HEN I was thirteen I acquired a magic notebook: a thick, blank sketchbook with richly textured, flecked paper of all different colors. Paging through it was like peering into a lush garden of unwritten delights, and my brain exploded with possibilities as I imagined the worlds I didn’t even know I could write about yet. I was reminded of that feeling of possibility, of discovery, as I read through the following thirteen literary magazines, which together present a kind of gorgeous bouquet of contemporary literature. I was transported to an imaginary landscape where rare orchids coexist alongside wild ferns, blue algae, and switchgrass: an explosion of diversity in every sense. Several of these journals launched in the past few years; others have been publishing for decades. Some have won Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes, presented annually by the Whiting Foundation, and I’ve had the privilege of having my work published in a couple of others ( and ). But what truly binds them is the way each of these magazines creates a community of its contributors and readers. Even the youngest ones speak thoughtfully to the past, and the most established ones are constantly reinventing for the future. Wandering through any one of these magazines—or, better yet,
