Issues

June 2023

Are small towns places to be escaped to, or from?

Capturing instants of the everyday, the in-between moments, the parts of life that feel like nothing at all, and yet are the elements that stay with you forever. Small towns stay with you even after you leave; it is that sense of community, intimacy and belonging, or the total opposite, that makes these small town stories compelling. Visit the small towns of snowy Salmon Arm in rural Canada, the homeless community of Santa Rosa in San Francisco, the village rurality of England and sunny Valrèas in France through fiction, photography and personal essay in this issue.

Issue 4 May 2022

Lines can be drawn, and lines can be crossed – they possess a lightness and flexibility. As you will see in this issue, our features interpret “lines” literally and metaphorically, creatively and artistically. In this issue of The Lit, we seek to understand the impact of the lines that have been drawn around us, and to illuminate the power of crossing these lines to find new horizons.

From audio walks and activity books to the taboo world of toilet graffiti, we explore how words and story lines have the power to transport us beyond the page.

On Climate Change and Writing | Issue 3 October 2020

How can writers, poets and publishers respond to climate change? More to the point, what might an adequate response look like? Issue 3 of The Lit brings together illuminating voices from across the literary world, from bestselling novelists to aspiring poets, as we seek to shed some light on these difficult questions.

Issue 2 April 2020

Resilience has seldom felt more urgent, as we hunker down for the long-haul. But the need for maverick voices is ever-more pressing. In Issue 2, we bring together a potent mix of voices to trouble assumptions about small publishers working in the slipstream of the mainstream. From upstarts to influencers, industry insiders to unapologetic outliers, The Small Press issue chronicles tales of unerring resistance, reinvention and resilience.

Issue One November 2019

This is the debut drop of The Lit, exploring publishing and storytelling in all its forms. Issue One finds us in praise of short attention spans. Of poems that won’t sit still. Of single clause stories daubed on walls. Of hooks that get you in an instant. We peer through the cracks in our concentration to explore the post-digital landscape. Time is tight. Attention’s expensive. Are you with us?