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 every week. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

MASTHEAD

Caterina Alvarez‘s work appears in The Atticus Review, Flash Boulevard, Flash Fiction Magazine, Tiny Molecules, and other literary magazines. She is an editor at Thirty West Publishing House and Flash Fiction Magazine and a reader for X-R-A-Y and Fractured Lit. Find her and her work on Twitter @Caterina445.

Jessika Bouvier is a writer from New Orleans and Atlanta. Her writing has appeared in Catapult (RIP), monkeybicycle, Electric Lit, perhappened, and elsewhere. Her work has received support from Georgia Writers and the Fine Art Work Center. She is an MFA candidate in fiction at George Mason University. She mostly likes other people’s tweets, @jessikavbouvier.

Bri Chapman is a Virginia-based artist who focuses on high contrast, black & white linework. Her work is heavily influenced by Western comics, from Barks to Bisley. You can (sometimes) find more of her work at @balthazarsbeard on Instagram.

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.

Katharine Coldiron is the author of Ceremonials, a novella; Plan 9 from Outer Space, a monograph; and Junk Film, a collection of essays. Her work as a book critic has appeared in the Washington Post, the Guardian, NPR, and many other places; as an essayist, in Conjunctions, Ms., Bright Wall/Dark Room, and elsewhere. Find her at kcoldiron.com or on Twitter @ferrifrigida.

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.

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.

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. 

Conor Hultman lives in Oxford, Mississippi.

Graham Irvin is from North Carolina. He has writing in BULL: Men’s fiction, Back Patio Press, Punk Lit Press, and The Nervous Breakdown. He wants to cook liver mush for the whole world.

KKUURRTT writes and Adobe Creative Suites.

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.

Nico Montoya lives in Minneapolis with 1 spouse, 2 kids, and 3 cats. Besides here at X-R-A-Y, you can find his fiction at Pithead Chapel, Pembroke Magazine, and Apple Valley Review.

Emily Myles is a fiction writer from Los Angeles. Their work has been featured in Split Lip, Fatal Flaw, Peatsmoke and elsewhere. They live in Portland, OR and are at work on a collection of short fiction.

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.