Florida International University

Gulf Stream Magazine publishes fiction, poetry, CNF, hybrid works, translations, book reviews & visual art from both emerging and established writers and artists. We love a wide range of genres and styles, especially writing that is innovative in form and progressive in content.

Gulf Stream Magazine champions vibrant and eclectic literature and art. Based in Miami, Florida, we publish emerging and established writers from the US and beyond. After more than three decades of publication, we are more committed than ever to showcasing writing and artwork that is evolving and alive, work that pushes the boundaries of genre, redefines genre itself, and sometimes eschews the very idea of genre altogether. We remain dedicated to our editorial practices of celebrating the writings of people of color and other diverse authors.

More important than any theme, we welcome all submissions as long as they’re honest and authentic – what we want most of all is your best work. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished (with the exception of translations – see genre guidelines).

Previous contributors include Hanif Abdurraqib, Kristen Arnett, Jan Beatty, Jenny Molberg, Ann Hood, Ha Jin, and Connie May Fowler.

Digital publications with stories chosen for Best of the Net anthologies. Selection indicates outstanding quality in the online fiction ecosystem. These journals demonstrate consistent excellence in identifying digital fiction that deserves wider recognition and readership.

Fiction Magazines Featured in Best of the Net Anthologies

Online publications with work selected (not just nominated) for inclusion in Best of the Net. The anthology chooses approximately 30 pieces annually across genres from hundreds of nominations. These journals consistently publish online work of exceptional quality that stands out in the digital literary landscape.

Lit Mags Featured in Best of the Net Anthologies

Online publications with essays selected for Best of the Net anthologies. The anthology typically includes 6-10 nonfiction pieces annually. These journals consistently publish digital essays and memoirs that exemplify the best of what's possible in online creative nonfiction.

Nonfiction Magazines Featured in Best of the Net Anthologies

Digital publications with poems chosen for Best of the Net anthologies. The anthology typically includes around 30 poems annually from hundreds of nominations. These journals consistently identify exceptional verse that represents the highest quality of poetry published online.

Poetry Magazines Featured in Best of the Net Anthologies

Gulf Stream Magazine

What we publish
We want stories that scare us, that arouse us, that overwhelm us with joy or with misery - stories that make us feel something. Maybe they teach us something that we didn't know or maybe they leave us with a more meaningful understanding of something we thought we understood but hadn't seen through your eye and the eyes of your characters. We want characters we know in our bones or want desperately to meet, characters who stay with us and who we carry around like family or blood enemies or both. We want a voice that reads distinctly and utterly like you, that we can hear in every line from the first paragraph to the last. We don't care if your story is 2 pages or 20, we just want those pages to move us some place new by the time we get to the end. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished. Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Check out our theme description for more guidelines, and find out what we like by reading our current issue.
 
Limits
  We accept fiction manuscripts up to 5,000 words. For stories of 1,000 words or less, you may send up to 3 stories in a single submission, all of which should be included in the same document and each piece should begin on a new page. 
 
How to submit
  Please submit your work through submittable.
  No submissions through email or mail unless you have an invite to do so from the editors. (For example, prisoners may request to do this.)
  Include a bio of up to 50 words along with your cover letter. 
 
Guidelines
    -Reading fee of $3. (For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors).
    -International submissions welcomed, but English only this year.
    -Multiple submissions welcome at $3 per submission.
    -Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere.
    -No submissions from current FIU students.
    -Submissions accepted from FIU alumni 2 or more years after graduation.
 
Copyright Info
  We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication.
 
