TW: words that impact the world
Talking Writing is a nonprofit literary site that features personal nonfiction and visual art.
Our mission?
To show why writing matters in the digital age—and why true stories can change the world.
Talking Writing was cofounded by Martha Nichols and Elizabeth Langosy in 2010 as an online magazine about writers and writing. TW, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has since grown far beyond its Boston roots, with a digital literary site and Talking Writing Books.
Great writing makes us want to sing or shout or argue, and TW’s innovative format opens virtual doors to readers and writers everywhere. As the publishing industry continues to transform itself, Talking Writing exemplifies the impact luminous stories, first-person journalism, and other hybrid genres can have in the new media world.
A Decade of Digital Publishing
We continue to support personal nonfiction that combines literary style with journalistic craft. During its first decade, Talking Writing was home to many kinds of nonfiction—from personal essays and features about writing and writers to hybrid genres like flash essays, memoir, and prose poetry. While we appreciate many literary genres, we no longer publish lyric essays, most creative nonfiction, or fiction.
Regardless, the TW site is packed with literary hybrids, features about well-known writers, and poems. (If you're looking for reading suggestions, go to Surprise Me!) From 2010 to 2020, TW published interviews with Jennifer Egan, Robert Olen Butler, Gene Luen Yang, William Least Heat-Moon, Caitlin Moran, Chana Bloch, and Terry Tempest Williams. During that time, Talking Writing had a thriving poetry section with work by Alicia Ostriker, Katharine Harer, Randall Horton, and other contemporary poets.
Talking Writing panels at AWP conferences took on topics such as "Literary Politics: White Guys and Everyone Else" (2014), "Digital Poets and Nature" (2015), "The Politics of Empathy" (2015), "The New Nonfiction" (2016), "What Journalists Can Teach Literary Writers" (2017), and "How to Talk About Yourself in Nonfiction" (2019).
TW's Future
During its first ten years, Talking Writing magazine published several issues a year. Every issue had a theme—and TW still solicits some themed work for digital issues and occasional print anthologies. Going forward, we plan to publish a spring and fall issue annually, with an increasing emphasis on multimedia and other visual presentations.
Writers can query us about a feature idea or submit work for open categories through Submittable on TW's Submissions Manager.
Readers who sign up for a free email subscription get a message whenever a new Talking Writing piece appears.
Talking Writing Books publishes print anthologies and other work by TW authors. Its debut title: Into Sanity: Essays About Mental Health, Mental Illness, and Living in Between (2019).
How to Support TW
Discussing, dissecting, and interacting with works of literature moves us to a more humane understanding of the world.
That’s our credo in these unsettled times for writers. We believe literature and responsible journalism deserve far more space than they currently claim online—and TW is committed to encouraging authors at all stages of their careers, with all work professionally edited and produced.
As an independent, nonprofit organization, Talking Writing relies on donations and the work of many dedicated volunteers to keep publishing. While we don’t charge for subscriptions, we do encourage readers to donate whatever they can to help us grow.
All donations to TW are tax deductible.
The writers I love most are the ones who beg me to write 'yes' in the margins. Or the ones who dare me to think about an idea that was formerly a taboo.
—Terry Tempest Williams, from a 2013 TW interview
There are things inside a book the author may not even be conscious of or that are the collective unconscious speaking through a work. The meaning of the work is really a collaboration between author and reader.
—Gene Luen Yang from a 2015 TW interview
