Variant Literature is a small, nonprofit press and magazine committed to publishing diverse voices at all stages of their careers. We strive to be a press that fully supports our writers in carving paths for their work outside of big publishing. We believe that the small press community is vital in helping writers establish themselves and in fostering accessibility in publishing. We work hard to be an active part of that community, developing ongoing relationships with our contributors and readers.
Our books are distributed by Asterism and have been longlisted and named runner-up for The Pernnial Press Chapbook Award.
Our magazine nominates for everything we are aware of and as often as possible. Pieces have been included in The Best Small Fiction Anthology and made finalist spots with Best of the Net.
MASTHEAD
THE PRESS
Tyler Pufpaff Editor-in-Chief Tyler Pufpaff is the auhor of A Quarter Life. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Coffin Bell, Knight’s Library Magazine, perhappened, Cathexis Northwest Press, Serotonin, Atlantis Mag, and The Daily Drunk Mag among others.
Adrian Dallas Frandle Acquisitions Editor, Poetry Adrian Dallas Frandle (he/they) is a poet & queerdo cook. In addition to Variant Lit, they read poetry for Okay Donkey Lit Mag/Press. They have poems in or forthcoming in HAD, Daily Drunk Mag‘s “Marvelous Verses” print anthology, The Madrigal, Stone of Madness Press, Final Girl Mag, Celestite Poetry Journal, Moist Poetry Journal, the lickety~split, Rejection Letters, wrongdoing magazine, Olney Mag, Sledgehammer Lit Mag & more. Tweets: @adrianf
Taylor Byas Acquisitions Editor, Poetry Taylor Byas (she/her) is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is now a PhD candidate and Yates scholar at the University of Cincinnati, an Associate Editor for The Cincinnati Review,and an Assistant Features Editor for The Rumpus. She is the 1st place winner of the 2020 Poetry Super Highway, the 2020 Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets Contest, and the 2021 Adrienne Rich Poetry Prizes. She was also a finalist for the 2020 Frontier OPEN Prize and the 2021 Pigeon Pages Poetry Contest. She is the author of the chapbook Bloodwarm from Variant Lit, a second chapbook, Shutter,from Madhouse Press, and her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, forthcoming from Soft Skull Press in August of 2023. She is also a co-editor of The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vol X: Alabama,forthcoming from Texas Review Press. She is represented by Rena Rossner of the Deborah Harris Agency.
THE MAG
Barbara Lock Managing Editor Barbara Lock, MD, MFA ’22 (Sarah Lawrence College) teaches Narrative Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her fiction and nonfiction writing appears in STORY, Superstition Review, The Forge, and elsewhere. There’s more about her at barbaralock.com.
Tessa Rossi Associate Managing Editor, Prose Tessa Rossi, JD, MFA ‘22 (Sarah Lawrence College) was a 2019 ArtsWestchester Teaching Artist and a previous ArtsWestchester grantee for her visual art and literature program across the curriculum at St. Ann’s Parish School. She writes and conducts workshops in the lower HudsonValley.
Colleen Flaherty Associate Managing Editor, Prose Colleen Flaherty is a fiction candidate at Sarah Lawrence College’s MFA in Writing program. She is also the Graduate Writing Office Assistant at Sarah Lawrence and hosts monthly student readings on campus. Originally from New Hampshire, she now lives in the Bronx with her husband, two dogs, and 20-year-old ginger cat.
Camille U. Adams Associate Managing Editor, Nonfiction Camille U. Adams is a writer from Trinidad and Tobago. She’s earned an MFA and is a current Ph.D. Candidate in Creative Nonfiction. Camille is a Tin House alum and a Tin House reader for the 2023 summer workshop applications. Her writing has also been supported by several scholarships and fellowships for attendance at other writing conferences. Her CNF is featured in Passages North, Citron Review, XRAY Literary Magazine, Variant Literature, Kweli Magazine, and elsewhere. Camille is querying her first memoir and is at work on her second. When she isn’t writing and teaching, Camille can be found on Twitter at @Camille_U_Adams where she spends way too much time.
Megan Nichols Associate Managing Editor, Poetry Megan Nichols is the author of the chapbook Animal Unfit (Belle Point Press, 2023). Her poems have appeared in Iron Horse Literary Review, The Threepenny Review, Frontier Poetry and elsewhere.