Contact
  gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com

Fiction

For our next issue, we want to know what makes you wet. We want you to make us cry, sweat, spit our drinks out. Show us writing that breaks form like ice melting into water. Think of summer in the winter. Think of snow. Think of oceans and rivers and lakes and that one swimming pool you snuck into to skinny dip. Think of sex. Think about matter. Think about change and fluidity. Think of taking off your shirt, but your back is too sweaty so it sticks to you like that one crush you just can’t quit. What makes your characters so angry that they cry? What makes you want to spit on the ground and curse? Show us poetry that drips off the page. Think of rain, oil, blood, wet cement. Think of jumping in puddles and making a mess. We love messes. Get us hot and bothered then dump a bucket of ice water on us to cool us off. Or don’t. Keep us hanging on. Keep us edging. We present to you Issue 37: WET!

More important than any theme, we welcome all submissions as long as they’re honest and authentic – what we want most of all is your best work. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished (with the exception of translations – see genre guidelines). Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Find out what we like by reading our current issue. 

Flash

What we publish
   We're looking for poems that have a pulse, whether rhythmic or racing. We want pieces with blood flowing through them. We want to read poems about love and heartbreak, we want sexy poems and sad poems, we want poems of life changing horrors and everyday truths, occasionally we like poems about flowers. What we want most is a poem that stays with us, that lives with us, that we can't look away from and can't unsee and wouldn't want to if we could. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished. Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Check out our theme description for more guidelines, and find out what we like by reading our current issue.
 
Limits
   Please send up to 3 poems per submission. All poems should be included in a single document, with each piece starting on a new page. 
 
How to submit
   Please submit your work through submittable.
   No submissions through email or mail unless you have an invite to do so from the editors. (For example, prisoners may request to do this.)
   Include a bio of up to 50 words along with your cover letter.
 
Guidelines
     -Reading fee of $3. (For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors).
     -International submissions welcomed, but English only this year.
     -Multiple submissions welcome at $3 per submission.
     -Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere.
     -No submissions from current FIU students.
     -Submissions accepted from FIU alumni 2 or more years after graduation.
 
Copyright Info
   We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication.
 
Contact
   gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com

Poetry

What we publish 
We want your hybrids that defy easy categorization. Send us your lyric essays, your haibuns, your prose poems anything else that blends genre and bends genre, breaks genre or maybe even makes a new genre. Of all the tabs in this submittable portal, this one is the hardest to define, which is the point - we're looking for the kind of work that redefines the form rather than strictly adhering to it. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished. Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Check out our theme description for more guidelines, and find out what we like by reading our current issue
Limits 
We accept hybrid manuscripts up to 5,000 words. If your work includes visual components, we are currently only accepting pieces with a maximum of 5 images and the images must in black and white. 
How to submit 
Please submit your work through submittable. No submissions through email or mail unless you have an invite to do so from the editors. (For example, prisoners may request to do this.) Include a bio of up to 50 words along with your cover letter. If the submission requires special formatting, please any include requests and instructions in your cover letter and feel free to send PNG or PDF files in the submittable messages to the editors in addition to your primary chosen file upload. 
Guidelines 
-Reading fee of $3. (For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors). 
-International submissions welcomed, but English only this year. 
-Multiple submissions welcome at $3 per submission. 
-Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere. 
-No submissions from current FIU students. Submissions accepted from FIU alumni 2 or more years after graduation. 
Copyright Info 
We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication. 
Contact 
gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com

Hybrid

What we publish
 Our CNF tastes are about as varied as the genre. We love a vulnerable memoir that tells the truth standing naked in a mirror just as much as we love an essay that reshapes the way we imagine a place we've never been or changes the way we hear the lyrics of a song we thought we knew the lines to. We love a piece that propels us along a straight line through time and memory just as much as we love a piece that winds and meanders through musings and emotions in moves we can't quite predict but somehow make sense in the end. Mostly, we love CNF that feels like we're talking to someone we trust, someone we know is being honest, someone we want to have conversations with because we like the way they think and we like the way they make us think. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished. Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Check out our theme description for more guidelines, and find out what we like by reading our current issue. 
 
Limits
 We accept creative nonfiction manuscripts up to 5,000 words.
 
