Issue 32 of Thin Air Magazine!

$16.00 total ($14.00 for the magazine, $2.00 for shipping)

Includes fiction, poetry, nonfiction and visual arts by: Bayla Abrams, David M. Alper, Mary Amato, Anonymous, Ifeoluwa Ayandele, Jonathan Borthwick, Randy Bynum, Clarissa Cervantes, Willy Conley, Molly Collins, D. Dina Friedman, Alan Hill, Mark Hurtubise, Patrick Johnston, Sneha Subramanian Kanta, Katie Kim, Robb Kunz, Baahozohnii Bah Largo, Maya Miller, Franklin Obiekwe, Chibuike Ogbonnaya, Donald Patten, Basil Payne, Anne Pisacano, Danielle Potter, John Power, Franziska Roesner, Sam Spring, Billie Jean Stratton, Michael Thompson, Elizabeth Townsend, Rebekah Tobin Whittaker, Allison Whittenberg, Annabelle Young

Please note the following:

• You can expect to receive your copy of Issue 32 within three weeks of your purchase date. To ensure you receive your magazine in a timely manner please be sure your address is updated and correct.
• If you are a contributor in Issue 32, there's no need to purchase a magazine; we will send you a contributor copy in March.
• Currently, we can only ship within the United States. If you are shipping outside of the US, the shipping costs increase, and we ask that you please send us a note with your shipping destination and we will be in touch.

Purchase one past issue of Thin Air Magazine. Please specify which issue you would like to purchase:

TAM31 (2025)

TAM30 (2024)

TAM 29 (2023)

TAM27 (2021)

TAM 26 (2020)

TAM 23 (2017)

TAM 21 (2015)

TAM 20 (2014)

TAM 19 (2013)

TAM 18 (2012)

Formatting: We accept fiction up to 3,000 words. We will consider novel excerpts as long as they can stand alone. Stories that contain visuals or art are welcome as long as you own the copyrights.  We may accept stories without accepting the art. Please use fonts like Times New Roman/Calibri/Arial, 12pt., double spaced, 1 inch margins.  INCLUDE page numbers and a word count at the top of your manuscript.  DO NOT INCLUDE your name/identifiers in your manuscript.  If the unique format of your submission is critical to the piece, please feel free to keep your unique formatting.

Theme: Oasis–

Oasis is defined in Merriam Webster as the following: 

1. a fertile or green area in an arid region (such as a desert)
2. something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast

For Thin Air Magazine’s upcoming issue, we seek to expand upon this notion. 

In a turbulent, and at times seemingly desolate world, what is your oasis? Where do you seek shelter, or find comfort? What spaces fill, sustain, and save you? Is your oasis the physical body, spiritual self, home, community, or another source? How does one create sanctuary in the desert of the world? 

Alternatively, we consider the conditions that are required to produce the oasis, and subsequently, what surrounds it. 

For there to be an oasis, there must first exist a desert. An oasis can only exist when it is surrounded by, or contrasted by, a severe lack of something crucial to survival. What does it mean to be surrounded by a landscape of hostility, scarcity, or exclusion? In other words, what is your desert, and what drives you to find your oasis? Hunger? Thirst? Reprieve? Or is it something else entirely?

With this in mind, we wonder what else the oasis can represent.

What if the oasis can be a form of resistance? We think of the various forms of sanctuaries that are created in the midst of violence, fear, and the ever escalating political tensions: what oases have you noticed forming in the face of danger, desolation, and inaccessibility?

As creatives, we know that writing may even serve as an oasis and constant. In your creative, safe, and bold spaces, we encourage you to write all that you feel, see, and know of these oasis possibilities.

Aesthetic Statement: In light of recent change throughout the world, Thin Air is looking for pieces about what brings us together and pushes us apart. Often by writing you are reflecting on a system or part of the world that matters to you. For issue 33, we’re interested in writing that highlights the contrast between abundance and desolation; safety and danger; resistance and oppression. What can be an oasis, or alternatively, the mirage? 

Submission Deadline: This year’s print issue deadline is 10/17/26. We have rolling submissions open right now. Reading of submissions begins in August every year and runs until the deadline. 

Reminders: In addition to these guidelines, please read our General Submission Guidelines.  We only consider unpublished work. Please do not submit material previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, online, or on personal websites (including FB, Twitter, Insta, Flickr, blogs, etc.).  Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but let us know immediately if a submission has been accepted elsewhere.

Formatting: We accept nonfiction up to 3,000 words. We will consider book excerpts as long as they can stand alone. Stories that contain visuals or art are welcome as long as you own the copyrights.  We may accept stories without accepting the art. Please use fonts like Times New Roman/Calibri/Arial, 12pt., double spaced, 1 inch margins.  INCLUDE page numbers and a word count at the top of your manuscript. DO NOT INCLUDE your name/identifiers in your manuscript.  If the unique format of your submission is critical to the piece, please feel free to keep your unique formatting.

