Turnpike is a literary and art magazine that focuses on positive themes and under-represented voices. Our mission is to provide positive content, to create a space for all voices, and to hopefully brighten a few days.

We chose the name “Turnpike” to indicate a deviation, or turn from what is expected. So often in the creative community do we focus on one type of voice and one type of theme. In our personal experience with literary journals, we noticed a consistent focus on trauma and misfortune that, while important, can become kind of damper on mental health. Additionally, we noticed that other publications may not highlight LGBTQ+ folk, persons of color, and other marginalized identities.

Our turn from the norm is to provide content based on more positive themes and to provide a space for voices that may be underrepresented in other media. While other publications that explore aforementioned voices and themes are helpful and important, we strive to deviate, to be refreshing and vulnerable in a new way.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.