OUR MISSION AND HISTORY
Electric Literature is a nonprofit digital publisher with the mission to make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Electric Lit is committed investing in artists who lack creative support in order to cultivate a vibrant community that reflects myriad voices.
Electric Literature began as a quarterly journal in 2009 and became a nonprofit in 2014. In 2024, Electric Lit published over 600 writers to 3 million readers. Every writer is paid, and everything on the site is free to read. To receive highlights from what EL publishes every week, subscribe to the eNewsletter.
The website is updated weekdays with author interviews, reading lists, humor pieces, and literary news. A new personal narrative essay is published every Thursday. Recommended Reading, Electric Literature’s acclaimed weekly fiction magazine, publishes short stories and novel excerpts with personal recommendations every Monday. The Commuter, EL’s beloved home for poetry, flash prose, graphic narratives, and form-breaking work, publishings every Wednesday. Launched in 2012, Recommended Reading published its 600th issue on November 20, 2023, and constitutes the largest free archive of contemporary literature outside of a library system.
Work published by Electric Literature and its literary magazines has been recognized by Best American Short Stories, Essays, Poetry, and Comics, the Pushcart Prize, Best Canadian Short Stories, The Best of the Small Presses, and the O. Henry Prize. Electric Lit won the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize in 2022, and in 2023, became the first online magazine to have three stories featured in a single edition of Best American Short Stories. A complete of awards given to work publish by Electric Literature can be found at electricliterature.com/awards.
As a nonprofit, Electric Lit relies on contributions from readers to survive. To support EL’s work and mission, please consider becoming a member or making a one-time contribution. All gifts are tax-deductible.
Electric Literature is grateful for the support of the Amazon Literary Partnership Literary Magazine Fund, the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. From 2016 to 2025, Electric Literature was also supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Read about EL’s decision not to apply for 2026 NEA funding, and the termination of EL’s 2025 funding.
Electric Literature monetizes some of the book links on its site. If you click on a link and make a purchase, EL may receive a commission, which goes toward paying writers. These commissions do not influence which books EL features or how the editors choose to cover them.
