Narrative Magazine

Narrative Magazine was founded in 2003 by writers Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenks, who established it as an independent literary publication with a strong digital orientation. Its editorial purpose is to present serious contemporary writing to a broad readership rather than limit publication to a single genre or literary school.

The magazine publishes both emerging and established authors, placing short fiction, poetry, essays, memoir, and other nonfiction in the same general literary forum. Its name refers to a broad understanding of storytelling: narrative may be shaped through plot, voice, memory, image, argument, or lyric compression. The publication therefore sits between a traditional literary journal and an online cultural platform.

Its web-based distribution has allowed the magazine to reach readers beyond the subscription and bookstore networks historically associated with literary periodicals. The Narrative archive also functions as a substantial record of work published during the expansion of digital literary publishing in the early twenty-first century.¹

Narrative Magazine uses a broad submissions program that invites work in several literary forms, including short stories, novel excerpts, poetry, essays, and memoir. The magazine's submission model is notable because it gives unpublished writers a route into a nationally visible literary venue rather than relying exclusively on invitations or agent representation.

Published work is generally presented with biographical and contextual information about its author, while the website organizes writing through sections, featured selections, contests, and themed opportunities. This structure makes the magazine both a periodical and a searchable reading environment.

The editorial range includes conventional realism as well as experimental, hybrid, and formally compressed work. Such breadth reflects the changing boundaries of creative writing, where distinctions among fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual or digital forms can be deliberately porous. Publication in the magazine is separate from winning one of its contests; submissions and prize entries follow the rules stated for the relevant opportunity.¹

Narrative Magazine has built much of its public profile through contests and awards for writers at different stages of their careers. Its programs have included competitions for short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and work by writers who are not yet widely published. Prizes can provide money, editorial attention, and a visible credential in a field where early recognition is difficult to obtain.

The magazine also offers readings, interviews, craft discussions, and other forms of literary programming. These activities connect publication with instruction: readers encounter finished work while writers receive models for considering structure, point of view, revision, and genre.

Like other literary journals, Narrative participates in the wider ecosystem of independent publishing that includes writing programs, small presses, literary festivals, libraries, and professional organizations. Its contests have also made it part of the practical landscape through which writers discover submission opportunities and learn the conventions of literary magazine publication.²

Narrative Magazine's significance lies partly in its hybrid role: it is simultaneously a literary journal, a digital archive, a contest organizer, and an educational resource. That combination distinguishes it from magazines whose principal identity is a regularly dated print issue.

The publication's emphasis on accessible online reading changes how literary work is encountered. A reader can move from a poem to a craft conversation, from a story to an author interview, or from an archive item to a submission announcement without the physical sequence imposed by a bound issue. This arrangement supports discovery but also makes the magazine's contents less dependent on a single editorial table of contents.

A further, less visible feature is the importance of administrative detail. Eligibility rules, reading periods, genre definitions, fees, rights language, and publication schedules vary by contest or submission category. Writers therefore need to consult the current official guidelines rather than assume that a rule attached to one Narrative opportunity applies to every other one.¹

Literary magazine

A periodical devoted primarily to creative writing, literary criticism, or related cultural work.

Creative writing

Writing produced chiefly for artistic or expressive purposes, including fiction, poetry, memoir, and literary nonfiction.

Open submission

A submission period during which writers may send work without having first been invited by the editors.

Literary contest

A competition in which submitted writing is judged under stated rules and may receive publication, money, or other recognition.