phoebe

Established by a group of graduate students at George Mason University in 1971, phoebe is a national literary journal publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art from emerging and established writers. 

phoebe is a national literary journal and nonprofit organization that publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art biannually. Established by a group of graduate students at George Mason University in 1971, phoebe is one of the oldest graduate-run literary magazines in the U.S., and is housed and published by George Mason University’s Office of Student Media. 

phoebe prides itself on supporting emerging writers–many contributors have had their first published work appear with us either online or in print. Every year, our staff nominate selections from our issues for the Best of Net Anthology, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, Best New Poets, and other awards. Previous contributors to phoebe have gone on to win numerous awards for their work, including the California Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Locus Award, the NEA fellowship and others. 

For over fifty years, our mission at phoebe has been to give a home to quality writing from emerging and established writers, and as a journal that seeks to publish work from writers outside the writing establishment, we acknowledge the inequity in literary publishing for historically and marginalized writers and artists. We are dedicated to building and maintaining a supportive and inclusive literary space which prioritizes innovative work by offering fee waivers to writers in need, making recent issues available for free on our website, offering extended revision periods on selected work as needed, and providing support and feedback to incarcerated writers through the Incarcerated Writers Project. 

phoebe is also home to the Incarcerated Writer’s Project (IWP), an initiative founded by phoebe staff in 2018 which aims to engage with writers in prisons across the United States. IWP’s mission is to encourage the growth of incarcerated writers by providing written feedback on their stories, essays, and poems. Readers for IWP are students and alums of George Mason’s creative writing MFA program. Click here to learn more about our guidelines and how to submit. 

Please review our latest issue, which is always available for free on our website, for an idea of the range of writing we publish. We welcome both experimental and conventional prose and poetry. Work submitted to phoebe should capture and hold our attention, whether it be through complex ideas and connections, formal experimentation, or potent language. We tend to like work that is aware of itself, its form, and its place inside (or outside) of literary convention. We value writing that is earnest, reflective, and pushes boundaries. Above all, we seek to publish quality writing. Further guidelines on how to submit can be found here. 

We produce a print issue in fall/winter and an online issue in spring/summer. The online issue consists of the winners and honorable mentions of our annual contests in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. We’re open for submissions from August 15th – October 15th for the print issue and from January 15th – March 15th for the online issue. 

phoebe currently pays $30 per accepted piece to U.S. domestic contributors.* All contributors to the print issue also receive one copy of the journal upon publication. 

We do our best to follow our past contributors closely, but we often miss things! If you have previously contributed to phoebe and you’ve done something you’re proud of, please drop us a line @phoebejournal on IG/X/Bluesky or in our email at phoebeliterature@gmail.com so we can celebrate your success! If you have any other questions, please send us an email at phoebeliterature@gmail.com.

phoebe is published by George Mason University’s Office of Student Media, which is dedicated to providing hands-on, experiential learning opportunities for students who aspire to a career in media production or journalism. If you would like to donate to the Mason Student Media Fund, click here to give now.

*The payment of monetary prizes and contributor honorariums are subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including those that prohibit payments to persons from or who reside in countries subject to U.S. sanctions. Questions about these regulations and payment methods can be directed to phoebeliterature@gmail.com.