Theme: Oasis–

  Oasis is defined in Merriam Webster as the following: 

1. a fertile or green area in an arid region (such as a desert)
2. something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast

For Thin Air Magazine’s upcoming issue, we seek to expand upon this notion. 

In a turbulent, and at times seemingly desolate world, what is your oasis? Where do you seek shelter, or find comfort? What spaces fill, sustain, and save you? Is your oasis the physical body, spiritual self, home, community, or another source? How does one create sanctuary in the desert of the world? 

Alternatively, we consider the conditions that are required to produce the oasis, and subsequently, what surrounds it. 

For there to be an oasis, there must first exist a desert. An oasis can only exist when it is surrounded by, or contrasted by, a severe lack of something crucial to survival. What does it mean to be surrounded by a landscape of hostility, scarcity, or exclusion? In other words, what is your desert, and what drives you to find your oasis? Hunger? Thirst? Reprieve? Or is it something else entirely?

With this in mind, we wonder what else the oasis can represent.

What if the oasis can be a form of resistance? We think of the various forms of sanctuaries that are created in the midst of violence, fear, and the ever escalating political tensions: what oases have you noticed forming in the face of danger, desolation, and inaccessibility?

As creatives, we know that writing may even serve as an oasis and constant. In your creative, safe, and bold spaces, we encourage you to write all that you feel, see, and know of these oasis possibilities.

Aesthetic Statement: We love nonfiction prose that is alive and compelling, with a strong narrative voice–one we can trust and believe. Our readers are drawn to honest and provocative stories. They can be of struggles of joys, and everything in between. We accept traditional and experimental writing, whether short stories, personal essays, journalism, memoirs, flash nonfiction, or other forms are all welcome. For issue 33, we’re interested in work that highlights the contrast between abundance and desolation; safety and danger; resistance and oppression. What can be an oasis, or alternatively, the mirage? 

Some writers who inspire us are Melissa Febos, Matthew Desmond, Leslie Jamison, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Carmen Maria Machado, James Baldwin, Eleni Sekelianos, Eula Biss, and Joan Didion. 

Submission Deadline: This year’s print issue deadline is 10/17/26. We have rolling submissions open right now. Reading of submissions begins in August every year and runs until the deadline.  

Reminders: In addition to these guidelines, please read our General Submission Guidelines.  We only consider unpublished work. Please do not submit material previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, online, or on personal websites (including FB, Twitter/X, Insta, Flickr, blogs, etc.).  Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but let us know immediately if a submission has been accepted elsewhere.

Formatting: Please send us up to three poems in one document totaling five or fewer pages. Poems that contain visuals or art are welcome as long as you own the copyrights.  We may accept poems without accepting the art.          Please use fonts like Times New Roman/Calibri/Arial, 12pt., 1 inch margins.  INCLUDE page numbers at the top of your manuscript. DO NOT INCLUDE your name/identifiers in your manuscript.  If the unique format of your submission is critical to the piece, please feel free to keep your unique formatting.

Theme: Oasis–

Oasis is defined in Merriam Webster as the following: 

1. a fertile or green area in an arid region (such as a desert)
2. something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast

For Thin Air Magazine’s upcoming issue, we seek to expand upon this notion. 

In a turbulent, and at times seemingly desolate world, what is your oasis? Where do you seek shelter, or find comfort? What spaces fill, sustain, and save you? Is your oasis the physical body, spiritual self, home, community, or another source? How does one create sanctuary in the desert of the world? 

Alternatively, we consider the conditions that are required to produce the oasis, and subsequently, what surrounds it. 

For there to be an oasis, there must first exist a desert. An oasis can only exist when it is surrounded by, or contrasted by, a severe lack of something crucial to survival. What does it mean to be surrounded by a landscape of hostility, scarcity, or exclusion? In other words, what is your desert, and what drives you to find your oasis? Hunger? Thirst? Reprieve? Or is it something else entirely?

With this in mind, we wonder what else the oasis can represent.

What if the oasis can be a form of resistance? We think of the various forms of sanctuaries that are created in the midst of violence, fear, and the ever escalating political tensions: what oases have you noticed forming in the face of danger, desolation, and inaccessibility?

As creatives, we know that writing may even serve as an oasis and constant. In your creative, safe, and bold spaces, we encourage you to write all that you feel, see, and know of these oasis possibilities.

Aesthetic Statement: At Thin Air Magazine, we seek poetry that opens up new experiences we can empathize with, a thread of connection that pulls you in. We applaud artists unafraid to dive into painful memories and showcase how we grow as humans.  For issue 33, we’re interested in poetry that highlights the contrast between abundance and desolation; safety and danger; resistance and oppression. What can be an oasis, or alternatively, the mirage?  What is sanctuary in a world of scarcity? 

Our upcoming theme, Systems, explores the impacts of our systems, and how those may reflect on us, our bodies, our relationships, our environment, our pasts, our futures. We believe poetry is a love language and a dagger that holds clarity, relatability, a playful spirit, and tackles feelings of what is hardest to put into words.

