FOLIO is a nationally recognized literary journal affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences at American University in Washington, DC. Since 1984, we have published original creative work by both new and established authors. Past issues have included work by Roxane Gay, Franny Choi, Billy Collins, Ivan Pinkava, Hettie Jones, William Stafford, Bruce Weigl, Yumi Sakugawa, and Ross Gay, as well as interviews with Carmen Maria Machado, Michael Cunningham, Allen Ginsberg, and Charles Baxter. With 40 years of history, FOLIO is proud to continue publishing great work.
If you would like to get a sense of the work we publish, please check out past issues of FOLIO. You may purchase FOLIO through Submittable by following the purchase links below, and digitally on 0s&1s [here's a how-to guide for downloading your copy]. If you’re in the DC area, visit Upshur Street Books, The Potter's House or Politics & Prose to buy FOLIO at a discounted rate.
Our latest issue is available for purchase through the purchase link below--way down there!
Send us your questions or comments to folio.editors@gmail.com, but before you do please note that:
FOLIO does NOT tolerate racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, ableism, or any work that promotes harmful stereotypes and viewpoints.
FOLIO does NOT accept previously published work. We accept only unpublished, original work. FOLIO does NOT accept work by former or current American University students/faculty.
FOLIO does NOT accept work in which generative AI was used in any step of the process.
Yes: FOLIO accepts translations as long as the English translation has not been published elsewhere; simultaneous submissions are OK as long as you let us know and pull your piece if/as soon as it's accepted elsewhere;
Posthumous submissions are accepted for consideration as long as the piece in question is submitted by the next of kin/person who holds the rights to the piece (proof required prior to acceptance).
Yes, FOLIO is a non-profit organization.
To withdraw an entire submission, please use the "Withdraw" function. To withdraw part of a submission, please send us a message within Submittable noting which piece(s) are no long available. Thank you.
FOLIO
VOLUME 41 (2025)
“IN-BETWEEN” ISSUE
READING PERIOD:
OCTOBER 1, 2025
to
DECEMBER 31, 2025
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite.” – William Blake
The world can't be fit into neatly defined boxes. This year, FOLIO is seeking poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and visual art about in-betweens. Maybe you're no longer one thing, but you aren't quite another yet. Maybe you've got a rock jutting against your back, and a hard place weighting down on your front. Maybe you don't know where you are -- you just know where you were, where you should be. Maybe you don't even know that.
If your work is about in-betweens, transitions, or liminality, we want to see it. Send us poetry that feeds on uncertainty. Send us essays and memoirs about things impossible to define. Our fiction section is open to all literary fiction writers, including writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. To see examples of our previously published work, visit folioliteraryjournal.com. We do not accept fragments of larger works or previously published pieces. While there is no hard word limit, pieces become a tougher sell after they pass 5,000 words.
Submissions are open from October 1, 2025 until December 31, 2025. Submissions must be completely self-contained and not part of a larger work. FOLIO will award a prize to one story, one essay, and one poem. We welcome established writers and brand-new voices equally.
Connect with us on BlueSky @foliolit.bsky.social and Instagram @FolioLitJournal
FOLIO
VOLUME 41 (2025)
“IN-BETWEEN” ISSUE
READING PERIOD:
OCTOBER 1, 2025
to
DECEMBER 31, 2025
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite.” – William Blake
The world can't be fit into neatly defined boxes. This year, FOLIO is seeking poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and visual art about in-betweens. Maybe you're no longer one thing, but you aren't quite another yet. Maybe you've got a rock jutting against your back, and a hard place weighting down on your front. Maybe you don't know where you are -- you just know where you were, where you should be. Maybe you don't even know that.
If your work is about in-betweens, transitions, or liminality, we want to see it. Send us poetry that feeds on uncertainty. Send us essays and memoirs about things impossible to define. Our fiction section is open to all literary fiction writers, including writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. To see examples of our previously published work, visit folioliteraryjournal.com.
Submissions are open from October 1, 2025 until December 31, 2025. Submissions must be completely self-contained and not part of a larger work. FOLIO will award a prize to one story, one essay, and one poem. We welcome established writers and brand-new voices equally.
Connect with us on BlueSky @foliolit.bsky.social and Instagram @FolioLitJournal
FOLIO
VOLUME 41 (2025)
“IN-BETWEEN” ISSUE
READING PERIOD:
OCTOBER 1, 2025
to
DECEMBER 31, 2025
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite.” – William Blake
The world can't be fit into neatly defined boxes. This year, FOLIO is seeking poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and visual art about in-betweens. Maybe you're no longer one thing, but you aren't quite another yet. Maybe you've got a rock jutting against your back, and a hard place weighting down on your front. Maybe you don't know where you are -- you just know where you were, where you should be. Maybe you don't even know that.
If your work is about in-betweens, transitions, or liminality, we want to see it. Send us poetry that feeds on uncertainty. Send us essays and memoirs about things impossible to define. Our fiction section is open to all literary fiction writers, including writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. To see examples of our previously published work, visit folioliteraryjournal.com. We do not accept fragments of larger works or previously published work. While there is no hard word limit, pieces become a tougher sell after they pass 5,000 words.
Submissions are open from October 1, 2025 until December 31, 2025. Submissions must be completely self-contained and not part of a larger work. FOLIO will award a prize to one story, one essay, and one poem. We welcome established writers and brand-new voices equally.
Connect with us on BlueSky @foliolit.bsky.social and Instagram @FolioLitJournal
FOLIO
VOLUME 41 (2025)
“IN-BETWEEN” ISSUE
READING PERIOD:
OCTOBER 1, 2025
to
DECEMBER 31, 2025
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite.” – William Blake
The world can't be fit into neatly defined boxes. This year, FOLIO is seeking poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and visual art about in-betweens. Maybe you're no longer one thing, but you aren't quite another yet. Maybe you've got a rock jutting against your back, and a hard place weighting down on your front. Maybe you don't know where you are -- you just know where you were, where you should be. Maybe you don't even know that.
If your work is about in-betweens, transitions, or liminality, we want to see it. Send us poetry that feeds on uncertainty. Send us essays and memoirs about things impossible to define. Our fiction section is open to all literary fiction writers, including writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. To see examples of our previously published work, visit folioliteraryjournal.com.
Submissions are open from October 1, 2025 until December 31, 2025. Submissions must be completely self-contained and not part of a larger work. FOLIO will award a prize to one story, one essay, and one poem. We welcome established writers and brand-new voices equally.
Connect with us on BlueSky @foliolit.bsky.social and Instagram @FolioLitJournal