How to submit
 Please submit your work through submittable.
 No submissions through email or mail unless you have an invite to do so from the editors. (For example, prisoners may request to do this.)
 Include a bio of up to 50 words along with your cover letter.
 
Guidelines
 -Reading fee of $3. (For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors).
 -International submissions welcomed, but English only this year.
 -Multiple submissions welcome at $3 per submission.
 -Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere.
 -No submissions from current FIU students.
 -Submissions accepted from FIU alumni 2 or more years after graduation.
 -We respond within 1 month of the submission period close date.
 
Copyright Info
 We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication.
 
Contact
 gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com

Creative Nonfiction

We are searching for book reviews on books that have been published within a year. Send us reviews that contain a brief summary, and an analysis that really gives us perspective and a unique take on literature. Book reviews are expected to be within 500-750 words, have the book title, author name, and year of publishing. Reviews should focus on books published within the past year, although in certain cases, exceptions can be made.
Guidelines:

  All submissions must be in English.
  We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if the review is accepted elsewhere and you wish to withdraw it from consideration. 
  Submit as a .doc, .docx, .rtf, or PDF file format.

Book Reviews

General submissions for visual art are now open Although Gulf Stream Magazine is predominately a literary journal, we also publish visual art. Our aims are to enhance our issues and provide a platform for up-and-coming artists. Unfortunately, we can't pay for the art we publish (yet). But our magazine does offer you a chance to get your work independently published and seen by a large audience. If we select your work, we would also publish your artist’s bio, website and social media links. What are we looking for? We consider original work by the artist in any medium, including painting, drawing, photography, graphic illustrations, photos of installations or sculptures. We have eclectic tastes⁠—we like the pretty and the ugly, the loud and quiet. If it is fresh and original, please send it our way. Guidelines Please submit no more than 5 pieces per submission. Give each image file the correct title as you would like it to appear in the issue, if accepted. Upload as .jpg format, at the highest resolution possible at no more than 100K. To understand the difference between resolution and file size, and how your image will appear on our site, please see this helpful Wordpress article on Image Size and Quality. Fine Print Our fee is the minimum possible to cover our submittable costs. For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors. Copyright Info We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication. Contact gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com

Visual Art

The Gulf Stream Contest is back! It offers emerging writers a great opportunity to have their work read by published poets and authors, plus the chance to earn some money.
About Gulf Stream
Gulf Stream Literary Magazine champions vibrant and eclectic literature and art. Based in beautiful Miami, Florida, we publish emerging and established writers from the USA and beyond. 
Previous contributors include Hanif Abdurraqib, Tony Hoagland, Jensen Beach, Kristen Arnett, Steve Almond, Jan Beatty, James Carlos Blake, Lee Martin, Robert Wrigley, Dennis Lehane, Liz Robbins, Stuart Dybek, David Kirby, Ann Hood, Ha Jin, B.H. Fairchild, Naomi Shihab Nye, F. Daniel Rzicznek, and Connie May Fowler.
The Prize
The winner will receive a cash prize of $100 plus publication in Issue #37 (in print and online!). Please read over the theme description before submitting. 
Two runner-ups from each category will be published in Issue #37 and reimbursed their entry fee.
The Details
Poetry submissions of up to 5 poems.
Submissions will be judged blindly. Our poetry readers will choose the top ten to fifteen poems to send to our final judge. The judge will then choose the first place winner and two runner-ups.
All submissions will be considered for publication. If you submit to the contest, you do not need to submit separately to our regular poetry submissions. 
Closes 
November 3, 2025
Judge 
Denise Duhamel is the author of Pink Lady (Pitt Poetry Series, 2025), Second Story (Pittsburgh, 2021) and Scald (Pittsburgh, 2017). Blowout (Pittsburgh, 2013) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In Which (2024) is a winner of the Rattle Chapbook Prize. She and the late Maureen Seaton co-authored six collections, the most recent of which isTilt (Bridwell Press, 2025.) Denise’s collaborations with Julie Marie Wade includeThe Latest: 20 Ghazals for 2020 (Small Harbor Publishing, 2025). A recipient of NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships, she is a distinguished university professor at Florida International University in Miami.
Previous Winners
2019
Fiction: Ashley Hand “Street Parking”
Poetry: Forester McClatchey “Eating in a State of Flowers”
Read the 2019 Summer Contest Issue.
Entry conditions
-Entry fee is $10
-Contest closes 11:59 PM on November 3, 2025
-Submit via Submittable. No submissions through email or mail
-Poetry submissions no more than 5 poems per submission
-Submitted work must be original and previously unpublished
-Do not include any identifying features on your submission, only on the cover letter
-Include a cover letter with a short bio of up to 50 words 
-International submissions welcomed
-Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere
-Please direct questions or comments to gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com
-Submissions from current FIU students not accepted. Submissions accepted from alums 2 or more years after graduation
-By submitting, you agree to receive email marketing updates about the contest & general submissions.

