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
Founder and Editor Tyler Pufpaff
Editor-in-Chief Barbara Lock
Managing Editor Megan Nichols
Managing Prose Editor Tessa Rossi
Managing Poetry Editor Keana Moreau
Prose Editors William Cagle // Catherine Roberts // Barbara Byar // Jeanne-Marie Fleming //Tori Walters
Prose Readers Dink Dinkins // Brandi Handley //Ashley Kim
Poetry Editors David Eisenstat // Erica Abbott
Poetry Readers Greer McAllister // Jessica Nirvana Ram // Kevin Risner // Lindsey Schaffer
Production Editor Colleen Flaherty
Social Media Editor K.M. Crane
ABOUT THE TEAM
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.
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 (she/her), JD, MFA ‘22 (Sarah Lawrence College) teaches writing at Purchase College. She co-founded and facilitates Mediated Contagion: The Reading Series. Tessa was a 2019 ArtsWestchester Teaching Artist for her community creative writing course and previous grantee for her interdisciplinary program of visual arts, literature, music, and natural science. She writes and conducts workshops in the lower HudsonValley. Her work appears in Invisible City, MER Literary, Roi Faineant, Motel: Anthology from Cowboy Jamboree Press, and other fine places.
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.
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 (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Shō Poetry Journal, Stone Circle Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Philadelphia Stories, Midway Journal, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship, is a Best of the Net nominee, and is a poetry editor for Variant Literature. She is currently pursuing her MFA at Randolph College. Visit her website at erica-abbott.com.
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 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 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 is the author of a chapbook Marian Prayers (Bullshit Lit, 2023) and holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Brooklyn and tweets @mcallistergreer.
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.
David Elliot Eisenstat lives in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in The Pierian and Pere Ube. https://www.davideisenstat.com/poetry
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 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 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.
Dink Dinkins (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 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’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 (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 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 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.
© Variant Literature Inc 2024