This week, we’re celebrating #LitMagWeek and the independent literary magazines that make room for new voices, strange ideas, experiments, risks, and work that might not fit neatly anywhere else.

Current Words Publishing is proud to sponsor Instant Noodles Literary Magazine, curated by the Old Scratch Press Collective. And because we believe that literary magazines should create opportunities for writers—not barriers for them—Instant Noodles is always free to read and always free to submit to.

The new issue is out now!

The September 2026 issue, Al Dente, is full of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, visual art, and audio work from writers and artists around the world.

A few places to start:

The Pull of the Crust by Rachel Lutwick-Deaner turns a slice of pizza into a beautifully specific meditation on memory, childhood, and the impossibility of going home again.

Firmness Index: A Behavioral Study by Tamara-Lee Brereton-Karabetsos takes the issue’s Al Dente theme somewhere entirely unexpected, using the form of a scientific study to examine pressure, endurance, and what happens just before something gives.

And keep wandering. Al Dente also includes visual art and recorded work alongside poetry and prose. There’s a lot to discover.

Writers: there’s still time.

Submissions are open for the final issue of 2026, and this time, the theme is yours. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, visual art, and multimedia are all welcome.

Submissions close November 7, 2026.

Read Instant Noodles | Read the submission guidelines

And while you’re celebrating #LitMagWeek, go exploring. Visit F(r)iction, Mom Egg Review, The Dolomite Review, and Midnight Mind Magazine.

Read a lit mag. Discover a writer. Find something wonderful and weird.

Happy #LitMagWeek!