A powerful documentary play created from letters by imprisoned people in Appalachia, revealing the humanity, isolation, and resilience of life behind bars. www.riverstyx.org/plays/dark-s...

In a dystopian world where history is rewritten by an oppressive government, a calligrapher struggles to embed defiance and the memory of her freedom-loving father into her mandated texts, finding solace and truth in her secret love, Jimmy, and the symbolic power of unpredictable clouds.

My husband stumbled across this this morning. He's bringing them home for me to read. #litmags #litmagheaven @coloradoreview.bsky.social @riverstyxmag.bsky.social @prairie-schooner.bsky.social @barrowstreetpress.bsky.social @westbranchmagazine.bsky.social

River Styx 110: Plum is available for preorder. Featuring new writing and art by Maryn Blanco, Noor Jafari, Marc McKee, Hantian Zhang, Allison Field Bell, and more.

We’ve extended the deadline for The River Styx Contest to September 1, 2025. (Announcement date is still January 1.) Enter your fiction or poetry. See our website for complete rules. www.riverstyx.org/the-river-st...

We interviewed Lan Samantha Chang, author of The Family Chao and director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, on literary forms, longing, and being a Midwesterner. www.riverstyx.org/interviews/l...

In Mary Troy’s story, “Don’t Take This the Wrong Way,” a woman with a complicated family history and a troubled marriage experiences a sense of liberation when her husband leaves and her half-brother, a repeat offender, moves in. @marytroy.bsky.social www.riverstyx.org/fiction/dont...

In Elzbieta Zdunek’s series SOMETHING HUMAN, the artist “explores the way we are perceived from the outside…the weight of external judgement: how labels define or dismiss us, and the impossible, often conflicting expectations placed upon us.” www.riverstyx.org/elzbieta-zdu...

Very much enjoyed this back-and-forth with Bryan Castille for River Styx magazine.

We caught up with Joseph O’Neill, author of GODWIN and NETHERLAND. www.riverstyx.org/interviews/i...

New poems this week by Rebecca Boyle. Read now for free. www.riverstyx.org/poetry/rebec...

Our contest in fiction and poetry is open until August 1. www.riverstyx.org/the-river-st...

Come hear Knar Gavin, Lars Chinburg, and Lindsey Webb read for our Summer Reading Series! It’s free. www.riverstyx.org/events/rs-sr...

We’ve been quietly working on a little project for the past year to celebrate our 50th anniversary: — River Styx: 50 Years of Poetry & Prose — An anthology of some of the best writing from a half-century of the magazine. www.riverstyx.org/shop/p/river...

Please join us for a special virtual event with Deborah Taffa, author Whiskey Tender! April 30 @ 8pm (CST). Register for free here: www.eventbrite.com/e/river-styx...

We’re running a promo! Buy a copy of River Styx 109 print edition and get a copy of River Styx 108 free. Shipping applies. For a limited time. Promo code: BOGO

Lars Chinburg’s “Along the River” brings wildfire to a Montana valley where a solitary shepherd’s actions have dire consequences for a nearby family. www.riverstyx.org/fiction/alon...

Excited to get home and see this poem in @riverstyxmag.bsky.social — thanks to @micahbateman.bsky.social for sheparding it into good hands!

six drawings featured in @riverstyxmag.bsky.social "Posthuman" issue 🤖❤️ #art #drawing #posthuman www.riverstyx.org/shop/p/river...

Please join us for a soecial virtual event with Deborah Taffa, author of Whiskey Tender. April 30, 8pm CST. Register for free. www.eventbrite.com/e/river-styx...

New poetry for spring 2025. Featuring CMarie Fuhrman, Cary Stough, Hannah Bonner, Lauren Haldeman, Knar Gavin, Harris Wheless, David Dodd Lee, Jan Garden Castro, and Alicia Wright. Read now for free. www.riverstyx.org/latest

We must cancel our spring issue virtual event for March 27. It turns out AWP INC is a force not to be contended with. We’ll reschedule!

real glad to have a set of poems up at @riverstyxmag.bsky.social ! i'll drop the smol one here, & u can hop to the link for the other (spoiler/lure: it involves the Hershman-Leeson filmTEKNOLUST!) www.riverstyx.org/proof-blog/k...

