Cleaver Magazine

Cleaver Magazine Cleaver Magazine publishes sharp-edged art & literary work by established & emerging voices. To “cleave” is both to stick tight and to fall away.

Cleaver Magazine shares “cutting-edge” artwork and literary work from a mix of established and emerging voices.We publish a quarterly literary magazine with poetry, short stories, essays, flash prose, visual art, graphic narratives, and visual art. Look for the literary quarterly in March, June, September, and December. In each issue we present several emerging writers and alongside established wr

iters and artists. We see ourselves as facilitators and stewards of the literary and artistic work that we publish. In addition to our literary quarterly, we publish weekly and daily features, including Life As Activism (poetry and prose with a social justice theme), writer-to-writer craft essays, author interviews, travel essays, and reviews of books from small and independent publishers. Our weekly in-house advice columnist, “Ask June” opines on matters punctuational, interpersonal, and philosophical, spinning wit and literary wisdom in response to your ethical quandaries. Our podcast On The Edge is a virtual poetry reading series, available for download on iTunes and SoundCloud. Our radio plays feature original short scrips performed by professional actors. The scripts are available for download as PDF files; the recordings are free for listeners on iTunes and SoundCloud. About our name: “cleave” is a Janus word, also known as an “auto-antonym”, meaning both itself and its opposite. A cleaver is the most broad-edged and brutally efficient kitchen knife, designed to be swung like a hammer for the most effective channel of force. “Cleave” also means to come together with strong attachment. Submissions guidelines at the Cleaver Magazine website. For book review queries, see the masthead on our website. For other queries, email: [email protected]

Admit it.You've got something to say.Cleaver publishes essays on writerly topics. Whether it's a deep dive on an element...
12/03/2025

Admit it.
You've got something to say.

Cleaver publishes essays on writerly topics. Whether it's a deep dive on an element of craft or a discovered connection between published works, our readers want to read it. Send a prose or poetry pitch to our editors now.

https://www.cleavermagazine.com/craft-essays/

Poetry matters — as does fiction, flash, and nonfiction. Our voices are vitally important to the safekeeping and the evo...
11/25/2025

Poetry matters — as does fiction, flash, and nonfiction. Our voices are vitally important to the safekeeping and the evolution of our culture.

This year, please consider donating or subscribing to an independent literary journal, ANY indie lit journal. If it's Cleaver, terrific! If it's another publication, we'll count that as a "win", too.

Keep writing. Keeping supporting the literary community. Our voices matter.

https://www.cleavermagazine.com/donate/

What does your body remember? What has it forgotten? THIS SUNDAY, channel your lived experiences into work that feels ur...
11/21/2025

What does your body remember? What has it forgotten?

THIS SUNDAY, channel your lived experiences into work that feels urgent and alive during our WRITING THE BODY masterclass, led by Marnie Goodfriend. You’ll come away with new entry points and craft tools for deepening the essential relationship between body and story.

Marnie Goodfriend is a health writer, journalist, trauma-informed writing coach, and creative nonfiction author. She has spent over a decade covering women’s health, as well as writing about topics including wellness, gender politics, travel, relationships, as-told-to stories, and profiles of celebrities and underrepresented voices. A contributing writer for SheKnows, HealthyWomen, and Flow Space, her work has also appeared in GQ, TIME, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and other publications.

Sign up NOW for this enlightening masterclass, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2-4pm Eastern on Zoom.

https://cleavermagazine.submittable.com/submit/337168/marnie-goodfriend-writing-the-body-november-23-2025

Interviewing an author is a great way to support the writing community, while also picking up a byline for your CV. If y...
11/20/2025

Interviewing an author is a great way to support the writing community, while also picking up a byline for your CV. If you are interested in interviewing a fellow writer — or have a project or milestone you'd appreciate being interviewed for — contact our editor.

https://www.cleavermagazine.com/interviews/

Cleaver is thrilled to announce the winners of our 2025 VISUAL POETICS Contest, judged by Kazim Ali. These three talente...
11/19/2025

Cleaver is thrilled to announce the winners of our 2025 VISUAL POETICS Contest, judged by Kazim Ali. These three talented poet-artists will receive cash prizes and appear in Cleaver 52, out this December.

1st Place 🥇
Katrina Roberts
"Box of Air"

2nd Place 🥈
Elizabeth Johnson
"MASH"

3rd Place 🥉
Cindy Hill
"Untitled Mural"

In addition, work by eight finalists will be published in Cleaver 53:
🔴 Jack Brummett
🔴 Kristen Gallagher
🔴 Beth Kephart
🔴 Warren Longmire
🔴 Alan Pelaez Lopez
🔴 Alison Powell
🔴 G. Dylan Sessoms
🔴 Amy Beth Sisson

Congratulations to the winners and finalists. See you in December!

"...we’re writing about our world and sometimes the not very good state of our world. So what do you do? You publish a b...
11/17/2025

"...we’re writing about our world and sometimes the not very good state of our world. So what do you do? You publish a book for readers of poetry. What’s important to me is that we can still do this, and we should do it with a bounce in our step even though there are plenty of reasons not to..." -LG

Autumn Konopka interviewed Leonard Gontarek about his poetry collection, AIN'T NO ANGEL GONNA GREET ME (2025, BlazeVox [books]). Read the interview now on Cleaver.

https://www.cleavermagazine.com/interview-with-leonard-gontarek-author-of-aint-no-angel-gonna-greet-me-by-autumn-konopka/

"'The Confines' refers to the limitations of being in a conservative society where divorce and therapy are not considere...
11/14/2025

"'The Confines' refers to the limitations of being in a conservative society where divorce and therapy are not considered options—one where a brave face is put on for the outside world while the inside is full of turmoil."

Emily Webber reviews THE CONFINES: Stories (2025, Veliz Books), a collection by Anu Kandikuppa. Read the review on Cleaver. https://www.cleavermagazine.com/the-confines-by-anu-kandikuppa-reviewed-by-emily-webber/

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Chestnut Hill, PA

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