Erica Abbott Poetry Editor Erica Abbott (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Midway Journal, Kissing Dynamite, Scrawl Place, Serotonin, Anti-Heroin Chic, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship, a Best of the Net nominee, and volunteers for Button Poetry, Kissing Dynamite, Write or Die Tribe, and Mad Poets Society. Follow her on Instagram @poetry_erica and on Twitter @ erica_abbott.
Keana Moreau Poetry Editor Keana Moreau received her MFA in Creative Writing for Poetry and Poetics at New England College. At the University of Vermont, she completed a BA in English with Writing and American Literature concentrations as well as a BS in Secondary Education with an English concentration. She is the former Poetry Editor of the University of Vermont’s Literary Magazine, The Gist. Her work has appeared in Plain China and in 2022 she was a finalist for the 92Y poetry contest.
Kevin Risner Poetry Editor Kevin A. Risner is a product of Ohio. He is the author of Do Us a Favor (Variant Literature, 2021). His poems have recently been published in Idle Ink, Ink Drinkers, CP Quarterly, The Ocean State Review, Lucent Dreaming, and more.
Lindsey Schaffer Poetry Editor Lindsey Schaffer is the author of City of Contradiction (Selcouth Station, 2022). She is a writer and contributor to Ethel Zine, Reservoir Road Literary Review, and more. Her poems utilize myth and ekphrasis to examine places of historic interest. You can find her on Twitter @LindseyAnn3.
Greer McAllister Poetry Editor Greer McAllister is the author of a chapbook, Marian Prayers (Bullshit Press, 2023) and has recently been published in HAD, Beaver Magazine, and Pidgeonholes. She tweets @mcallistergreer.
José Felipe Ozuna Poetry Editor José Felipe Ozuna was born in Guerrero, Mexico and grew up in Minnesota. He recently graduated with a B.S. in sociology and a minor in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is 2022 Undocupoets Fellow. His poems have been published in Rattle, Acentos Review, and River Whale Review. You can find him on twitter @josefelipeozuna.
Jessica Nirvana Ram Poetry Editor Jessica Nirvana Ram is an Indo-Guyanese poet and essayist. She is the 2022-23 Stadler Fellow in Literary Arts Administration. Jessica completed her MFA at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and received her BA from Susquehanna University. Her work–about inheritance, expectations, and radical self love–appears in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Hayden’s Ferry Review, HAD, and Honey Literary, among others. Find her @jessnirvanapoet on Twitter.
Rebecca Johnson Poetry Editor Rebecca Johnson (she/they) is a graduate from the University of Minnesota. They currently work as a proofreader. Their poetry is forthcoming in Water~Stone Review. You can find Rebecca on Instagram @teeny.bee
David Elliot Eisenstat Poetry Reader David Elliot Eisenstat lives in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in The Pierian and Pere Ube. https://www.davideisenstat.com/poetry
K.M. Crane Poetry & Fiction Editor K.M. Crane (she/her) grew up on the flat starthistle-filled fields of California. She holds a B.A. from CSU, Sacramento. Some of her work has appeared in Star*82 Review, IO Lit (Refractions), and Brenda Magazine. Find her on Twitter @kmcranewrites or Instagram k.m.crane.
Ashley Kim Poetry & Fiction Editor Ashley Kim is a Korean-American writer located in California. Her poetry and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Spill Stories’ anthology entitled Powerful Asian Moms, Hyphen Magazine, Stirring Lit, Autofocus, and FEED, among others. Find her on Twitter @ashlogophile. Soli deo gloria!
Jeanne Marie-Fleming Fiction Editor Jeanne-Marie Fleming is a writer and educator. Her essay “Messy Table, Muted Colors” was featured in a recent spoken word performance in NYC by Writers Read. Her fiction and nonfiction appears in the wVw Anthology, Black Fork Review, Hudson Valley Parent, Loud Coffee Press, and Read650 podcast. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.Ed from Long Island University. She is a writing mentor for the incarcerated population via Transforming Lives NY.
Katherine Dye Fiction Editor Katherine Dye is a novelist and short-story writer who lives in New York City. She earned her BA in Comparative Literature from Oberlin College and her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College. You can find her on Twitter @katmdye.