Submission Deadline: This year’s print issue deadline is 10/17/26. We have rolling submissions open right now. Reading of submissions begins in August every year and runs until the deadline.  

Reminders:  In addition to these guidelines, please read our General Submission Guidelines.  We only consider unpublished work. Please do not submit material previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, online, or on personal websites (including FB, Twitter/X, Insta, Flickr, blogs, etc.).  Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but let us know immediately if a submission has been accepted elsewhere.

Formatting: Submit up to five pieces for consideration. Images MUST have minimum 300dpi. Do not send PDFs for image submissions. Please include a brief description of your art, including what medium they are made of, and a 2-5 sentence bio. 

Submission Deadline: This year’s print issue deadline is 10/17/2026. We have rolling submissions open right now. Reading of submissions begins in August every year and runs until the deadline.

Reminders: In addition to these guidelines, please read our General Submission Guidelines.  We only consider unpublished work. Please do not submit material previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, online, or on personal websites (including FB, Twitter/X, Insta, Flickr, blogs, etc.).  Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but let us know immediately if a submission has been accepted elsewhere.

Theme: Oasis–

Oasis is defined in Merriam Webster as the following: 

1. a fertile or green area in an arid region (such as a desert)
2. something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast

For Thin Air Magazine’s upcoming issue, TAM 33, we seek to expand upon this notion. 

In a turbulent, and at times seemingly desolate world, what is your oasis? Where do you seek shelter, or find comfort? What spaces fill, sustain, and save you? Is your oasis the physical body, spiritual self, home, community, or another source? How does one create sanctuary in the desert of the world? 

Alternatively, we consider the conditions that are required to produce the oasis, and subsequently, what surrounds it. 

For there to be an oasis, there must first exist a desert. An oasis can only exist when it is surrounded by, or contrasted by, a severe lack of something crucial to survival. What does it mean to be surrounded by a landscape of hostility, scarcity, or exclusion? In other words, what is your desert, and what drives you to find your oasis? Hunger? Thirst? Reprieve? Or is it something else entirely?

With this in mind, we wonder what else the oasis can represent.

What if the oasis can be a form of resistance? We think of the various forms of sanctuaries that are created in the midst of violence, fear, and the ever escalating political tensions: what oases have you noticed forming in the face of danger, desolation, and inaccessibility?

As creatives, we know that writing may even serve as an oasis and constant. In your creative, safe, and bold spaces, we encourage you to write all that you feel, see, and know of these oasis possibilities.

Note: We are currently looking for art, photography, and comics that represent the notion of the oasis. We are interested in pieces that can be viewed as full page spreads, as well as graphic narratives and poetry comics. Outsider art is always welcome, as is anything that surprises us or subverts expectations. 

For TAM 33, We are open to color submissions, and are taking a particular interest in pieces that are high contrast, and capture the shades and hues that speak to the oasis. 

AI generated art will not be considered for publication. 

Thin Air Online

Our website can be found here: thinairmagazine.org

Thin Air Online, distinct from our print magazine, accepts the following: poems, art, fiction, tiny films, nonfiction, humor, songs, paintings, collages, interpretative dances, jokes, audio projects and other precious creations. We especially appreciate submissions that don't exactly fit into printed mediums.

For the first time ever, NAU’s Thin Air literary website is inviting its university community to submit their literary work. 

Submissions are open to all, including those currently affiliated with NAU. Thin Air Online looks particularly for work that is playful but serious, in form, in content, however that might apply to you. Please do not submit seasonal work.

There is no reading fee for TAO, but we carefully select our publications. So submit away! If you want to support our work, please donate.
 

Please review our general and genre-specific guidelines for TAO below:

• Include your title in the title line.
• Clearly label your submission’s genre (Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Visual Art, Genre-Defying/Hybrid).
• Written submissions must be 5,000 words or less. 
• Submit poems in batches up to 3. 
• Video and audio pieces must be shorter than 10 minutes. 
• We only consider unpublished work. Please do not submit material previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, online, or on personal websites (including FB, Twitter/X, Insta, Flickr, blogs, etc.)
• We accept simultaneous submissions. If any part of your submission is selected for publication elsewhere, please notify us immediately using Submittable.
• In an effort to encourage submissions from both established and emerging writers with diverse voices, Thin Air Online reads all submissions blind. Do not include any identifying information within your submission.
• Thin Air Online aims to respond to your submission within 3-5 months. If you submit April-August, know that we likely won’t be able to respond until September when school is back in session. We appreciate your patience! Our staff is a volunteer-graduate-student-run magazine and we strive to read every submission carefully before making a decision. 

Copyright: We ask for first North American online serial rights. If your work is selected for Thin Air Online, we ask for exclusive online rights for 60 days from the date of publication. Copyright is retained by the author at all times. 

Thank you for submitting!