Torch Magazine

Torch Magazine is the online publication of Torch Literary Arts. Established in 2006 to celebrate creative writing by Black women writers across the diaspora, Torch publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and scripts (plays and screenplays) by emerging and experienced writers. Accepted features are paid for publication. See the submission guidelines for details.

Editor: Amanda Johnston

Associate Editor: Jae Nichelle

Artwork by 2024 Torch Visual Artist, Adriene Cruz

Monthly Feature

Friday Features

POETRY

Friday Feature: Cheryl R. Hopson

Dr. Cheryl R. Hopson is the John P. Fishwick Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. She has published essays on Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, and U.S. Black Feminism. Her poetry collection In Case You Get This (2023) was published by Finishing Line Press. In 2024, Reaktion Books published her biography Zora Neale Hurston . Alice Walker’s Mary Agnes Speaks They used to call me Squeak until I learned to speak back. Be

FICTION

Friday Feature: Alana Benoit

Alana Benoit , a first-generation Black American with Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Central American heritage, holds a BA from Union College,...

CREATIVE NONFICTION

Friday Feature: Grace Morse

Grace Morse (she/they) is an essayist from New Orleans, Louisiana, currently living in Galicia, Spain. Her work can be found in various publications and has been recognized as a finalist for CRAFT Literary Magazine’s 2023 Flash Prose Prize and BRINK Literary Journal for Hybrid Writing Award in 2024. Morse is the winner of the BRINK’s 2025 Emerging Writer Fellowship in Hybrid Writing award, with their essay-in-archives forthcoming in the Spring 2026 journal. A scholar of Span

SCRIPT

Friday Feature: Shia Shabazz Smith

Shia Shabazz Smith is a writer-director and educator based in Oakland, California. With over 20 years of storytelling across mediums,...

2024 Torch Visual Artist: Adriene Cruz

Adriene Cruz is a textile artist based in Portland, Oregon who has exhibited work locally and internationally. Photographer: Romney...

Submit to Torch Magazine

Black women writers from across the diaspora are invited to submit to Torch Magazine to be considered for a Friday Feature. There is no fee to subit and all accepted features are paid for publication. See our submission guidelines on Submittable for details.

Submit