First published by New American Press in 2009 and relaunched with an expanded editorial staff in 2020, MAYDAY presents new poetry, fiction, nonfiction, translations, cultural commentary, and visual art to an international community of readers.
“Mayday” became an international distress signal in the 1920s, the phonetic equivalent of the French m’aider (“help me”). Upon calling MAYDAY three times, sailors and pilots in international air or waters could summon aid from anyone within range of their calls.
Stories without distress are anecdotes. MAYDAY explores culture and history, politics regional and global, the past, present, and future. Send us writing that surprises us, that introduces images and ideas in new and strange ways, that complicates our perspective. Send us fiction, poetry, personal essays, translations, reviews, visual art, and cultural criticism that have achieved a balance of craft and story so compelling that we cannot look away. We must read more.
We welcome writers who have been marginalized historically, including writers of color, queer and trans writers, disabled writers, and others who have suffered systemic discrimination.
