Stirring: A Literary Collection

04/16/2026

The Spring issue of Stirring is here and looking beautiful! Enjoy and share!

Celebrate tax day with some creative balance in our spring issue. We’ve brought the celebration for national poetry month, and even more with prose and art!

01/17/2026

We’ve been cozied up in hibernation mode, but we finally woke up to bring you our winter issue!

This issue is perfectly paired with your favorite warm beverage and fuzzy blanket. Poetry includes Rowan Waller, Erin Carlyle, Katie Kim, and more. There’s fiction from Shashi Kadapa and nonfiction from Christopher Thornton. We also have featured art from Ramsay Wise and Sara Bailey.

We were so cozy by the fire, we didn’t want to leave hibernation to publish this issue! That is, until we saw the amazing work sent our way. This issue will keep you up in these dark nights until your fire burns to embers.

10/09/2025

The fall issue of Stirring is here! Happy anniversary to us! Thank you for supporting this slice of the literary world online. We’ve proudly been publishing work since 1999 and plan to continue for many more years. Help us celebrate by reading this amazing issue.

Happy Anniversary, Stirring! Our fall issue is our annual anniversary issue, and we are celebrating big this year. Stirring has been continuously publishing online since 1999, and we are endlessly thankful to readers like you for keeping this, entirely volunteer-operated, ship sailing the world wide...

07/08/2025

Our summer issue of Stirring is here! Take a rest from the cruel heat and read some amazing new work.

Now that everyone has enjoyed a bomb pop and sparkler, our summer issue is here! The heat wave has made its way here in the South, but hopefully this issue can give you some reprieve.

04/30/2025

TOMORROW is the FINAL DAY to apply for our fall residency period! We have fellowships available for women writers, trans and nonbinary writers, and Black and/or Indigenous writers! Applications are free for writers of color and those applying for financial aid! http://www.sundresspublications.com/news/2025/02/sundress-academy-for-the-arts-now-accepting-residency-applications-for-fall-2025/

04/07/2025

We are all back and rested from AWP just in time for spring Stirring!

Winter arrived with an early nightfall and your favorite cozy spot. Our pieces this issue have interesting overlapping themes of blue, birds, and the natural world.

01/08/2025

Our winter issue of Stirring has arrived! Check out our new featured poems, prose, and visual art by fantastic contributors.

Winter arrived with an early nightfall and your favorite cozy spot. Our pieces this issue have interesting overlapping themes of blue, birds, and the natural world.

10/05/2024

Our fall issue of Stirring is here! This is Stirring’s 25th year since Erin Elizabeth Smith founded the online journal in 1999. The Internet, and the spaces for online journals, have come a long way since then, and Smith was a true trailblazer in this. We are proud to be one of the oldest, continuously publishing journals online.

This is also the 10-year anniversary of Erin passing the editor’s torch to Luci Ellen Roller (Brown). It’s been an honor to take the reins of this journal for the past 10 years, and I look forward to lifting your words and voices for many years to come.

Fall is making its way toward us with a slow fade in the heat and leaves. Some of our editors and former contributors are Appalachian-based, and our hearts go out to those impacted by Hurricane Helene.

07/06/2024

Our summer issue is here, and she’s radiant as a firefly on a warm evening. Take a look at our featured work from Jessica Furtado, Diane LeBlanc, Erin Hill, Peter Grandbois, Sarah Wirth, Celia Lawren, and others!

www.stirringlit.com/

“A Portrait of the Patient with Migraine and Carnations,” “The Patient Awakens with Midnight Migraine,” “The Patient Confides in Herself” by Jessica Furtado

04/06/2024

The Spring Issue of Stirring has arrived like a fresh bloom of your favorite flower. Featuring work from Claire Meng, Charlie Steak, Courtney Craggett, Claudio Parentela, and more! Hop on over and check it out!

Spring has sprung and brought with it the new issue of Stirring like a fresh bloom. Featured Poetry: Emma McCoy, Erica Appleton, Claire Meng, Charlie Steak, Philip Jason, Claire Scott, Jeffrey S. Hartnett, and Michelle Turner. Featured Prose: Jason Schembri, Mihriban Nurefşan Fidan, and Courtney Cr...