Submit to River Styx 111: Mitsake by September 1, 2025. www.riverstyx.org/submit

I have a new story in @riverstyxmag.bsky.social called “Death and the Bachelor,” and it’s for all the Old Hollywood obsessives, queer cinephiles, romantics and existentialists out there. 🤍✨

The 2026 River Styx Contest is now open. Judged by Lisa Olstein (poetry) and Bennett Sims (fiction). Deadline August 1st. $1000 + publication in print and online. www.riverstyx.org/the-river-st...

There isn't that much that has been written about Filipino-New Zealanders, which is why I'm proud of this short story that's now free to read on @riverstyxmag.bsky.social! Follow the story of a young Filipina grappling with religious trauma in Aotearoa NZ. www.riverstyx.org/proof-blog/l...

River Styx 109 preview: Alicia Wright’s poem, “Ash Pond-3.” Preorder the issue and save 10%. www.riverstyx.org/proof-blog/a...

Robots! Hauntings! Doxing! Live-tweeting the Apocalypse! River Styx 109 is our biggest and most unexpected issue ever. Explore internal and external Posthuman landscapes. Preorder today. www.riverstyx.org/river-styx-109

A national treasure. You’ll be missed, Connie.

And it’s lovely.

River Styx 109: Posthuman is (almost) here! Preorder today and save 10%. Read more about the issue featuring Bradley Bazzle, Yelizaveta Renfro, Jessica Laser, Knar Gavin, Drew Larimore, Heather Newton Brown, and many more. Our biggest issue ever. www.riverstyx.org/river-styx-109

In Amber Wheeler Bacon’s flash fiction story, “This is a Photograph of Us,” inspired by Margaret Atwood’s poem “This is a Photograph of Me,” a family falls off a cliff at Kennesaw Mountain. www.riverstyx.org/fiction/this...

In John Wall Barger’s four microfictions, neighbors embark on a relationship after a house fire; an octopus crafts a human form to experience life on land; a suicide hotline operator observes the striking sensual details of the open city; and a man finds solace in the rhythm and movement of trains.

This was a beautiful essay.

In the most recent RS/NF, Nonfiction Editor Claire Walla and Assistant Editor Matt Torralba Andrews speak with writer Pamela Baker about finding metaphors in revision, researching longleaf pine forests, and writing point of view in her essay, “Mechanical Treatments and Other Restorative Plans.”

Congratulations, @geminiwahhaj.bsky.social ! Read “The Patent Guy” on RS Online: www.riverstyx.org/fiction/the-...

The world feels so, well, yeah. But there was this mail with my latest pub. Working with Claire Walla & @riverstyxmag.bsky.social was a lovely experience.

After a long flight across the Pacific, I was greeted in Las Vegas with copies of the new @riverstyxmag.bsky.social with my new story in it! Hoping more can read it, whether physically or when it goes online in the near future.

River Styx received a 2025 Grants for Art Projects grant. Thank you to the NEA! www.arts.gov/news/press-r...

got my contributor copies today! I have five poems in the latest @riverstyxmag.bsky.social

In Rafael Frumkin’s captivating novella, “The Professors,” two literature professors navigate the complexities of love, ambition, mental health crises, and the pressures of academia. Read now for free. www.riverstyx.org/fiction/the-...

We're pleased to announce the winner of the 2025 River Styx Prize in Fiction: "Into the Void" by Benjamin Hollo. Read the story and judge Christopher Castellani’s introduction for free on River Styx Online. Congratulations, Benjamin! www.riverstyx.org/fiction/into...

River Styx 108: Chronicles is almost here! Preorder now and your copy will ship 12/24. www.riverstyx.org/shop/p/river...

In “How to Drown in America," essayist Grace Talusan examines racial identity, cultural dislocation, and the enduring weight of heritage from the perspective of an Asian-American immigrant and wife of a Black American southerner. www.riverstyx.org/nonfiction/h...

River Styx editors write about music and share Spotify playlists of tunes that have inspired us as writers. Follow us on Spotify! www.riverstyx.org/riding-the-m...

Tonight! Register for free at Eventbrite and join our discussion with editors from The Iowa Review, Conjunctions, and December! www.eventbrite.com/e/river-styx...

Suggestions for great literary starter packs?

Is BlueSky going to work out? We’re getting Threads vibes. Initial excitement and then…?