The Litarn publishes writers who have something to say and the patience to say it well. We are not looking for takes. We are looking for thinking — the kind that unsettles you a little while you do it, and that leaves the reader somewhere they did not expect to be.
What we publish
Personal essays on identity, belonging, language, and place — written from a position of genuine inquiry, not settled conclusion
Reported pieces on neuroscience and psychology, written for a general reader who expects to be treated as intelligent
Conversations and interviews with researchers, thinkers, and practitioners working at the edges of what we know about the mind
Field notes: dispatches from a specific place, subculture, or lived experience that open onto larger questions
First-person essays that take an intellectual risk — that reason as well as feel, that complicate their own position
Pieces from writers based in Central Asia, or writing about Central Asian experience, culture, and thought
What we do not publish
Opinion pieces that assert without examining
Listicles, explainers, or content optimized for anything other than the reader's attention
Personal essays that stay only on the surface of the personal
Anything that could have been written by someone who has not thought deeply about the subject
Work that has been published elsewhere, or that is simultaneously submitted to other publications
Celebrity profiles, trend pieces, or anything that requires the word "viral" to explain its relevance
Send a pitch.
We read every pitch and respond within three weeks. We cannot always explain why something is not right for us, but we are always glad you sent it. Questions: pitches@thelitarn.com