Variant Literature is a small press and magazine committed to publishing diverse voices at all stages of their careers. We strive to be a press that fully supports our writers in carving paths for their work outside of big publishing. We believe that the small press community is vital in helping writers establish themselves and in fostering accessibility in publishing. We work hard to be an active part of that community, developing ongoing relationships with our contributors and readers.
Our books are distributed by Asterism and have been longlisted and named runner-up for The Pernnial Press Chapbook Award.
Our magazine nominates for everything we are aware of and as often as possible. Pieces have been included in The Best Small Fiction Anthology and made finalist spots with Best of the Net and longlists at Wigleaf Top 50.
Editor-in-Chief Barbara Lock
Managing Editor Megan Nichols
PROSE
Managing Prose Editor Tessa Rossi
Managing Editor, Long Form Fiction Suzy Eynon
Managing Editor, Flash Prose and Micros Tori Walters
Managing Editor, Speculative Fiction William Cagle
Prose Editors Brandon Haffner
POETRY
Managing Poetry Editor David Eisenstat
Poetry Editors Erica Abbott
Poetry Readers DW Baker // Ashley Kim // Alicia Tebeau-Sherry // Emma Smith // Theodore Heil // K.M. Crane // Kevin Risner
Production Assistant Theodore Heil
ABOUT THE TEAM
Barbara Lock, MD, MFA ’22 (Sarah Lawrence College) teaches Narrative Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her fiction and nonfiction writing appears in STORY, Superstition Review, The Forge, and elsewhere. There’s more about her at barbaralock.com.
Tessa Rossi (she/her), JD, MFA ‘22 (Sarah Lawrence College) teaches writing at Purchase College. She co-founded and facilitates Mediated Contagion: The Reading Series. Tessa was a 2019 ArtsWestchester Teaching Artist for her community creative writing course and previous grantee for her interdisciplinary program of visual arts, literature, music, and natural science. She writes and conducts workshops in the lower HudsonValley. Her work appears in Invisible City, MER Literary, Roi Faineant, Motel: Anthology from Cowboy Jamboree Press, and other fine places.
Megan Nichols is the author of Animal Unfit (Belle Point Press, 2023). Her poems have appeared in The Threepenny Review, Plume, The Baltimore Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, and other journals, and have been featured on Poetry Daily. She lives in the Arkansas Ozarks. Reach her at megannicholswriter.com
Erica Abbott (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in The Cortland Review, Epiphany, Shō Poetry Journal, Midway Journal, and others. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship and is a poetry editor for Variant Literature. She is currently pursuing her MFA at Randolph College, where she is the assistant managing editor and poetry editor for Revolute. Visit her website at erica-abbott.com.
David Elliot Eisenstat lives in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in The Pierian, Pere Ube, and JAKE. Visit his website at https://www.davideisenstat.com/poetry
Ashley Kim is a Korean-American writer located in California. Her poetry and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Spill Stories’ anthology entitled Powerful Asian Moms, Hyphen Magazine, Stirring Lit, Autofocus, and FEED, among others. Find her on Twitter @ashlogophile. Soli deo gloria!
Barbara Byar started off in Connecticut; moved around a bit but now lives in Kerry, Ireland with her two boys and her two dogs. She is working class and hearing impaired but lets neither get in her way. A recipient of a 2021 Literature Bursary from the Irish Arts Council, she was long-listed for An Post Irish Short Story of the Year 2020. A previous Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair winner, her critically acclaimed, debut flash fiction collection: Some Days Are Better Than Ours (Reflex Press) was short-listed for the 2020 Saboteur Awards. 2020 also saw Pushcart and Best Small Fictions nominations. Barbara’s short fiction has been widely published and listed, most recently, a 2022 3rd prize at the Bray Literary Festival and a 2022 Best Microfictions nomination from Reckon Review. She’s been a Judge, Editor and Reader for various Literary Zines and competitions. In 2015, she founded a local writing group Thursday Night Writers which is still going strong. She’s had five residencies at Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat and was selected as a participant in the inaugural XBorders project run by the Irish Writers Centre. She is currently working on a novel.
William J. Cagle (he/they) is an author of speculative fiction, currently teaching Humanities at Ramapo College of New Jersey. They received an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a BA in Creative Writing and Anthropology from Columbia University. Originally from Ohio, he now lives in NYC with his partner and their three cats. His writing centers issues of technology, disability, and environmentalism.
Tori Walters is a writer and educator based in Texoma. Her poetry has been shortlisted in Spellbinder Magazine and her writing featured in publications such as Hippocampus Magazine, Anti-Heroin Chic, and Mythic Picnic. She is the Flash Prose & Micros Editor for Variant Literature, was a resident of the NES Artist Residency in 2023, and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Tori currently works at Austin College as a Staff Writer.
Suzy Eynon is the author of the novella Terrestrial (Malarkey Books, 2026) and the prose chapbooks Being Seen (Ethel) and Commuting (Ghost City Press Summer Series). Her work has appeared in Roanoke Review, Passages North, X-R-A-Y, and others. Originally from Arizona, she now lives in Seattle. Connect at http://suzyeynon.com
Emma Smith (she/her) is an MA Creative Writing graduate, poet and writer from Bath, UK. Her work is forthcoming or published by Lunate Journal, Ellipsis Zine, Vellichor Lit, Anti-Misogyny Club and Occult Digest, exploring themes of melancholy, death and rebirth and neurodivergence. You can find her on Instagram @emzmariepoems.
D.W. Baker (he/him) is a poet, editor, and father from St. Petersburg, Florida. His reviews appear in BROKEN ANTLER, Philly Poetry Chapbook Review, and Vagabond City Lit, among others. His poems appear in Identity Theory, Sundog Lit, ballast, and BRUISER, and have received nominations for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. See more of his work at www.dwbakerpoetry.com
Brandon Ahmad Haffner received his MFA from UNC Greensboro. His fiction appears in the Sewanee Review, New Orleans Review, Harvard Review, Carolina Quarterly, and other journals. He has been awarded artist-in-residency fellowships from the Hambidge Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, VCCA France, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and elsewhere. He teaches creative writing at Longwood University and lives in Richmond, VA
Kevin A. Risner is a product of Ohio. He is the author of Do Us a Favor (Variant Literature, 2021). He has two collections forthcoming — It’s Easy To Lose Your Breath (Match Factory Editions, 2026) and There’s No Future Where We Don’t Have Fire (Unsolicited Press, 2027). His work can be found in Ghost City Review, Gordon Square Review, Great Lakes Review, Memoir Mixtapes, Midway Journal, The Ocean State Review, and elsewhere.
Legacy Team Members:
Tyler Pufpaff, Founder. Kalyn Roseanne Livernois, Managing Editor. Lindsey Schaffer, Poetry Reader. Colleen Flaherty, Production Editor. Keana Moreau, Managing Poetry Editor. Emily Adames Aucoin, Poetry Reader. DS Randol, Poetry Reader. Greer McAllister, Poetry Reader // Barbara Byar, Prose Editor
© Variant Literature Inc 2025