Here is an evolving list of journals that publish short spiritual memoirs. Please contact me if you know of other venues or would like your journal included on this list.
ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies (online & in print) ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies explores the interrelationships among theology, spirituality, and the arts. ARTS has been recognized as the single publication devoted specifically to the role of the arts in theological education and religious studies while also serving clergy, artists, and laity interested in the religion and arts dialogue. This journal seeks to expand our understanding of how the arts deepen and sustain our lives of faith, and how our spirituality relies on the arts for profound expression. Its exploration is ecumenical and interfaith.
The Believer (in print) The Believer, a five-time National Magazine Award finalist, is a bimonthly literature, arts, and culture magazine. In each issue, readers will find journalism and essays that are frequently very long, book reviews that are not necessarily timely, and interviews that are intimate, frank, and also very long. There are intricate illustrations by Tony Millionaire and a rotating cast of guest artists, poems, a comics section, and regular columns by Nick Hornby and Daniel Handler.
Comment Journal: Public Theology for the Common Good (online & in print) “Serving Christian leaders and culture makers with rooted, fresh ideas for the faithful practice of North American public life.”
The Curator (online) explores the meaning and matters of the heart and spirit reflected in cultural objects, experiences, and the arts. They curate writing about art intersecting with humanity. Culture at large, or art, or writing, all are material manifestations of the workings of the inner life and of the spirit of the times (the zeitgeist). A pitch or submission should address deeper spiritual questions within ourselves and our society. They publish at least one piece of prose (including creative nonfiction essays, reviews and interviews) and one poem each week, and their submissions are open year-round.
Dappled Things (Catholic, in print and online) “Dedicated to providing a space for emerging writers to engage the literary world from a Catholic perspective. The magazine is committed to quality writing that takes advantage of the religious, theological, philosophical, artistic, cultural, and literary heritage of the Catholic Church in order to inform and enrich contemporary literary culture.”
Emergence Magazine (online) “Emergence Magazine is a quarterly online publication with an annual printed edition. Each issue features a theme explored through innovative digital media as well as the written word. It has always been a radical act to share stories during dark times. They are a regenerative space of creation and renewal. As we experience the desecration of our lands and waters, the extinguishing of species, and a loss of sacred connection to the earth, we look to emerging stories. In them we find the timeless connections between culture, ecology, and spirituality. Emergence Magazine is an Initiative of Kalliopeia Foundation.”
Fathom Magazine (online) “Fathom is a digital platform that compels people to seek out the depths of Christian faith. They publish a digital magazine, a podcast, and a thing they call currents – basically a running list of curated articles on topics worth investigating. All of their content seeks to stir reader’s curiosity. They believe indulging our curiosity acts like a weight to pull us beyond the surface of our faith. More than just knowledge waits for us when we forsake the shallows. In fact, we will find out how little we know as we plunge deeper. In the depths we are shaped into Christians who embrace empathy, honor humility, desire intellectual integrity, laugh a lot, and believe in beauty. At least that’s the kind of Christian we hope to help cultivate with Fathom.”
Geez Magazine (spirituality, in print and online) “Geez is a quarterly, ad-free magazine for the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched and maybe even the un-churchable. We hope to untangle the narrative of faith from the fundamentalists, pious self-helpers and religio-profiteers. We explore the point at which word, action and image intersect, and then ignite.”
Ginosko Literary Journal (spirituality, social justice, online) “Ginosko (ghin-océ-koe): A word meaning to perceive, understand, realize, come to know; knowledge that has an inception, a progress, an attainment. The recognition of truth from experience.” Accepting short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, social justice, literary insights.
Image Magazine (Literary, interfaith, in print and online) “Image was founded in 1989 to demonstrate the continued vitality and diversity of contemporary art and literature that engage with the religious traditions of Western culture.”
Leaping Clear (online, all mediums) Leaping Clear brings together artists whose work moves us to remember where we are right now—what we often forget in the busyness of our lives. Here we can explore—along with the artists—the perplexities, joys, and inner and outer mysteries of being human. Leaping Clear offers a web space for artists in all media whose work brings together commitment to artistic achievement and meditative or contemplative practice.
Literature and Belief (Journal from Brigham Young University, in print) A semiannual publication of the Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature at Bringham Young University.
