New Lit on the Block :: Linden Avenue Literary Journal

Edited by founder Athena Dixon, Linden Avenue Literary Journal is a monthly online journal that accepts poetry (up to 50 lines), flash fiction (up to 1,000 words), and fiction (up to 2,500 words). Dixon says that readers can expect to find the best work, regardless of any affiliation or prior publication and “poetry and fiction that is as beautiful in construction as it is in content. I wanted to create a place where writers would feel comfortable in sharing their words and, in turn, themselves.”

The journal was named after the street that Dixon grew up on. It was where she “first wrote her stories and poems and was encouraged to continue writing by the teachers in her local elementary school and junior high school.” Dixon explains that that she has created this journal as a space for stories that are both simple and stunning. “I found myself a little disheartened by work that seemed ‘alternative’ for the sake of being alternative, not because the content supported it,” she says.

The first issue features poetry and fiction by Elizabeth Akin Stelling, Leesa Cross-Smith, Ariana D. Den Bleyker, Daniel Casey, Andrea Blythe, Melanie Faith, Fiona Pearse, Marissa Hyde, Anthony Frame, Alisha Sommer, Gwen Henderson, C.L. McFadyen, William Henderson, Laura Hallman, Neal Kitterlin, and Val Dering Rojas.

The journal will continue to publish each month with a goal of being able to accept art and photography by the end of 2012. Within the next year, Dixon hopes to move the journal to a print publication.

Currently, submissions are accepted through Submittable on a rolling basis for issues published on the first of every month. Simultaneous submissions are welcome.