X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine’s vision is to publish uncomfortable, entertaining, and unforgettable prose that shines brighter than the skeleton in your body, prose that sees through the skin and reveals something deeper. We work hard to give our readers the best authors on the planet. 

We publish new stories and features every week. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and wherever else tickles our fancy.

MASTHEAD

Elaine Cary lives in Nebraska with her fiancé and pet bird, a pacific parrotlet who loves scritches and dried fruit. Her work is published in Rejection Letters and Barren Magazine. You can find her on Twitter @angsty_witch.

Michael Todd Cohen’s work appears in Columbia Journal, JMWW Journal and HAD, among others. He lives with his husband and two dogs, by a rusty lighthouse, in Connecticut. He is currently pursuing his MFA at Goucher College. You can find him on twitter @mtoddcohen.

Elizabeth Crowder is a law librarian and co-founder of The Sartorial Geek magazine. She is also an Associate Editor for Uncharted Magazine. Her writing appears in SmokeLong Quarterly, Pithead Chapel, X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, and elsewhere. You can find her on Instagram @thelizcrowder.

Ivan Davenny was born in Honolulu, HI, but has moved so many times that he just says he’s from “all over.” He is a fiction editor at Identity Theory and his work appears in Olney’s “Kiss Your Darlings” Anthology, LIGEIA, Necessary Fiction and elsewhere. He now lives in Columbus, OH and can be found lurking on Twitter @CowboyCoitus.

Ezana Demissie is a poet and fiction writer born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. His work has been supported by Moonstone Arts, the Monologue Project, Thoughtprints, Mass Poetry, and the Fine Arts Work Center. In addition to X-R-A-Y, Ezana acts as an editorial board member of Small Craft Warnings, a student publication at Swarthmore College. Ezana spends his free time getting paint on his hands and accidentally unspooling large balls of yarn.

Priya Ele is a New York-based writer. She studies dramatic writing at New York University and has work in Passages North, The Blood Pudding, Hobart after Dark, and Pidgeonholes, among others. Her play Red Handed was performed at the Soho Playhouse as part of the Lighthouse Series. You can find her on Twitter @priyaeler or Instagram, @priyarinkus.

Alyssa Marie Gillon writes and hikes in Oregon. She enjoys stories that are emotionally resonant, sharp and funny, surreal and absurd. You can find her writing and ceramics at amgillon.com or Instagram @garagem0m. 

Jaime Goh is a Singaporean who currently resides in Northern Virginia. Her entire life revolves around drawing, writing, sleeping, and kissing cats on their soft fuzzy little heads. She is an MFA fiction candidate at George Mason University.

Keegan Gore is a writer from Orlando, Florida. Currently, he lives in Roanoke, Virginia where he attends Hollins University as an MFA candidate. His poetry and fiction can be found in BRUISER, Moot Point, and Five Points magazine. He’s on Twitter, @GoreKeegan.

Rebecca Gransden lives on an island. She is published at Tangerine Press, Burning House Press, Muskeg, Ligeia, and Silent Auctions, among others. Her books are anemogram., Rusticles, and Sea of Glass.

Tex Gresham is an award-winning screenwriter, novelist, and filmmaker living in Los Angeles. His books include Sunflower, Heck Texas, and This Is Strange June. His debut feature, MUSTARD (which he wrote, directed, edited and acted in), is available to stream for free on Vimeo. He’s online at www.squeakypig.com and on Twitter as @thatsqueakypig.

Connor Harding is a fiction writer and current MFA candidate from the Midwest. His works have been published in HAD, Unstamatic, Every Day Fiction, Rogue Phoenix Press, and is forthcoming in Crow & Cross Keys. When he isn’t doomscrolling on Twitter (@connorharding25), he’s probably eating a nice bowl of soup.

Joshua Hebburn is a fiction writer who lives in Los Angeles. His fiction has appeared in New World Writing, here, and elsewhere. 

Kira K. Homsher is a writer from Philadelphia, currently living in Los Angeles. She is the winner of phoebe’s 2020 nonfiction contest and is a Pushcart nominee. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Kenyon Review Online, Indiana Review, Passages North, Longreads, The Offing, and others. Find her at kirahomsher.com. 

Claire Hopple is the author of five books. Her fiction has appeared in Wigleaf, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Peach Mag, Forever Mag, and others. She grew up in the woods of Western PA and currently lives in Asheville, NC. More at clairehopple.com. 

Aurora Huiza is a New York-based writer originally from Los Angeles. She is an MFA candidate in fiction at Syracuse University.

K Hank Jost is writer of fiction, editor, and educator born in Texas and raised in Georgia. He is the author of the novels MadStone and Deselections, as well as EIC of A Common Well Journal — all produced and published by Whisk(e)y Tit Books. Residing with his partner in Brooklyn, he reads as much as he can, write as much as he can, and works as much as he must. 

Avelynne Kang is a writer, teacher, and podcaster from Toronto currently living in Montreal. Her work can be found in Witchcraft Mag, Expat Press, Ghost City Press, and others. She also hosts a podcast called Courtesy Flush. YouTube / Tumblr. 

KKUURRTT writes and Adobe Creative Suites.

Eros Livieratos is a Greek-Belizean writer & artist whose work focuses on the intersection of identity, aesthetics, and capital in the Anthropocene. Eros has published poetry, fiction, non-fiction, comics, photography, and film score work. They can usually be found making harsh noise & screaming in your local basement.

Jillian Luft is a Florida native currently residing in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in Hobart, Expat Press, Booth, The Forge Literary Magazine, and other publications. Find her on Twitter @JillianLuft.

Alice M. is a pseudonymous nonbinary femme writer and painter from London. Aer short fiction has appeared in XRAY, HAD, Hobart, Rejection Letters, and has been reprinted in Salt Publishing’s Best British Short Stories (2022 volume). Ae are founding editor of bodyfluids.org, a small journal for writing about social discomfort.

Bex Peyton (he/they) is a writer and visual artist from Virginia. Their work has appeared in Expat Press, SELFFUCK, FERAL DOVE, SCAB, DON’T SUBMIT!, and others.

Katya Schwenk is a writer and journalist based in Phoenix, Arizona. Her work has appeared in publications including The Baffler, The Intercept, and the American Prospect, and her poetry has featured in the Chicago Review of Books and Digital Future.

Nairi Simonyan is an Armenian writer based in Los Angeles, California. She self-published her first novel, From Afar, in 2016. Since then, her work has appeared multiple times in The Northridge Review, and she has gone on to work for The Gryphon Press. Sometimes, you’ll find her prophesizing on Twitter as @nsimonyann.

Dylan Smith is a writer and gardener working in New York with stories in Farewell Transmission and Vol. 1 Brooklyn and elsewhere online. Also he tweets sometimes @dylan_a_smith.

M.C. Smith is a writer from Mississippi. She attended the University of Wyoming for an MFA, then came crawling back down South with her three-legged cat, Barry Hannah. Her work has appeared in The Bitter Southerner, Autofocus, Wig-Wag, and Hobart After Dark (HAD). You can find her on Twitter @mistressofcrass, where she waxes and wanes about film, dive bars, and all the weird things men have said to her in bed. 

Jo Varnish is a writer and editor from England, who lives outside NYC. She has a PhD and an MFA and work in Jellyfish Review, PANK, JMWW, among others. Her pit bull Theo is her constant companion, and you can find her on Twitter @jovarnish1.

Holden Wright is a queer writer and teacher whose words have appeared in Ninth Letter, Salt Hill Journal, Barren Magazine, and elsewhere. He has previously read for Mid-American Review and JuxtaProse.