The Mockingbird (spirituality, online) “The Mockingbird is a nonprofit quarterly published by Mockingbird Ministries, an organization and media platform seeking to connect the Christian faith with the realities of everyday life in fresh and down-to-earth ways. This happens primarily, but not exclusively, via publications, conferences, and online resources from [their] website.”
Mothering Spirit is “a gathering place to explore parenting and spirituality.” Offers weekly essays and prayers from diverse voices on motherhood – plus virtual retreats, e-books, resources, and creative ways to connect our stories with God’s story.
The Other Journal: An Intersection of Theology & Culture (Literary, in print and online) “The Other Journal is a publication that promotes vibrant discourse at the intersections of theology and culture. It aims to create space for Christian interdisciplinary reflection, exploration, and expression.”
Pensive (online) is a newer journal (they just web published their first issue this fall) from the Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service at Northeastern University in Boston. They publish poetry, short prose pieces, and visual art that that deepens the inward life; expresses a range of religious/spiritual/humanist experiences and perspectives; envisions a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world; advances dialogue across difference; and challenges structural oppression in all its forms.
Pilgrimage Magazine (Literary, in print) “Pilgrimage Magazine, founded in 1976, is published three times a year and is based in Pueblo, Colorado. The magazine is dedicated to exploring story, spirit, witness, and place in and beyond the American Southwest.”
Plough Quarterly (Literary, in print and online) “Plough Publishing House, founded in 1920, is an independent publisher of books on faith, society, and the spiritual life. They’re based in Walden, New York with branches in the United Kingdom and Australia. They also publish
Plough Quarterly, a bold new magazine of stories, ideas, and culture to inspire faith and action. In addition, they serve up fresh views and insights daily online.”
The Porch (online) magazine and community is made up of people like this:
Someone who…
… is hungry for a hopeful vision of the world that also has something to offer everyday life…
.. is tired of the social media grind, and wants to connect at a deeper level with ideas and like-minded people…
…senses the difference between authentic spirituality or community and religious or political institutions, the unity of ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’, the duty of privilege, and the possibility of friendship between ‘high’ and ‘popular’ culture…
…likes to read, to share conversation about meaningful things, to laugh, dance and celebrate…
…understands and enjoys the fact that a healthy human can love the Muppets and abstract novels, classical music and hip hop, political activism and gift exchange economies, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Beyoncé, backpacking, sustainable agriculture, jigsaw puzzles, Rumi and Twister, all at the same time… In other words, ‘high’ and ‘low’ types of art and conversation matter less than ‘authentic’ and ‘open’…
Someone like you?”
Prairie Schooner (Literary, in print) “A national literary quarterly published with the support of the English Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Press, Prairie Schooner is home to the best fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews being published today by beginning, mid-career, and established writers.”
Relief Journal (Judeo-Christian, Literary, epub and in print)
River Teeth (online) “Glimpses, glimmers, meditations, moments, reflections, refractions, interrupted shadows, river shimmers, darkened mirrors, keyholes, kaleidoscopes, earring hoops, slabs of cracked granite, cracks where the light gets in. Beautiful things. River Teeth‘s weekly online publication, ‘Beautiful Things,’ features very brief nonfiction that finds beauty in the every day.”
Rock and Sling: A Journal of Witness (Christian, Literary, online). “We seek the highest quality work, work which embraces, wrestles with, argues with, celebrates and brushes up against our ideas of faith, whether it be on the cultural or personal level. An accepted Rock & Sling submission may not even make explicit reference to God or faith, but it will maintain a universal spiritual curiosity. Above all, we desire work which seeks beauty and excellence, in form and in meaning, and explores the boundaries of what we know to be true.”
Ruminate Magazine: Chewing on Life, Faith, and Art (Faith, Literary, in print)
She Writes Press. She Writes Press is unique in the world of publishing because we’re neither traditional publishing, nor are we self-publishing. As an independent publisher, we bill ourselves as a “third way” for authors, and we proudly occupy a much-needed alternative in a rapidly changing publishing landscape. She Writes Press was the first hybrid imprint to win 2019 Independent Publisher of the Year by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group. We are a mission-driven, female-run company with a strong vision, passion, and work ethic.
Still Point Arts Quarterly (Art and literary journal, online & in print).
Still Point Arts Quarterly is a truly beautiful and engaging art and literary journal. Produced four times a year, each issue focuses on a theme and features historical and contemporary art, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The Quarterly has been praised for its rich content as well as its splendid layout and design. Intended for artists, nature lovers, seekers, and enthusiasts of all types.
