10 Irish Literary Journals to Support This Year

The literary scene in Ireland has always been blessed with fantastic writers, and luckily for us, there is no shortage of excellent literary journals and magazines to champion them. Today, we celebrate just some of those journals, new and established, and encourage you to lend your support to their work this year.

TOLKA

TOLKA is a new literary journal dedicated to publishing ‘formally promiscuous’ non-fiction writing that falls in between the lines – they are currently seeking submissions of essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, and individual stories. Their first issue will arrive in May 2021, and we can’t wait to watch them go from strength to strength.

The Waxed Lemon

Based in Waterford and launched in Autumn of last year, The Waxed Lemon is an independent journal looking to support the many writers producing work in Waterford and the rest of Ireland. They publish poetry, short stories, flash fiction, photography, and art. Keep an eye on their Twitter page for information about their upcoming submissions window.

Mandrake

Based in Dublin, Mandrake is an online journal specialising in the publication of horror, gothic and supernatural fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. December 2020 saw its first submission period, meaning we can look forward to the launch of its first issue this year.

ROPES

This literary journal gets a new lease of life each year as it is passed down to the next generation of students on the MA in Literature and Publishing course at NUI Galway. Publishing poetry, prose, and visual art, ROPES aims to give emerging writers a space to platform their work, while donating its proceeds to a chosen charity; this year’s charity is COPE Galway – what better reason to support it?

Paper Lanterns

Set up in 2020, Paper Lanterns publishes teen and young adult fiction including short stories, flash fiction, poetry, art, and features. Supporting this journal means amplifying the voices of young people and backing our emerging and future writers. Three issues of Paper Lanterns have been published thus far and there are a lot more to come.

Channel

Channel is a journal of environmentally-themed poetry, prose, and criticism, seeking to channel climate concerns and natural preoccupations into writing. Its third issue was published at the end of 2020 and the team are currently working on issue four.

gorse

gorse is a well-established literary journal interested in experimental fiction and smart writing. It looks for blended fiction, memoir, and history, personal essays, and fiction in translation.

Tír na nÓg

Tír na nÓg is a new publication which seeks to elevate the prose and poetry of writers native or local to Galway that engage in an international dialogue. Its first issue can be found online while submissions for its second issue will open soon.

Riverbed Review

Riverbed Review publishes pieces inspired and informed by the natural world, particularly waterways and rivers. Looking for stories and poetry based around this theme, its current submission window for its second issue is open until March.

Winter Papers

Self-described as a ‘fine cut of a book’, Winter Papers is one of Ireland’s foremost arts anthologies, containing fiction, non-fiction, interviews, and in-conversation pieces. Its sixth edition was published at the end of last year.