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THE SPRING 2023 ISSUE OF Litmag  IS NOW AVAILABLE:

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

We are a student-run undergraduate literary and art journal published annually each spring through the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) English Department.

FEATURED

• Bubbles in Peague by Linda K. Jackson
• Eden by Olivia N. Oli
• Chariot by Vincent Cortese
• Daydream at Sunset by Brandon Yn

ABOUT US

Mission Statement

Litmag is a student-run literary and art journal published annually each spring through the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) English Department. Since its founding in 1983, Litmag has provided an avenue to showcase the creativity of the UMSL community. Although student-run, Litmag publishes work across the entire UMSL campus (and beyond), featuring students, alumni, faculty, and staff. We aim to produce a high-quality journal that gives burgeoning writers and artists a venue to display their work and experience with the process of professional publishing. We are also proud to provide our publication to our readership at no cost both digitally and in physical print.  

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Litmag

UMSL’s diverse community is essential in the publication of our journal. As such, we hope this publication nurtures the unique creative expression only UMSL’s campus can provide. Litmag highlights literature and art that speaks to marginalized experiences, whether related to disability, race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Thank you for sharing your stories with us.  

2022 Editorial Staff Mission Statement

As editors, our goal for the 2022 issue of Litmag is to transform our experiences into literature and art that honors and enriches our individual and communal lives. Literature and art allow us to process both our joyous and heartbreaking moments, and we believe that Litmag provides space for us to share in this reflection together. The UMSL community’s varied artistic voices weave together in a single publication that can speak to all of us. We hope that the bright world Litmag 2022 presents will resonate with readers as it reaches bold peaks while settling into quiet simplicity.

SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO LITMAG

Accepted Genres:

• Poems
• Fiction/Short stories of 4,000 words or less
• Creative nonfiction/Personal essays of 4,000 words or less
• Multilingual writing (translation)
• Art (digital images of photographs, sculptures, comics, paintings, drawings, etc.)

Submission Guidelines:

• All submissions are collected through our Google Form.
• Submissions must not be previously published (this means your submitted work does not appear in another book, magazine or published collection, etc. and is not a licensed work of art or writing for sale on a personal or business website). 
• All submissions are reviewed blindly. Please remove your name from your documents and image files and instead supply your contact information in the Google Form. 
• Please title all submissions. Name all file uploads with the title of your submission.
• Upload text files as Word documents or Google Docs and image files as 300dpi JPEGs.
• Original artwork should be scanned (rather than photographed) for the best quality image.
• Each submitter may upload a total of 5 submissions per category. 
• Times New Roman, 12-point font is preferred for text documents.
• Photographs and artwork submitted will also be considered for cover art.

JOIN THE CLASS

Litmag provides UMSL students with hands-on experience working in publishing. The publishing process is split into two classes between the fall and spring semesters. In the fall, students can take ENGL 4160, which focuses on PR, fundraising, solicitation and writing for publication. If you are interested in this course, you can email Professor Allison at allisonjea@umsl.edu for more information. ENGL 4895, the spring course, focuses on the selection, editing, and production aspects of the journal.To learn more, you can contact Professor Watt at katewatt@umsl.edu. Litmag is also proud to partner with UMSL’s undergraduate graphic design department. As of 2022, the journal’s layout has been designed by students and faculty in the design department. 

SUPPORT

You (yes, you!) can join UMSL in supporting Litmag. We distribute Litmag to our readers at no cost, which is made possible through the generosity of our sponsors. These sponsors include the English Department, the MFA Program at UMSL, advertisers and benefactors. Our immediate readership includes the many thousands of UMSL students, faculty and staff. Our readership also includes thousands of alumni, visiting professionals, and guests from the St. Louis region and beyond, which increases readership to include potential clients from all parts of the globe.

Avenues of Support: 

• Advertise: Litmag can promote your business or organization with an advertisement in this year’s edition. Our ad space is extremely reasonable, so we encourage advertisers of all sizes to consider taking out an ad.
• Donate: Donations are welcome and can be made to the English Department. All donations are tax-deductible. We thank you in advance!
• Submit: Can’t support monetarily? Submit instead! We accept poetry, prose and art submissions from UMSL students, alumni, faculty and staff. Check out the guidelines and link to our submissions Google Form above! 

TESTIMONIALS

Published Authors/Artists

• "As a newly published writer, I can say there are few things more satisfying than seeing your own original work showcased in a real literary journal." -Allison Barnett

• "Dear LitMag, Thank you for having me at the launch party and for giving me an opportunity to talk about my artwork. It has been a wonderful experience from the moment I saw your ads posted at school to now. I wish you the best. I will send my art work again next year." -Tam Nguye

• "As always, I appreciate the opportunities to show my work through your publication. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who participates in the creation of Litmag. It provides a stage for literary and creative individuals to have their work seen by more than the general populace. On top of that it is a much-needed educational course as well as a highlight to the UMSL campus. Once again, thank you for the opportunity and taking the time to review my submissions." -Afton Joiner

Litmag Staff

• "It was sort of an out-of-body experience copy editing my own short story for Litmag22 –- a really cool out-of-body experience, for sure. I read “Nighthawk” aloud from the magazine to my little nieces and nephews the other night. They aren’t exactly coherent or trustworthy critics, but they were pretty excited that I was able to read my very own published story to them from an actual book (though I got complaints from the six-year-old that it was “too short”)!" -Martha Corbalis

Our webpage header pulls elements from the cover of Litmag 2022. The cover was designed by Georgeann McLemore.

Previous Issues 

Litmag Photo Gallery