Story Magazine

Story Magazine, founded in 1931 by Whit Burnett and Martha Foley, is one of the most storied literary journals in the United States. Emerging from the expatriate literary culture of the 1920s and 30s, it was among the first periodicals to treat the short story as a serious, standalone art form, publishing early work by writers who would go on to define twentieth-century literature. Its founding ethos was democratic and craft-centered: to seek out new voices and narrative experiments without regard for reputation or trend, and to provide a home for stories that might otherwise go unnoticed by commercial publishers. Over nine decades, Story has weathered shifts in literary taste and the economics of little magazines, maintaining a commitment to narrative craft and the discovery of emerging writers. Though its print incarnation has paused and restarted at various points, its digital presence continues to honor the magazine's original mission: to publish fiction that is formally alert, emotionally resonant, and unafraid of the short form's peculiar demands.