River Styx Magazine

River Styx embodies the best of non-profit independent literature. As an independent magazine for almost 50 years, we earn just enough to keep publishing not trendy or politically connected work but thoughtful yet accessible, unpredictable yet moving literature and art. We will always adhere to a lean and mean production ethic and keep the youthful energy that's made us, as Small Press Review says, "a beacon of light on which deserving voices dance."

River Styx is committed to publishing work from new writers as well as established and award-winning writers, including multiple Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and US Poets Laureate. Work originally published in River Styx has been selected for numerous prestigious anthologies, including Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, New Stories from the South, and The Pushcart Prize Anthology.

River Styx holds several events throughout the year, including an in-person reading series. For the 2024-25 fiscal year (beginning July 2024), we will offer a robust slate of virtual and in-person programs, including the Indigenous Writers' Series, River Styx Nonfiction Series, Young Writers' Workshop (open to writers aged 16-20), Future of Creative Writing and Multimedia, and Ask the Editors Q&A Series. In late fall, River Styx will host a panel of editors from several other literary magazines for a discussion on digital strategy and omni-channel marketing for literary organizations. 

We publish two print journals per year and four online editions, and we run an annual contest in fiction and poetry that offers a cash prize. Our latest print edition, River Styx 107, features new writing by Sarah Viren, Katya Apekina, Jane Wong, Fortunato Salazar, James Crews, and Rajiv Mohabir. You can order a copy here.