The Sun Magazine (Literary, in print). Celebratory, fierce, unflinching, thoughtful, truthful, dark, darkly funny, tender. A monthly magazine founded in 1974, The Sun publishes an eclectic mix of essays, interviews, fiction, and poetry that addresses the splendor and heartache of being human.
St. Katherine Review (Faith writing, Literary, in print) A publication of St. Katherine College.
Story Sanctum is a shrine for sacred storytelling, where writers and readers can unite around what makes us human. We curate compelling fiction and nonfiction stories with a clear point of view that captures the truth and beauty, sacredness and strangeness, heartbreak, horror, and hope of the human condition.
Talking Writing (online) Talking Writing is a home for first-person journalism—features told from a personal perspective but underpinned by research and reporting—and other hybrid writing genres like flash essays and memoir. They believe hybrid work, especially nonfiction that combines literary style with journalistic craft, helps promote a diversity of perspectives and the nuanced discussion so often missing in other public forums.
Thread Literary (online)
Thread is an independent online literary publication featuring short personal essays (Thread) and flash nonfiction (Stitch) that illuminate moments of human experience by established and emerging writers.
Tiferet Journal (online & in print) “Tiferet is a non-sectarian, non-dogmatic publication and community at the nexus of literature and spirituality. We publish high-quality poetry, prose, and art that further meaningful dialogue about what it is to be humane and conscious in today’s often divisive world.”
Transformative Power of Art Journal stands “on a platform of equity of voice. Through a process of free, open-call, peer-reviewed submissions, this international journal provides a space to share and discuss the transformative power of art.”
Universal Table (online & in print) “The aim of Universal Table is to promote tolerance and social trust along many dimensions of life – or those are the words we have been using in our official mission statement. But each time we use them, we realize we are trying to describe something far broader – something that encompasses welcome, difference, surprise and inclusion, truthfulness and authenticity, and an equal place for each of us and what we hold most dear. These are the true goals of Universal Table: Finding the We in Them, the Us in You.”
Windhover: A Journal of Christian Literature (in print). Windhover is dedicated to promoting poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction that considers Christian perspectives and engages spiritual themes.
Online Resources
Here are other online resources to support your spiritual memoir writing and reading. Again, please contact me if you’d like your site included.
The Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research has a new online feature to support faith and writing with book reviews, resources, and publications from Institute participants.
She Writes is the largest online community and content site for women writers at every stage of their writing lives, working in every genre and representing every generation – all around the world. Founded by Kamy Wicoff in 2009, She Writes supports, encourages and educates writers, providing them with a place that is both inspirational and practical.
Writing for Your Life (online) Writing for Your Life is committed to offering many useful resources and services to support spiritual writers. They offer in-person writing conferences and online webinars featuring leading spiritual writers and publishing industry experts. Authors discuss and teach about various aspects of spiritual writing. Industry experts offer advice on how to get published and how to market. They also provide a host of services and resources to support your spiritual writing.
Redbud Writers Guild: Redbud envisions a vibrant and diverse movement of women who create in community and who influence culture and faith. Redbud provides women with needed support and tools to be effective writers and communicators in today’s world such as manuscript and media mentoring and review, networking, writing conferences, blogging opportunities, resources, camaraderie and community. (Make note you have to apply to join the guild first before they’ll consider publishing your work.)
Presses
Here are some small and otherwise hard-to-find presses that are open to writing about faith and spirit.
Daybreak Press: Daybreak Press was established in 2014 and is the publishing arm of Rabata, an international organization dedicated to promoting positive cultural change and the revival of the female voice in scholarship.
Orison Books: Orison Books seeks to publish spiritually-engaged poetry, fiction, and non-fiction of exceptional literary merit. In our view, spiritual writing has little to do with subject matter. Rather, the kind of work we seek to publish has a transcendent aesthetic effect on the reader, and reading it can itself be a spiritual experience. Such work is not merely about spiritual contemplation, but itself leads the reader into profound contemplation. It is not merely about the sublime, but itself has a sublime effect on the reader. It is not merely about the mystery of being, but itself heightens the reader’s sense of the mystery underlying the fabric of our daily lives.
Shanti Arts Publishing: “The work we do at Shanti Arts—and have done since its founding in 2011—is driven by a passion for nature, for art, for beauty, for significance. We are delighted to work with similarly passionate artists and writers all over the world.”