Luna Luna Magazine is a literary journal devoted to publishing lush poetics and the dark ecstatic. They are always open unless otherwise specified on their website and publish eleven poets each month. They have a fast response time to submissions and respond within a month. See my interview with  founder Lisa Marie Basile and a link to their submission guidelines below.

HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about Luna Luna. 

BASILE: Luna Luna Magazine is a literary journal devoted to publishing lush poetics and the dark ecstatic. At this time, we publish poetry and poetry book reviews only, with a special fondness for the experimental, the hybrid, and the abstract. We aim to create an immersive and aesthetic poetry reading experience by pairing the poems with beautiful imagery, housing the poetry in a container that feels swoon-worthy.

We went on hiatus three years ago and just resurrected this summer! It was a necessary action, and one I didn’t take lightly. However, running a lit journal is an act of love and sustained effort, and after a pandemic, an international wedding, chronic illness, and a broken back (literally!), I needed to figure out how to make it work in the long-term around the contours of life. I am proud to say the journal is very much back!

HOPKINSON: How/why was Luna Luna originally started? 

BASILE: Luna Luna was started back in 2013. It began as a magazine of ideas and art and opinion and literature. We published essays and fiery thought pieces and poetry and playlists, as a way to support women’s voices. Over time, the magazine leaned more and more literary, with a focus on the occult and the speculative. Now, Luna Luna has been pared down to the one throughline that’s been there since the beginning: Poetry. Poetry was always at its heart. 

HOPKINSON: Who is your target reader audience? 

BASILE: I’d like to think that anyone could come to Luna Luna and find something worth indulging in. I think our target reader, though, is interested in luscious and baroque poetry, in beauty, in craft that is both rigorous and splendid, in work exploring darkness and eroticism and obsessiveness, and in aesthetics. 

HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for?

BASILE: We are drawn toward the baroque, experimental, and abstract. We are impartial to a feast of language. We are less inclined toward the sparse or overly narrative. Give us splendor, with teeth. We like thoughtful lineation and surprise. 

HOPKINSON: What do you wish you’d see submitted, but rarely comes in? 

BASILE: I’d love to see more prose-poetry and more hybrid work—meaning poetry that takes the form of letters or lists or vignettes or essay poems. I welcome and encourage translation as well, where the original language and English are submitted together. I’m also looking for poetry book reviews.

HOPKINSON: What are some of your favorite lit mags/journals?

BASILE: Wildness, Lover’s Eye, Annulet, Hunger Mountain, Bleating Thing, Occulum, Ovunque Siamo, Black Flowers, Blush Lit; there are so, so many!  

HOPKINSON: What is your favorite part of being on staff with Luna Luna?

BASILE: Years ago, we had a larger staff of editors and writers. Those days were magical! But since Luna Luna went on hiatus for about three years, I’ve relaunched the magazine as a one-editor show. Its focus is smaller now; we only publish 11 poets per month. But when we first started Luna Luna, it was a dynamic community. I will always appreciate those memories. 

HOPKINSON: Where can we send submissions? 

BASILE: Lunalunamag@gmail.com. I am so looking forward to reading incoming work, and hope to get a quick turnaround on all submissions– within a month. 

HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you? 

BASILE: Lunalunamag@gmail.com—happy to help. 

• SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Always open unless otherwise specified on the site, 11 poets published per month
• THEME(S): We want monstrous feelings. Give us the transgressive, the obsessive, yearning, place, country, old rooms, worship, the Mediterranean, spaces you’ve left behind, selves you’ve abandoned, obsessions, the subtly erotic, the transition between eras and seasons, nostalgia, putrid lemons, afternoon light, ruminations, fathomless desire, the fight between the holy and unholy, the ancients and saints, folklore and the spiritual, the dark edges of faith, girlhood, gore, & the body. 
• FORMAT: Online only
• SUBMISSION FEE: No fee, ever. 
• PAYMENT: No payment. 
• ISSUE FREQUENCY: 11 poets per month.
• AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: 1 month. 
• SUBMISSION METHOD: Via email. lunalunamag@gmail.com
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Yes
• FORMS: Poetry and Poetry Book Reviews
• SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook – Instagram – X (Twitter)
• LISTINGS: Chill Subs – Duotrope – Poets & Writers

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