We’re off to the east coast! Melissa is back with a roundup of the great literary magazines the Palmetto State has to offer. Come with us!
Before diving into the great Palmetto State, we wanted to take a second to recognize the positive impact that social distancing has had on. Becky Tuch at Lit Mag News Roundup created a list of 73 new literary magazines, most of them based online (and others based abroad!) that you should absolutely check out while you’re waiting for your mid-road-trip oil change. All tuned up? Let’s get back on the road to the historic southeastern state of South Carolina, which boasts just four main lit mags, all top-of-the-line:
Yemassee
The journal of the University of South Carolina, Yemassee has been going through a glow-up period for the past few years. They now offer not only fiction and poetry contests but a chapbook contest as well (pro tip: address the editor of your specialty in your cover letter!). Cute bonus—you can buy a “Mystery Pack” of random past print magazines. We love a good lit mag grab bag.
Illuminations
Now published out of the College of Charleston, Illuminations was once a local literary magazine and for some time produced abroad—edited from England, Japan, and Tanzania until its return to South Carolina in 1996. It has some famous fingerprints on it (you’ll find traces of Flannery O’Connor, Ezra Pound, Nadine Gordimer, and Tim O’Brien in its archives) and is primarily a poetry magazine, so if you can land a story or an essay here it feels extra-extra-special.
Crazyhorse
Crazyhorse is another rambling lit mag that found a home at the College of Charleston, getting its start in Los Angeles and spending several decades in Kentucky and Arkansas before landing in South Carolina. You may have heard of its Crazyshorts! short-short fiction contest—where only pieces 500 words and under are allowed—or its annual cash prizes in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Perhaps most admirable about Crazyhorse is its dedication to both print and online forms, seeking only to expand both no matter how much times change. Submissions close May 31st for this season so giddyup!
South Carolina Review
Of the South Carolina lit mags, SCR is the one that most strongly upholds its roots as southern. Originally founded at Furman University, SCR now lives at Clemson University, swirling contemporary NCAA-level hype with history and literary lore in one big orange tide. Submissions are pretty simple: they take fiction, nonfiction, and poetry through Submittable (and also by May 31st!).
by Melissa Hinshaw