We are temporarily closed for submissions in order to catch up on our Submittable queue and will be back open in the fall.
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Joyland is back open for submissions.
Please submit only one story or essay at a time. We are able to pay writers $100 per piece.
We look forward to reading your work.
Joyland commits to adhering to the Palestinian international call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) and to complying with the underlying guidelines for the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
Looks like it’s MFA acceptance/rejection letter season again. Not sure who needs to see this, but most (all?) literary journals truly do not give a shit whether or not you have an MFA. We certainly don’t.
Pro tip. When you receive a rejection from a literary mag, don't forget to reply with a page long screed about how much you hate the mag now. It's amazing how many emerging authors miss this important step in relationship building.
literary journals bragging about auto-rejecting an author because they misspelled a word in the second sentence of their story is, uh, “a weird flex,” as the youths say
"In the other timeline they were laughing at a joke one of them had made. In the other timeline his hand was on her thigh and no one had just sort of thrown up. Her hair looked better over there, too."
— from 'Ten Year Affair' by Erin Somers
Submissions for our Open Border Fiction Prize are OPEN!
@tkiramadden
is the judge & winner receives $1,000 USD & publication. We can't wait to read your work.
When going through the slush we will NOT automatically reject:
- bad titles (easy fix!)
- no previous pubs (gotta start somewhere!)
- font choice (omg why would you ever use comic sans!)
We WILL auto reject:
- Racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic stories (bye forever!)
It's that time! Each month, Joyland waives submissions fees for a weekend. You can submit your work to us for $0.00 now through Sunday, 7/26 at 11:59 p.m.
Please only submit one piece of work for each fee-free period.
We're sad to say goodbye to
@kylelucia
, one of the people who made Joyland what it is today, but happy to announce that
@michellelynking
is the new owner of Joyland. So excited to see where she and the editors take this journal from here!
A new website means a new masthead. We’d like to introduce you to our team of editors. First up, our editor-in-chief
@michellelynking
. Michelle's work has been published in Catapult, Hobart, and Triangle House. She received her MFA from Brooklyn College.
Throughout the month of January, we will be donating 50% of our Submittable fees to eSims for Gaza. We will be making donations on 1/7, 1/14, 1/21, 1/28, and 2/4.
"He mentions that I have a lot of weapons on my key chain which makes me think that there are not enough."—Katie Burke from her essay 'Typically a Woman'
.
@dantielwmoniz
is joining us an editor for the South. Dantiel's fiction has appeared in Tin House, Ploughshares, The Yale Review, Joyland, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and elsewhere. MILK BLOOD HEAT is her first book. She lives in Northeast Florida.
We’ll be donating all submission fees from today through July 1 to the National Network of Abortion Funds.
General submissions, $4.50:
Open Border Fiction Prize, $5:
Joyland Magazine is now accepting entries for its 2021 Open Border Fiction Prize, to be judged by T Kira Mahealani Madden (
@tkiramadden
). The winning entry will receive $1000 (US) and be published on Joyland.
Today on Joyland: "Affection," an excerpt from
@emializh
's forthcoming collection of short stories, GIRLFRIENDS, a witty and sharp story story about parties, kissing, and whether or not one should stay in graduate school.
This isn’t an insult to MFA programs. They can be useful. But if you’re getting rejections, know that it’s not an indication that you shouldn’t continue writing.
We are delighted to share the news that “Masculine” by Mathilde Merouani is the winner of our 2021 Open Border Fiction Prize, judged by T Kira Māhealani Madden (
@tkiramadden
).
Mathilde's vivid and devastating story is available now on Joyland.
Today on Joyland: An excerpt from SALMON, a novella by Sebastian Castillo (
@bartlebytaco
) about a young poet and his travels to a mysterious country named SALMON.
Jo Barchi (
@theyarenotaboy
) is our new Midwest Editor. Jo is a writer/editor/ice cream scooper living in Chicago. They have previously been an editor at Ghost City Press, and Les Figues Press. Their work has appeared in Hobart, Triangle House Review, and Peach Mag.
Our Open Border Fiction Prize, judged by
@AlexKleeman
, is now open!
The winning story will receive $1,000 (US) and be published on Joyland. Two runner-up stories will also be published and will each receive $250 (US).
All hail
@michellelynking
, who has been moved to Executive Editor! Michelle started out as a contributor, then submissions editor, managing editor, & now Executive Editor. She's done it all & we can't live without her!
Starting today through Monday, 12/21 we'll be donating all Submittable fees to purchase gifts and gift cards via Transanta (), an Instagram-based community organization that helps to deliver gifts to trans youth in need.
We’re overjoyed to announce the results of our 2022 Open Border Fiction Prize. Finalists were selected by the editorial team at Joyland, and the winning stories were selected by
@AlexKleeman
.
In first place is Amy Zhang’s masterful story, “Slow Clap.”
Our Open Border Fiction returns on June 1 with
@AlexKleeman
as the judge!
The winning story will receive $1,000 (US) and be published on Joyland. Two runner-up stories will also be published and will each receive $250 (US).