Gulf Stream Poetry Contest - Fall 2025: WET!

Sometimes, the English language is simply not enough to say what needs to be said. Certain feelings are experienced in another language and so too are the lines and stanza and scenes that come out of them. And sometimes, in the act of translating those lines and feelings from one language to another, we can come to understand them in new ways. We want to try and lean into this multivalence of expression by offering a space for translations. The works translated can be your own pieces or be written by fellow authors, so long as you receive the author's permission, which we request you make sure you have before submitting. Translations must be accompanied by the original work, a short bio of the author and translator, and a description of how the translation came to be (we are interested in the connections made not only between language but between authors and between the different iterations of the content). Additionally, we request you include the original publication history. The original piece can be previously published so long as the author has retained the publication rights, which we recommend you also check before submitting. Currently, we are only accepting Spanish-English translations as that is all our staff has the ability to work on, but we hope to expand this in coming issues. Both the original work and the translation must be created without the use of AI. Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Check out our theme description for more guidelines, and find out what we like by reading our current issue.

Translations

Sometimes, the English language is simply not enough to say what needs to be said. Certain feelings are experienced in another language and so too are the lines and stanza and scenes that come out of them. And sometimes, in the act of translating those lines and feelings from one language to another, we can come to understand them in new ways. We want to try and lean into this multivalence of expression by offering a space for translations. The works translated can be your own pieces or be written by fellow authors, so long as you receive the author's permission, which we request you make sure you have before submitting. Translations must be accompanied by the original work, a short bio of the author and translator, and a description of how the translation came to be (we are interested in the connections made not only between language but between authors and between the different iterations of the content). Additionally, we request you include the original publication history. The original piece can be previously published so long as the author has retained the publication rights, which we recommend you also check before submitting. Currently, we are only accepting Spanish-English translations as that is all our staff has the ability to work on, but we hope to expand this in coming issues. Both the original work and the translation must be created without the use of AI. Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Check out our theme description for more guidelines, and find out what we like by reading our current issue. 
Limits 
We accept poetry submissions with up to 3 poems total and fiction, CNF and Hybrid manuscripts up to 5,000 words. For stories of 1,000 words or less, you may send up to 3 stories in a single submission, all of which should be included in the same document and each piece should begin on a new page. Original works should be in the same document as the translations. 
How to submit 
Please submit your work through submittable.   
No submissions through email or mail unless you have an invite to do so from the editors. (For example, prisoners may request to do this.)   
Include bios of up to 50 words for the original author and the translator, a brief contextualization of the translation, and original publication history along with your cover letter.   
Guidelines 
-Reading fee of $3. (For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors).     
-International submissions welcomed, but English only this year.
-Multiple submissions welcome at $3 per submission.     
-Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere.    
 -No submissions from current FIU students.     
-Submissions accepted from FIU alumni 2 or more years after graduation.  
Copyright Info 
We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication.  
Contact 
gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com

Gulf Stream Magazine

Highlights

About

Appears in collections