Ultramarine Lit Review

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Articles

The Morning It Started

by Elizabeta Žargi That summer I was travelling through Europe on an Interrail ticket — a month of trains and no fixed schedule beyond a language course waiting in Ljubljana. I had already spent a week in Malmö, made a delayed stop in Hamburg after sleeping through it once, then gone down to Geneva to visit Milena. Eventually I returned to Vienna, where I was staying with Gregor and Sandy. They were also planning to attend the course in Slovenia. I was meant to leave on the 2

Articles

Elizabeta Žargi

Apr 5

Dreaming of Kalbarri

by Meredith Stephens “Wake up! If we don’t get going now it will be too hot!” urged my fiance Alex. I couldn’t understand why we had to leave for Kalbarri National Park at 5:30am in darkness. Was it really going to get that hot? We quickly arose and headed to the car for the long drive. By the time we arrived, the day was breaking and we were among the first tourists to arrive at the famed Nature’s Window. We made our way along the trail to the window where international tour

Articles

Meredith Stephens

Nov 2, 2025

Between Two Skies: An Egyptian Heart in Albany

by Walid Abdallah When I first arrived in Albany, New York, in the winter of 2014, I felt as if I had stepped into a painting. The air...

Articles

Walid Abdallah

Oct 13, 2025

Reviews

Hedgehog Book Review

by Catalina Bonati 2/5 stars ★★☆☆☆ Hedgehog by Maggie Koons (to be published March 2027) is a horror novel that revolves around two young women: Riley Kilkenny and Irina Lebedev. Riley is a well-off writer of daily news briefs for influencers, and who is struggling to come to terms with the breakup of her girlfriend Markie, which happened almost a year ago. She finds a new coping method consisting of the killing and torture of animals, which she begins to upload to the intern

Catalina Bonati

7 days ago

To The East of the East Book Review

by Catalina Bonati 1.75/ 5 stars ★★☆☆☆ To the East of the East by Ping Lu and translated by Jeremy Tiang (to be published October 2026) is a translated literary fiction novel about Min-Hui, a Taiwanese writer who after the disappearance of her husband, Chien-I, a Taiwanese businessman, must stay in Beijing to help authorities figure out his whereabouts. She meets a strange man named Shangjun who begins to accompany her in conversation in her hotel room every day, which makes

Catalina Bonati

Oct 15

Dead Teenagers Review

by Catalina Bonati 3.25/5 stars ★★★☆☆ Dead Teenagers by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Caitlyn Yarsky (published March 2026) is the first comic in a five-comic installment. It centers on a group of four friends who go to prom in 1997, and are horrifically killed that night. This night resets at its end into a continuous loop of horrors in which the killings change every night and become increasingly gory. The friend group tries to figure out what is keeping them caged in this time

Catalina Bonati

Oct 8

Short Stories

Back in the Day

by Robert Lowinger I was in the seventh grade, in 1969, living in a little town outside of Buffalo, New York when me and Danny Nissen, who was almost 15, threatened to beat the crap out of Larry McKoon for telling Danny that he wasn’t good at basketball, and he should get booted off the team. Well, Danny said, “Jimmy, you got to be a man and not let anyone diss your friends, certainly not a little prick like Larry,” and ever since Danny killed that cat with a knife behind the

Robert Lowinger

Sep 24

Ticket to Ride

by Sara Etgen-Baker "You gotta have a ticket to ride!” snapped the Carney. “Get a ticket or move outta da way, kid. You’re takin’ up space!” I stared motionless as the Ferris wheel cut through the heavy summer clouds. “Here’s her ticket, sir. We three are ridin’ together.” “Not happenin’ lady—only two per chair. One of youz has to ride by yerself.” “No problem! She’s the oldest; she’ll ride by herself.” “Whatever ya say, lady. She seems a bit scared to me though.” “Your broth

Sara Etgen-Baker

Sep 15

Intangible Ingredients

Sara Etgen-Baker After Granny died, Mother requested only one item from her mother’s possessions. “All I really want,” Mother told my uncle, “are her old recipe cards and antique file box.” Mother’s request puzzled me, for I knew Mother didn’t need the recipe cards and file box for any practical reason. She’d known for decades how to make Granny’s pumpernickel bread, sauerkraut, and her breakfast specialty—streusel kuchen. But when the file box arrived a few days later, Mothe

Sara Etgen-Baker

Sep 13

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Poetry

Rotary Dial

by Sajidah AlSaihati There's a child on the swing-set. The woman considers strangling it. Like a dastardly thing it fidgets, rocking the swing. Its small hands just barely hold the chains, a grip so frail a tap would cause a fall. Legs dangling off the edge of her seat, the girl's eyes remain glued to the soil. The woman tugs her by the hair and throws her off without a word. The girl only grins, like a star exploding in black radiance. The heavens found her worthy of t

Sajidah AlSaihati

3 days ago

Three Poems by John Grey

by John Grey This Solitary Autumn Temperatures drop. Wind changes direction. Autumn descends like a velvet shroud. From your cabin window, you’re witness to the death in the air. You dread the drop of the unclaimed fruit. Their soft impacts echo like muted knocks upon a crypt door. They don’t just fall. They’re forsaken. You fear the foliage turn, as the air takes up a brush dipped in blood and fading light, paints the dying in red and yellow and gold. But there’s n

John Grey

4 days ago

Hardcore Soup

by Inna Ayrapetova Biting nails and skin on fingers, Almost getting to the bone. Saber-toothed, my tiger lingers - There's anxiety on the throne. Blood is broth. My inner wild beast Devours hangnails - gore beneath. This red soup splash is the brightest Liquid in my knify teeth.

Inna Aryapetova

5 days ago

2 3 4 5

Art & Photography

Submission Guidelines

We do not publish homophobic, transphobic, racist, or misogynist works of any kind.
If the piece you wish to submit has italics or an image attached, please email us your submission at ultramarineliteraryreview@gmail.com rather than using the submission form.
Art and photography must be uploaded to an email and must NOT be shared as a Google Drive document.
Prose must be less than 3,000 words.
Poetry must be less than 3 pages, single-spaced.
We do not accept AI work or AI-assisted work.
We respond to submissions within the span of two weeks.

Submissions

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Terms and Agreements

By clicking on the SUBMIT button, you are agreeing to the following terms:

a) The submission is an original work that has not been previously published.

b) You have obtained permissions by the third party involved if the submitted work contains intellectual property not attributed to your authorship.

c) By submitting, you guarantee you hold the rights to the work, and you grant Ultramarine Literary Review the rights to publish the submitted work. After publication, rights revert to the author.

d) Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but the author must let us know if their work has been accepted elsewhere prior to publication.

e) Submitted articles, reviews, poetry and short prose fiction may potentially be translated by translation students of the Universidad de Atacama and published on our site.

Ultramarine Lit Review

All Posts

Community Unrest

Articles

The Morning It Started

Dreaming of Kalbarri

Between Two Skies: An Egyptian Heart in Albany

Reviews

Hedgehog Book Review

To The East of the East Book Review

Dead Teenagers Review

Short Stories

Back in the Day

Ticket to Ride

Intangible Ingredients

Poetry

Rotary Dial

Three Poems by John Grey

Hardcore Soup

Art & Photography

Submission Guidelines

Submissions

Terms and Agreements