Subnivean never flees from chilling poems, penetrating stories, words that whip our perspectives around. Housed at the State University of New York at Oswego, where 4x more snow falls on our city than Manhattan, we’ve learned to persist. When winter comes, we reject migration. We use the cold itself as insulation.
ISSUE
R. Kumra, Naa Asheley Ashitey, AJ Bergmann, Anne Barngrover, Brittney Corrigan, Justin Courter, Darren Demaree, Charles Livesay, Meg Lubey Eloise Schultz, Rachele Salvini, Barbara Lawhorn, Ariel Berry, Stephen Bush, Bruce Crown, Rachel Cascella, Julia Li.
SUBNIVEAN
EPISODE 7:
WAR
Get ready to be read to like a baby at bedtime. In Episode 7, Subnivean presents a boy trying to figure out his neighbor's disappearance and a mom trying to figure out her boy. Stories by George Goetz and Laura Leigh Morris. Special thanks to voice actors Michael Daniel Vodzogbe and Larissa Wolfer—and to our audio team: hosts Robert Ferrara and Larissa Wolfer, editor Ryan Joyce and producer/editor Soma Mei Sheng Frazier.
LAURA LEIGH
MORRIS
GEORGE
GOETZ
WATCH
I DON'T GO TO
CHURCH ANYMORE
by
PAIGE
BLAIR
"Holding hands around the table
asking, asking, asking—"
ABOUT THE CREATOR
Paige Blair, a sophomore at Cazenovia High School, was named winner of the 2023-24 Subnivean New Writers’ Award competition. Read her poem here.
"Paige Blair's poems tell us she no longer goes to church. Yet this divine young writer is earning her own following: get in now, readers, before the pews are packed too full. "
— Subnivean
I Don't Go to Church Anymore, by Paige Blair
NEWS & EVENTS
HAPPY 2026!
Subnivean hopes your new year is off to a smooth start. To ring it in, we're pleased to share a few updates:
This year's global Subnivean Awards competition is now open! The Subnivean Awards offer writers the chance to have their work blurbed by one of our 2026 final judges—Chen Chen and Megan Mayhew-Bergman. Finalists and winners will be published in the May issue, and winners will receive $150 each. Learn more about the contest.
Beyond reaching every continent but Antarctica in our first five years—get with the program, penguins—Subnivean has now reached readers in 159 countries. Heeeey, our one Lithuanian reader, we see you! We have also received manuscripts submitted by writers in 68 countries:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Swaziland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and all 50 United States as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
With growth comes change. Our founding editor, Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, has announced that she is handing over the reins in order to focus on her second novel, Eat Bitter, Anastasia, forthcoming from Macmillan. "It's been a joy to create and nurture Subnivean in collaboration with many talented authors and SUNY Oswego students," Frazier said. "Now, it's time to switch it up, and our readers around the globe are in for a treat: award-winning poet Albert Abonado has stepped up as Editor. I couldn't leave the publication in more capable hands!" For more about Abonado, visit his website.
U.S. POET LAUREATE EMERITUS JUAN FELIPE HERRERA & DANIEL HANDLER:
Literary Legends in Conversation
What do U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera and Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler have in common? Hint: it's not fave ice cream flavors!
Subnivean. Catch these heavyweight authors in conversation, and get read to like a baby at bedtime by last year's Subnivean Awards finalists and winners: poets Artemisio Romero y Carver, Moni Brar, Alicia Rebecca Myers and Lauren Holguin; fiction writers Avtar Singh, Melissa Brown and Zach Swiss.
"...and if I went all out, I would probably have pistachio in there."
— Jf Herrera
SNICKET, WHITE & SINCLAIR:
Literary Legends in Conversation
What do U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera and Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler have in common? Hint: it's not fave ice cream flavors!
Subnivean. Catch these heavyweight authors in conversation, and get read to like a baby at bedtime by last year's Subnivean Awards finalists and winners: poets Artemisio Romero y Carver, Moni Brar, Alicia Rebecca Myers and Lauren Holguin; fiction writers Avtar Singh, Melissa Brown and Zach Swiss.
"I would recommend, like, a bottle of Jim Beam ... before Googling yourself."
— Daniel Handler
2021 FIRECRACKER AWARDS
— Subnivean announced as a finalist
MONDAY
May 10, 2021
If you feel the ground shaking beneath you today, that's the result of much barefoot jumping up and down by Subnivean's international community.
Why barefoot? Because this nod from the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) rocks our socks off!
Regardless of which deserving publication earns the top
Magazine: Best Debut prize at the June 23, 7pm EST awards ceremony, Subnivean is honored to be among the Firecracker Awards finalists. We urge you to join us at this free, virtual event and check out the other finalist publications, as well: more good reading for your commute, lunch break or bedtime...