Chautauqua, literary journal

09/17/2026

“There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet. Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading -- that is a good life.”
― Annie Dillard, The Writing Life: The Classic Essay Collection on the Creative Process

09/10/2026

Meet the team behind Chautauqua! ✨ We’re excited to bring together our creativity, perspectives, and love for literature as we work on this year’s journal. Stay tuned for what’s ahead! 📖
Social Media:
Lilly Purdy, Bridget McBride, Holly Brabble, Zoe Burke,Clark Sawyer, and Riley Barr
Literary Citizenship:
Pat Mestraz, Eri Mitchell, Ridge Anderson, Emily Vaca, and Amelia Allen
Website Design:
Bryce Frye, Charlotte-Grace Foxx, Jacob Posta, and Katherine Watterson

Editor: Jill Gerard

09/10/2026

The Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry (formerly the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Prize) is a collaboration between Persea Books and The Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Project.  This annual competition sponsors the publication of a poetry collection by a woman or nonbinary person who has yet to publish a fu...

09/08/2026

Don’t miss this opportunity.

Have a personal essay you want to share with the world? Submit it to our reading period for the chance to be featured in a future issue of Ploughshares! https://pshares.org/submit/submit-writing/

08/08/2026

Congratulations, Stephine. Such perfect news.

07/12/2026

And Kerry is going to the final. Whoop

06/09/2026

Our latest issue, Carnivals and Masquerades, makes for great summer reading! Check it out—link in bio!

05/29/2026

New on The Porch! Chautauqua Institution’s Janus Prize winner, Stefan Bindley-Taylor, interviewed by Chautauqua Journal team member, Kate Anderson!

Read the full interview on our website—link in bio!

05/21/2026

Two of our beloved graduate team members graduated just a couple of weeks ago! We love them, we miss them, we’re excited to see what they do next!

Congratulations to Dylan and Isabelle! Once a member of Team Chautauqua, always a member of Team Chautauqua. 😉💚

04/28/2026

When we rebranded last year, our team had long discussions about the decisions we made concerning all that rebranding encapsulated, and what we wanted Chautauqua Journal to represent.

Part of that discussion was spent choosing what colors we wanted to use to create a consistent, recognizable image, and what those colors meant to us. What we landed on were these four colors to represent the four pillars of Chautauqua, and the green and white for our “front porch,” as our main colors to create a welcoming environment for all. 💚🤍