Happy Wednesday, writers and shark fans! I hope your week is everything you’ve hoped for. In the meantime, it’s Writing Prompt Wednesday! Every Wednesday going forward, we will share a writing prompt, as well as the Editor-in-Chief’s (EIC’s) response to the prompt and...

McKenzie Lynn Tozan
Let’s Celebrate! 100+ Submissions to Lit Shark Magazine
Happy Tuesday, writers, friends, and shark fans! I cannot believe we only have ONE WEEK LEFT in February already. Where is this year going? Fortunately, I have a positive answer for that: this year is going amazing places. How do I know that? Well, because I have a...
Our 2023 Resolutions: Read More, Laugh More, Submit More
Happy Wednesday, all! It's been an inspiring day, and we've taken big steps today, including officially announcing that our community is live, opening the doors for submissions for our first issue, and making progress on our social media channels. Whether you're...
Romance Author Susan Meachen Came Back from the Dead, Shocking the Book Community
Content Warning: Mentions of suicide, mental health, and faking death Romance Author Susan Meachen is Back from the Dead---And No, This Isn't the Plot of a Daytime Television Show. Creative individuals, including those in the writing community, are not...
Lit Pup Seeking Submissions for Issue #1!
Hi to our younger readers, writers, artists, shark lovers---and your parents/guardians/family/mentors! Thank you so much for supporting Lit Pup by being here. We're so happy you're here and are interested in working with us in this early part of your creative,...
Lit Shark Seeking Submissions for Issue #1!
Hi readers, writers, and shark lovers! Thank you so much for supporting Lit Shark. We're so happy to hear that you're potentially interested in sharing your work with us and contributing to this growing, shiver community. Please read below for details about how to...
Clark Kent is a Super Hipster: Finding Beauty in the Absurd & the Mundane: Reading Shawnte Orion’s ‘The Existentialist Cookbook’
Here I am, attempting to think of what to say, but my coffee spilled, and it made such a lovely and dark display across my table. This is the sort of mindset in which Shawnte Orion places me: an area of in-the-moment appreciation, the odd humor of something spilled...
The Surrealist and Bodily Nature of Grief: Reading Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s ‘The Art of Floating’
Even when you read regularly, it takes time to find something truly great; but every once in a while, there will be a book, a poem, a story, that truly turns you on your heel, holds you in place, and keeps you loving, recommending and discussing that piece for months....
One Step Forward, One Step Back: The Complexities of Jason Odell Williams’ ‘Personal Statement’
We’ve all been there. We reached the final year of high school and discovered the college, the school, the job, and the career that we wanted, and we attempted to move forward. We did everything we thought we needed to do---and more---to ensure that we would land one...
Grief as Meditation, Grief as Art: Reading Meg Day’s ‘Last Psalm at Sea Level’
Writing reviews can be extremely difficult. What’s ironic, though, is that I tend to find greater difficulty in writing a review about a book that I loved, rather than one I was unimpressed with. Perhaps this is because I tend to find some angle of merit in each work...
We’ll Never Know What We’re Leaving Behind: Reading ‘Swimming Lessons’ by Claire Fuller
I’ll be honest: I’ve spent the last two days trying to let this book go (or rather, to pry its hooks out of me). This book is all at once startling and overwhelming, beautifully composed, and thieving (as ‘haunting’ in this case is not a strong enough word). I flipped...
The Power of Grief, The Power of Hallucination, The Power of YA Literature: Reading Rebekah Crane’s ‘Aspen’
Let me point one fact out from the beginning: I admire young adult literature, and I believe it can be extremely powerful when the central characters are confident, self-possessed individuals, dealing with both personal and more widely-recognized issues. Rebekah...
Coming Soon: Millicent Borges Accardi on ‘Through a Grainy Landscape’ (Poetry Collection)
Coming Soon: Emily Fluke on ‘Mari Fable Mysteries’ Series
The Bottom: An Interview with Betsy Andrews
Betsy Andrews' book-length poem, The Bottom, was published by 42 Miles Press in 2014 and received the 2013 42 Miles Poetry Prize. Sections of this poem appeared in such places as Kadar Koli, BoogCity, Stone Canoe, and The Laurel Review, as well as Poets for...
Interrobang: An Interview with Jessica Piazza
Jessica Piazza's first full-length collection, Interrobang, was published by Red Hen Press in September 2013 and was the recipient of the AROHO 2011 To the Lighthouse Poetry Prize and the 2013 Balcones Poetry Prize. Poems in this collection appeared in such...
Creative Highlight: “Luminous Descent”
Welcome to our Creative Highlight of the week! This week, we are featuring this painting, "Luminous Descent" by Ascending-Storm on DeviantArt. In the future, we will select short writing submissions and artwork that have been submitted to Lit Shark Magazine and Lit...
Writing Prompt: We’re Making a List
Happy Writing Prompt Friday, everyone! We have one more for today: turning a list into a poem.
‘Gone Girl’ Meets ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ In Jean Hanff Korelitz’s ‘The Plot’
Happy Friday, readers and shark fans! Here is Jean Hanff Korelitz’s THE PLOT, which bears incredible ties to LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE and GONE GIRL in a dark academic thriller.
Your Next YA Graphic Novel Pick Is Sprinkled with Spooks, Awkward Love, and Magic in Balazs Lorinczi’s ‘Doughnuts and Doom’
Happy Friday, readers and shark fans! Here’s our next review—a spooky and queer YA graphic novel, DOUGHNUTS AND DOOM by Balazs Lorinczi.
Writing Prompt: On a Personal Level
Happy Friday, writers and shark fans! I hope your week is everything you’ve hoped for. In the meantime, it’s Writing Prompt Friday! Every Friday, we will share a writing prompt, as well as the Editor-in-Chief’s (EIC’s) response to the prompt and some of her thoughts...
The Precision of Language, Nature, and Violence in Shaindel Beers’ ‘Secure Your Own Mask’
Happy Friday, readers and shark fans! Here is our latest book review: SECURE YOUR OWN MASK by Shaindel Beers, a beautifully striking poetry collection from White Pine Press.
Writing Prompt: A Sleeping Octopus
Happy Friday, writers and shark fans! Every Friday, LIT SHARK will share a writing prompt you can use to submit work, due the following Monday, for a creative feature on the site! Happy Writing! #writingprompt #writinginspiration #litshark #litpup #shivercollective #amwriting #submissions #submit #slushpile #literarymagazine #litmag
Say Hi to the New “Pup” on the Block: LIT SHARK
Hey readers, writers, and shark fans! I'm McKenzie Lynn Tozan, the Editor-in-Chief of Lit Shark (and more). I'm beyond pleased to introduce this fledgling to you, because this is more than another literary magazine. Through Lit Shark and Lit Pup, this space welcomes...