The following are journals and publications in Australia where writers can pitch their writing for publication. The list is not exhaustive, but can give writers a good sense of the current publishing landscape and provide a good starting point for seeking out publication of their writing.
Aniko Magazine
Welcomes flash fiction, short stories, creative non-fiction, and poetry. Contributors are paid $125.
Antler Velvet Arts Magazine
An indie online arts magazine welcoming poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art.
Archer Magazine
An award-winning print publication about sexuality, gender and identity. It is published twice-yearly in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on lesser-heard voices and the uniqueness of our experiences. They also accept pitches for the Archer website throughout the year.
Arena Online
Provides weekly online commentary on emerging social and political issues. It accepts unsolicited submissions of 800-2000 words. The quarterly publication accepts submissions of reviews and essays of various lengths.
Aurealis
Science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories that are of a “speculative” nature are considered, with acceptable lengths ranging from 2000 to 8000 words.
Australian Book Review
ABR is one of Australia’s major cultural magazines, presenting high-quality journalism and new writing.
Australian Poetry Journal
The country’s national poetry journal. It is published twice a year and each issue is guest-edited by different voices to ensure excellence and inclusivity. It also publishes insightful, curious articles.
Axon: Creative explorations
An international, open access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes works that express or are about creativity and the creative process. It is the journal of the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at the University of Canberra.
Baby Teeth Journal
A literature and multi-media arts journal, focused on supporting emerging artists.
The Big Issue
An independent magazine that publishes informative and entertaining articles on a variety of subjects including arts and entertainment, street culture, lifestyle and personal profiles, as well as fiction on a yearly basis.
The Borough
The Borough is a quarterly journal of poetry inviting submissions that engage with particular forms, genres and exemplars, leaving it up to the poet to determine their own themes in the deeper sense of the term.
Claws Out Literary
Claws out is an online fantasy, sci-fi and horror fiction publication, that displays epic tales of interesting worlds and characters four times a year.
Cordite
Cordite Poetry Review accepts poetry on an ongoing basis, as well as peer-reviewed research on Australian and international poetry and poetics.
Creatrix
Online journal of poetry and haiku published quarterly by West Australian Poets Inc., the peak poetry body in Western Australia.
Debris magazine
A story-driven bi-annual literary magazine based across Narrm/Melbourne & Paris. Each issue is curated by guest editors to highlight diverse and experimental voices.
Frankie
A bi-monthly magazine that celebrates and inspires a community of creatively inclined, curious and kind-hearted people, featuring interviews, rants, and research pieces.
Griffith Review
Accepts essays, reportage, creative non-fiction, fiction, memoir, visual essays and poetry.
Going Down Swinging
Publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, spoken word, commentary, essays, comics, poetry and experimental work online.
HEAT
HEAT is a distinguished Australian literary journal renowned for its dedication to literary quality, and its commitment to publishing innovative and imaginative poetry, fiction, essays, criticism and the hybrid forms.
Hyades magazine
A new online magazine that seeks to publish the best poetry and short fiction.
InReview poetry
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected](link sends e-mail). Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.
Island Magazine
Island welcomes submissions from Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific and Australians living abroad, of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
Kill Your Darlings
KYD is an eclectic online magazine of commentary, essays, interviews, fiction and reviews.
Liminal
Liminal magazine is an online space for the exploration, interrogation and celebration of the Asian-Australian experience.
Mascara Literary Review
A journal which focuses on the work of First Nations, CaLD, disabled and neurodivergent writers, as well as human rights and experimentation
Meanjin
One of Australia’s oldest homes for new writing. Publishes Australian fiction, essays, long-form journalism, poetry, memoir, interviews, and more.
Meniscus
Meniscus is an online, free access literary journal published by the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP and welcomes submissions from writers anywhere in the world. Meniscus publishes high quality, innovative poetry, short fiction, and creative essays.
Overland
Overland is a quarterly print journal (publishing essays, stories and poetry) and an online magazine, publishing non-fiction articles each week day.
Patter
An eclectic journal by No Typewriters / No Talking which publishes work in pretty much any style, format, genre, or form. Submissions open to people who have attended one of their silent writing sessions.
Peril
An online magazine focused on issues of Asian Australian arts and culture.
Pink Shorts Press
Publishes fantastically readable, socially conscious and slightly offbeat books. Generally prefers stories that are on the shorter side and that might have a South Australian connection of some kind.
Portside Review
An international digital journal emerging from the foam of the Indian Ocean. It publishes essays, short stories, poems, conversations and reviews for and from these coastal homes.
Pulch Mag
A WA magazine run by youth, for youth. Pulch Mag is a small independent publication for young West Australian artists and writers.
Puentes Review
An online magazine that promotes and celebrates the work of Latin American/Latinx creatives in Australia & New Zealand.
Pure Slush
Publishes print anthologies of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Quadrant
Quadrant is published ten times a year, monthly, except for combined issues in January-February and July-August. Each year it publishes more than 200 articles, 200 poems, 70 book reviews, 20 short stories and 75 letters to the editor.
Rabbit Poetry
Rabbit encourages poets to openly engage with auto/biography, history, politics, economics, mathematics, cultural analysis, science, the environment, and all other aspects of real world experience, recollection and interpretation.
Right Now Magazine
Accepts pitches on human rights issues in Australia, generally of no longer than 1000 words. Unpaid.
The Saltbush Review
For the inaugural issue of Adelaide’s new literary journal, to be launched in August, they are seeking submissions of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir of up to 2,500 words on the theme of ‘Water.’ Shorter works such as flash fiction are also welcome, as are works that challenge genre boundaries.
Splinter
Splinter is Writers SA’s literary journal. It is interested in the gaps between perception and reality and what happens when we get stuck in those gaps. It is published twice a year from Tarntanya (Adelaide, Australia).
Stereo Stories
Publishing evocative, concise short memoirs and non-fiction based around a song. The shorter, the better.
Southerly
Southerly is dedicated to publishing new literature of the highest standard. It accepts short fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and academic essays.
Stylus Lit
An Australian, bi-annual online literary journal, publishing poetry, short fiction, novel excerpts, creative non-fiction, interviews and reviews.
The Suburban Review
Celebrates work which might otherwise fall through the cracks of mainstream publishing: the weird, the experimental, the marginal, slantwise, and always-in-progress.
Voiceworks
Voiceworks is a national literary journal that features exciting new writing and art by young Australians. It is a space for people under twenty-five to develop their creative and editorial skills and to publish, and be paid for, their fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art and comics.
Westerly
Publishes short stories, micro-fiction, poetry, memoir and creative non-fiction, artwork, essays and literary criticism.