About Ninth Letter

Ninth Letter is the award-winning literary arts journal edited and produced by the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The journal’s mission is to present original literary writing of exceptional quality, illuminated by cutting-edge graphic design.

Work published in Ninth Letter has been selected for many awards anthologies such as Best American Nonrequired Reading, Best American Poetry, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories, Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Best Creative Nonfiction, Best New Fantasy, Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and New Stories from the Midwest. During a decade-plus collaboration with the UIUC School of Art + Design, the journal also received many national and international awards for graphic design, and was featured in the design awards annuals of both STEP Inside Design and HOW Magazine. In 2005 Ninth Letter was named Best New Literary Journal by the Council of Learned Journals, an affiliate of the Modern Language Association.

In addition to our dedication to literary and artistic excellence, Ninth Letter also maintains a strong commitment to our role in the UIUC Creative Writing curriculum. Graduate and undergraduate students in English and Creative Writing have the opportunity to enroll in editing and publishing courses in which they gain hands-on experience in editorial work. Students who have completed the Ninth Letter courses have gone on to career success in commercial, academic, and literary publishing, thanks in part to their experience working with Ninth Letter.

Ninth Letter is a proud member of CLMP and partially supported by the Illinois Arts Council.

Ninth Letter is dedicated to making our materials accessible and ADA compliant. If you have any accessibility concerns or needs, please email ninthletter9@gmail.com with “accessibility concern” in the subject line.

Contact: ninthletter9@gmail.com