Founded in 1995, Thin Air Magazine is a non-profit, graduate-student-run, literary magazine published by Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) English Department. Located at 7,000 feet, at the base of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, Arizona, Thin Air is the highest-elevation literary journal in the country. The print issue is published annually in the spring, while content appears year-round at Thin Air Online.  

Our goal is to build and maintain a Flagstaff-based literary community that reaches across the Colorado Plateau and beyond. We are excited to host events that empower emerging writers from the surrounding community, including NAU and Coconino Community College, and simultaneously cultivate fellowship among MFA Programs throughout Arizona.

We have published work by prominent contributors such as Charles Bowden, Ron Carlson, Stephen Dixon, Brian Evenson, Gary Fincke, Dane Hamann, James Harms, Holly Iglesias, Michael Martone, Vivian Shipley, and Laura Tohe. We are also particularly proud to have published work from up-and-coming writers like Caylin Capra-Thomas, David LeGault, Sean Prentiss, Katie Quinnelly, and Savannah Slone.

Thin Air invites all writers, emerging and established alike, to submit to our print and online magazine. We accept fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts.  Our editors are also interested in pieces that defy categorization. Regardless of form, we want material that feels fresh. The pieces we accept tend to surprise us and remind us why we fell in love with reading in the first place.  We continually strive to publish authentic work from a multiplicity of perspectives. 

Twenty-six years after the first issue, we still can’t forget these words from our founders: “All too often, the literary world takes itself too seriously […] Thin Air hopes to change that.”

Thin Air is funded by a combination of subscriptions, donations, grants, and partial university support. Please consider subscribing or donating.