At The Journal, we aim to publish work that mirrors the complexity of the human experience. We aspire to elevate new voices and challenge traditional notions of form and content, and we recognize the historical and ongoing privileging of white, cis-heteronormative, patriarchal voices in the literary space. We are committed to publishing work by and for those traditionally underrepresented in the literary world, including but not limited to writers that are BIPOC, queer, trans, working class, people with disabilities, and caregivers.

We seek to create a literary journal where differences are celebrated in order to cultivate great art. We recognize this notion of diversity to be inherent to fostering dynamic and collaborative artistic spaces. Because of this mission, issues of respect and accessibility are especially important to us. If there is a way that The Journal can make submitting, reading, or enjoying the magazine easier for you, please do not hesitate to let us know.

About

The award-winning literary journal of The Ohio State University, The Journal contributes significantly toward the literary landscape of Ohio and the nation. The Journal seeks to identify and encourage emerging writers while also attracting the work of established writers to create a diverse and compelling magazine. The Journal has recently had poems reproduced in the Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize anthologies.

The Journal, originally titled The Ohio Journal, was founded in 1973 by William Allen of the English Department at The Ohio State University, and has been published continuously ever since. David Citino served as Editor from 1985 to 1990 and was a contributing editor until his death in 2005. Michelle Herman and Kathy Fagan became Fiction Editor and Poetry Editor, respectively, in 1990 and currently serve as Advisory Editors. The graduate staff has maintained The Journal’s commitment to publishing the best work by new and emerging writers around Ohio and the nation, including writing not easily classified by genre, excerpts from novels, longer stories, and other daring or wholly original pieces.

Over the course of its forty-year history, The Journal has published prominent writers such as Carl Phillips, Mary Jo Bang, John D’Agata, Denise Duhamel, Michael Martone, Terrance Hayes, Lia Purpura, Ander Monson, Brenda Hillman, D.A. Powell, Linda Bierds, Donald Ray Pollack, Maggie Smith, and Jericho Brown. The Journal is published four times annually: one print issue and three online issues.

In order to comply with federal, state, and local laws (including the Ohio Public Records Act), as well as Ohio State policies, communications with The Journal and its editors may be required to be disclosed publicly.

The Journal is in part sustained by the generous contributions of our donors. Those interested in supporting The Journal should visit this link. 

Land Acknowledgement

The Journal is published in what is now called Columbus, Ohio, located on the ancestral and contemporary territory of the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Delaware, Miami, Peoria, Seneca, Wyandotte, Ojibwe, and Cherokee peoples. Specifically, The Journal resides on land ceded in the 1795 Treaty of Greeneville and the forced removal of tribes through the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

The Journal exists within The Ohio State University, which as a land-grant university, was funded through the expropriation of Indigenous land. Through the Morrill Act signed in 1862, nearly 11 million acres of indigenous land were sold to fund the endowments of land-grant universities such as The Ohio State University. OSU specifically benefited from the seizure of 614,000 acres of indigenous land from across the country.

In a city named for a colonizer, and at a land-grant (or land-grab institution), The Journal recognizes the legacy and ongoing violences of displacement and genocide that shape this land. While the state of Ohio has no federally recognized tribes, there are indigenous scholars, activists, artists, and communities working throughout Ohio, such as at the American Indian Studies program at OSU and the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, currently working to purchase land in Ohio. The Journal is committed to educating ourselves and our community, and supporting local movements for indigenous sovereignty.

To learn more about the land on which you reside, explore the community-sourced map from Native Land Digital at native-land.ca. You can also learn more about the legacy of land-grant institutions at landgrabu.org