Lisa Croce Fiction EditorLisa Croce received her MFA at Antioch University Los Angeles. Her work can be seen inLunch Ticket, Obelus,andSentience Journal,where she is also a co-founder and Fiction Editor. You can find her on Twitter @missguided_ink and at lisamcroce.com
Dink Dinkins Fiction Editor Dink! (she/her/hers) grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Clark University and is currently earning her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at New England College. Her favorite book is Beloved by Toni Morrison and she has a pet chicken named Blanche! You can find her on Twitter @dinkthinks.
Barbara Byar Fiction Editor Barbara started off in Connecticut; moved around a bit but now lives in Kerry, Ireland with her two boys and her two dogs. She is working class and hearing impaired but lets neither get in her way.A recipient of a 2021 Literature Bursary from the Irish Arts Council, she was long-listed for An Post Irish Short Story of the Year 2020. A previous Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair winner, her critically acclaimed, debut flash fiction collection: Some Days Are Better Than Ours (Reflex Press) was short-listed for the 2020 Saboteur Awards. 2020 also saw Pushcart and Best Small Fictions nominations. Barbara’s short fiction has been widely published and listed, most recently, a 2022 3rd prize at the Bray Literary Festival and a 2022 Best Microfictions nomination from Reckon Review.She’s been a Judge, Editor and Reader for various Literary Zines and competitions. In 2015, she founded a local writing group Thursday Night Writers which is still going strong. She’s had five residencies at Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat and was selected as a participant in the inaugural XBorders project run by the Irish Writers Centre.She is currently working on a novel.
Brandi Handley Fiction Editor Brandi Handley’s work has appeared in Post Road, The Laurel Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Review, and Moon City Review. She earned an MFA in creative writing and media arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and teaches English at Park University, a small liberal arts college in Parkville, Missouri.
William J. Cagle Fiction Editor William J. Cagle (he/they) is an author of speculative fiction, currently teaching Humanities at Ramapo College of New Jersey. They received an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a BA in Creative Writing and Anthropology from Columbia University. Originally from Ohio, he now lives in NYC with his partner and their three cats. His writing centers issues of technology, disability, and environmentalism.
Catherine Roberts Fiction Editor Catherine Roberts is a writer from Southern England. Her work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and was shortlisted in the Bath Flash Fiction Award 2024. Her writing has appeared in many literary journals including Flash Frog, trampset, and New Flash Fiction Review. She holds a First class BA in Creative and Media Writing.
Tori Walters Nonfiction Editor Tori Walters is a writer living in NYC. She is an MFA candidate at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has previously been published in Penultimate Peanut Magazine and Helen: a Literary Magazine.
Sarah Catherine Golden Nonfiction Editor Sarah Catherine Golden is a mental health therapist, writer, and artist currently based in the Pacific Northwest. She is a former editor at Chiron Publications, and her writing has appeared in 3:AM Magazine, Basement Medicine, and the Asheville Citizen-Times. Her photographs have appeared in galleries and print media in the US, France, and Australia.
Ruby Djuna Haack Nonfiction Editor Ruby Djuna Haack is from Portland, Oregon and attends Sarah Lawrence College. She currently serves as an assistant editor with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, including efforts on the forthcoming book, American Precariat: Parables of Exclusion, soon to be published with Coffee House Press. She was recently awarded the 2023 Mississippi Review Prize for Nonfiction. In her free time she likes to make and trade zines.
Arden Stockdell-Giesler Nonfiction Editor Arden Stockdell-Giesler is a queer poet and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Their work appears in Sky Island Journal, plain china, Eunoia Review, Bullshit Lit: HORNS, and UNC Asheville’s Headwaters.
Julian Guy Nonfiction Editor Julian Guy (he/they) is a trans and queer writer and educator based in Syracuse, NY. A 2023 Tin House Scholar, Julian’s work has been published in The Adroit Journal, Queerlings Magazine, Lesbians are Miracles, Swamp Pink, Catapult and more. His first poetry manuscript was a finalist for the Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize and made Yes Yes Books’ longlist. Find Julian at julianguy.com, teaching classes with Ellipsis Writing, or at the beach combing for shells and sanddollars.
Kalyn RoseAnne Livernois Art Editor Kalyn Livernois is an MFA candidate at New England College. She is a prose editor at Cobra Milk and the founder of an editing collective, which makes space for writers to receive free editing on their work. Her writing can be found in Dust Poetry Magazine, Emerge Literary Journal, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, and elsewhere. You can find her on Twitter @kalynroseanne.
© Variant Literature Inc 2024