last November. (You can read my recap of the event below). Edited by Sasha Landauer and Angela Black, the magazine publishes in English and French. Their second issue, “Gravity,” will release May 30th.

Read me: “Ellis, Island” by Izzy Ampil, Issue One

Featured in the SR Newsstand.

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If you are in New York, I would love to see you at the Scremes Report First Birthday Party! It’s an open house Monday, May 5th, at 5 pm at BETTY (193 Henry St). Come have a drink with me, meet fellow subscribers and NYC writers, and shop the SR Newsstand! I can’t wait!! xoxo –Scremes

1. For an excellent overview of the history of the zine, read the exhibition text for Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, from the Brooklyn Museum’s show that ran November 17, 2023, to March 31, 2024.