Isla is a literary magazine dedicated to “non-writers”; those who have little to no formal writing education (no writing MFAs), feel like outliers in the literary world, or feel like they can’t access the literary world
We want to make space for those who engage with the process of writing, regardless of educational background, publishing credits, or artistic preference. A space for those who tend to feel stranded on their own islands; overgrown with ripe fruit and crawling with magic.
reading and writing is for everyone
We believe that some of the most intriguing art comes from those who are not educated in the techniques of that practice, that self-taught artists are valid, and that sometimes art that comes without years of polishing can be more raw, more true.
Send us your poems scribbled onto your napkin on your lunch break, your stories that spill out of you as you toss and turn at 2 am, your essays that you furiously type into your notes app on your commute.
We hope to publish online issues quarterly, each centered around a designated theme which will be open to your own interpretation (with a little editorial guidance). Your submissions can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or any hybrid of genre that feels right to you. The theme will be announced beforehand and we will be taking rolling submissions up until the publication date.
No fee to submit. We will compensate you for your work if it gets selected for publication. We also hope to host writing workshops for anyone who would like any guidance from our editor, or want practice, feedback, or inspiration in a collaborative and open setting.
submit to Isla
Ivy
After graduating from The New School with a degree in poetry, Ivana felt disconnected from the literary world. She felt like school was her tether to it. In order to support herself afterwards, she had to pursue work in other fields and found that working on her own writing projects was harder to prioritize without the ability to take time off to participate in things like residencies or unpaid internships that grant access and inspiration. She was itching to find or create a community that fit better into the lifestyle of a “non-writer”; something that still satisfied her passion for writing but differed from the more traditional ways of doing so. Isla Press was born out of this longing for a community free of judgment and pressure to commit to a lifestyle inaccessible to those who cannot immerse themselves in the literary world (or simply don’t want to!).
Isla is a literary magazine dedicated to “non-writers”; those who have little to no formal writing education (no writing MFAs), feel like outliers in the literary world, or feel like they can’t access the literary world
We want to make space for those who engage with the process of writing, regardless of educational background, publishing credits, or artistic preference. A space for those who tend to feel stranded on their own islands; overgrown with ripe fruit and crawling with magic.
reading and writing is for everyone
We believe that some of the most intriguing art comes from those who are not educated in the techniques of that practice, that self-taught artists are valid, and that sometimes art that comes without years of polishing can be more raw, more true.
Send us your poems scribbled onto your napkin on your lunch break, your stories that spill out of you as you toss and turn at 2 am, your essays that you furiously type into your notes app on your commute.
We hope to publish online issues quarterly, each centered around a designated theme which will be open to your own interpretation (with a little editorial guidance). Your submissions can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or any hybrid of genre that feels right to you. The theme will be announced beforehand and we will be taking rolling submissions up until the publication date.
No fee to submit. We will compensate you for your work if it gets selected for publication. We also hope to host writing workshops for anyone who would like any guidance from our editor, or want practice, feedback, or inspiration in a collaborative and open setting.
submit to Isla
Ivy
After graduating from The New School with a degree in poetry, Ivana felt disconnected from the literary world. She felt like school was her tether to it. In order to support herself afterwards, she had to pursue work in other fields and found that working on her own writing projects was harder to prioritize without the ability to take time off to participate in things like residencies or unpaid internships that grant access and inspiration. She was itching to find or create a community that fit better into the lifestyle of a “non-writer”; something that still satisfied her passion for writing but differed from the more traditional ways of doing so. Isla Press was born out of this longing for a community free of judgment and pressure to commit to a lifestyle inaccessible to those who cannot immerse themselves in the literary world (or simply don’t want to!).