"I remember he said we should take a bath together, and I remember his body—my naked body, his naked body, and how his nakedness neither invited nor intimidated; it just existed." — from 'The Most Fun We’ll Ever Have' by Kabelo Sandile Motsoeneng
“Sometimes—and this was a tragic element to contemporary life—you experienced something deeply intimate with a person, and it was this very experience of intimacy which foreclosed all possible intimacy in the future.” —from ‘Warehouses’ by Brandon Taylor
Please join us in welcoming the newest members to the Joyland team! Walker Caplan (
@walkercapl
) is joining us as Managing Editor and Maddie Crum (
@maddiecrum
) is our newest Northeast editor.
In “Initial Conditions” by
@which_is_to_say
, two assistants manually install the work of an abstract artist who makes “light sculptures,” and whose vision is either vague or brilliant.
“I swear to Odin (that’s a viking god) when I saw what was happening at cage three I almost turned and walked away.” A retail employee is surprised on the ladies’ fashion floor in
@monetwithlove
’s “Three Arms.” New on Joyland South!
We're donating 100% of this weekend's Submittable fees to
@toofound
, an organization dedicated to providing necessary resources for Austin, TX's homeless population.
"I was a POC (plus)—subcategory: Indian (minus)—Muslim (plus), straight (minus), upper middle class (minus). Alana was white (neutral), straight (minus), Jewish (plus), and seemingly rich (minus)."
—Nabeel Chollampat, "Private Viewing Mode"
Today on Joyland South, a new short story by Daisuke Shen. "Good Route, Bad Route" is told from the point of view of a lonely video game developer, haunted by his past.
Today on Joyland South, finding meaning in a place of remarkable insignificance. An exploration of memory and trauma in "Skateland USA" by Graham Irvin (
@grahamjirvin
).
Today on Joyland: "The Jester's Privilege" by Madeline Cash, a short story that uses microscopic shellfish, French cuisine, and a multilateral NDA to examine the paradox of work and meaning.
"Greg says I like to antagonize people. (I say I like to make people think.)" From the new story, "Signs," by the brilliant Elizabeth Ellen up at
@joylandfiction
Midwest. Read!
All the mindreader's wife wants is for the mindreader to read her mind... or so she thinks. What happens in a marriage when more than knowledge—of the self and our loved ones—is at stake? Today on Joyland South: "Allelopathy" by Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya.
Today on Joyland: Elizabeth Ellen's "Snatch Shots" is a character study of a people-pleasing pop princess that follows her rise to fame, drug-addled fallout, and artistic comeback.
In "Family: Orchid," a new short story by K-Ming Chang, a daughter watches her mother and aunt, both of them Orchids, as they think about death, breeding, and birth, in the shadow of their Taiwanese heritage.
Available now on Joyland:
Today on Joyland: "Like Goldfish" by Shy Watson (
@formermissNJ
), an audacious and savagely funny about fifth-grade make-outs, Vacation Bible School, hunger, and longing.
We're *so* excited to announce to announce the news that our new New York editor is
@amyshearn
! Amy is a brilliant writer and editor, and probably could've edited the last sentence so that it didn't have some version of the word 'new' 3x.
"We picked up a fifth of Jim Beam at the corner store and he bought me a keychain with my name on it."
—from 'The Voice' by Leila Register (
@leilaregister
), new today on Joyland
"I ask God to take the heartburn away and nothing happens. I chew chalky tablets of medicine to the sound of more commercials." — from 'Pledge, Prayers' by Kayla Jean Murphy (
@dbtoil
), new today on Joyland
"West Coast looked down, refocusing her eyes, a hard task for tipsy girls with electronic music-damaged eardrums wearing dresses whose hems do not stay down." —from 'The Petting Zoo' by Jade Song (
@jadessong
)
In celebration of
@kundimanforever
's 20th anniversary, we are proud to announce the Joyland x Kundiman: 20th Anniversary Summer Series, a series of 20 prose publications from 20 Kundiman Fellows that will run from May-August on .
Today on Joyland South: Tia Clark (
@tiamfnc
) expertly renders the particularities of love and hunger in a middle school-aged girl in "All This Want and I Can't Get None"
"When you die, I become obsessed with recreating you. I walk endlessly through our town, to notable places in your life." — from 'Maps' by Vanessa Chan (
@vanjchan
)
"She closed her eyes. Her stomach dropped. She felt chilled and was unable to open her eyes. This was not painful."
New fiction by Alex Higley (
@higley_alex
) up now on Joyland:
.
@woodlandraised
is one of our new editors for the South. Ashleigh is from rural Woodland, North Carolina. Her collection SLEEPOVERS won the C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize, selected by Lauren Groff. Her stories have appeared in The Oxford American and The Paris Review.
"At Mama Agbor’s Joint, there were times when palm-wine and ogogoro and beer flowed like a stream, when even the lame came out of their hideouts to drink."
— from 'Mercy' by by Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí, available now on Joyland
Claire is sitting in a meeting when she gets the notification that the host of a semi-successful political podcast has followed her back.
"Friend of the Pod" by Frannie Comstock, available today on Joyland.
Today on Joyland South, follow a typical Saturday in the life of a boy who gives shelter to stray fathers.
"Bad Daddy" by Rickey Fayne (
@rickeyfayne
). Inspired by the work of Terrance Hayes.
"To realize destiny is the purpose and pleasure of life. So say the rishis." — from 'NETRATĀ' by Mila Jaroniec (
@milajaroniec
), available today on Joyland