The Incongruous Quarterly is an online literary magazine devoted to publishing unpublishable literature.

“Unpublishable” is a scary word. Some people think it means “unreadable,” but we know better. Writing can be unpublishable for almost any reason – it’s too long or too short, too weird, too conventional, ahead of (or behind) the times, genreless, plotless, subjectless, easily pigeonholed or impossible to define.

Unpublishable writing is important. Literary magazines are a tricky business, and stories and poems can easily fall through the cracks – not because they’re bad, but because there’s no room for them. The Incongruous Quarterly always has room. The fact that a story isn’t right for other magazines doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t be reading it; in fact, sometimes it’s the opposite.

We’re a little different from a lot of other magazines. We’re collaborative: each issue has two very publishable guest editors who pick the themes, help select pieces and work with contributors for their sections. We’re always accepting pitches for articles, projects and sections. We’re writers too, so we try to be as fair as possible: we read blind, edit actively with contributors, and if you send us an email we’ll send you one back.

The Incongruous Quarterly is a home for work that has nowhere else to go, but deserves to be read. We hope you like it.

This is our latest issue.
This is how we make it.
These are our most recent contributors.