Sky Island Journal

Publisher's description: Sky Island Journal is an independent, international, Pushcart Prize-winning, Best of the Net-winning, free-access literary journal. We are dedicated to discovering the world’s finest original poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. We publish accomplished, well-established authors—side by side—with fresh, emerging voices. We believe in removing barriers between readers and access to high quality literature—especially in regions of the world that have traditionally been underserved by English language journals or completely ignored by the literary establishment.

Our mission is to provide our readers with a powerful, focused, advertising-free literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally. We've elected to leave the "scroll-through experience" and pop-up ads to other journals and magazines; our over 150,000 readers in over 150 countries deserve a more mindful approach. Each piece of writing that we publish opens as its own protected document for an authentic, immersive experience that encourages an intimate, distraction-free reading of the work.

We accept submissions year-round via Submittable, and we publish quarterly. Unlike other journals that take months to respond, our average response time is 9 days, and we handle every submission with care. Every submission undergoes several cycles of deep-reading and real-time discussion, and every submission—regardless of whether we accept or decline it—receives a prompt, respectful response detailing what we appreciated. This kind of respect is what every writer deserves. In fact, we respect writers so much that we want to experience their work on its own merits; we read blind, and we never allow bios or cover letters to accompany submissions.

Whether you’re a future reader, or a future contributor, you’ll find that we are a welcome and refreshing change. See—and feel—how we approach publishing differently. Read our previous issues for free and check in with our family of over 1,000 contributors hailing from 52 countries and every background imaginable. Join us where the desert meets the mountains—where the indigenous meets the exotic and the old ways meet the digital frontier.

Find more great literary magazines at the NewPages Guide to Lit Mags.