Aporia began with a simple conviction: that the most important writing in the world is still in someone's notebook. We exist to change that.
In ancient Greek philosophy, aporia describes the state of genuine puzzlement — the productive discomfort of not yet knowing. It is the starting point of all honest inquiry. Every good piece of writing begins here: in uncertainty, in the not-yet-formed, in the question that hasn't found its answer.
Young writers live in aporia. They are mid-thought, mid-discovery, mid-becoming. The literary world often asks them to wait — to finish their degree, to gather more experience, to be more certain. We disagree with that completely.
Aporia is a journal that publishes emerging writers from anywhere in the world — their poetry, fiction, essays, flash fiction, and creative non-fiction. We are a first byline for writers who deserve one. We are a reading community for people who believe that youth is not a limitation but a point of view.
Every piece we publish is read by human editors. Every submission is free. Every writer who sends us their work is treated as the serious artist they already are.
Every decision we make — editorial, design, operational — is made with the submitting writer in mind first.
We will never charge a submission fee. Literature should not be pay-to-play. That's a promise we intend to keep indefinitely.
We actively seek writing from every continent and every cultural tradition. Diversity of origin is not a policy — it's the whole point.
We read everything. We respond with care. We give real feedback where we can — not form rejections that tell you nothing.
We celebrate where writers come from. Every piece is attributed to its author's institution — because place shapes voice.
We publish in English now. We are building toward French, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin and beyond — because great writing ignores borders.
From formal verse to free form, spoken word to concrete poetry. We read it all with equal attention. No aesthetic hierarchy.
Stories that do something unexpected with form, voice, or structure. Realism, magical realism, fabulism — we're open to all of it.
Essays that think in public. Where the personal becomes the universal. Where the writer's confusion is the reader's recognition.
The most difficult form: a complete world in under a thousand words. We love flash that lands like a punch and lingers like a bruise.
Reportage, memoir, lyric essay, travel writing — non-fiction where the writing itself is part of the argument.
Reviews, close readings, cultural essays about literature. Young critics deserve a platform too. We take the form seriously.
Our editors are writers and readers themselves — people who understand the pressures and joys of writing. They read every submission personally. No AI screening. No interns rubber-stamping rejections. Real readers, real responses.
A deeply literary person who writes across genres and languages, and who has spent years reading, writing, and mentoring alongside young writers. Drawn less to the machinery of publishing than to the work itself — the sentence that lands, the voice that is unmistakably someone's own.
Started Aporia out of a simple conviction: that emerging writers around the world deserve a place that takes their work seriously. The driving passion here is to gather and enthuse a global community of young writers — to give raw, honest voices somewhere they can truly be heard.
Aayushi Sharma is a storyteller whose work moves across radio, podcasts, film, advertising, and digital media. She has always been drawn to the kind of stories that stay quietly with people long after they end.
As a radio jockey, she brings warmth, energy, and a genuine sense of connection to every listener she speaks to. Her work in advertising and film sharpened her love of building narratives and carrying them to life across different mediums — a craft that led her to create her own storytelling podcast, now well received across major audio platforms.
Years of working closely with writers and young creators have given her a deep respect for raw, honest storytelling, and a conviction that voices like these deserve platforms where they can truly be heard.
Every piece is read by editors who are writers and mentors themselves — people who have spent years working alongside young writers and who understand what it takes to grow a piece from promising to finished. When we read work that we believe has a longer life ahead of it, we say so, and we tell you why.
We don't promise publication. What we promise is that your work will be read closely by someone who has been through it themselves — and who will tell you honestly, and kindly, what it needs if it isn't ready yet.
Most literary journals are endpoints. We think of Aporia as the beginning of a conversation — between a young writer and their own developing voice, and the wider world of readers waiting for it.
Free to submit. You retain all rights to your work.
Submit Now →The best writing is written by people still in the middle of their lives. Not looking back. Not yet certain. Still in the beautiful, difficult, aporetic state of becoming. That is the writing we are here for. That is the writing that changes things.