Writers: If you are looking for that push to get you to write more, Volta might be just the motivation you seek, especially if you are in search of something out of the ordinary. “We gravitate towards literature that reimagines ordinary experiences and is so beautifully reckless in its pursuit that it becomes irresistible,” claims Editor-in-chief Charlotte Ungar. “Like authenticity, people instinctually search for meaning, but I think it would be fair to say that, at Volta, we stray away from overly logical craft. What is exciting, in a myriad of competent voices? For us it’s the literature that embraces balancing cruelty and truth, a sort of brave bending of what is familiar, to know how much to reveal to reveal more of yourself, and that’s what I know to be style. If we have an aesthetic, it’s highly idiosyncratic.”
Fittingly, then, the word ‘volta’ comes from the Italian meaning “turn,” such as a dramatic shift in tone, argument, or focus or a change in perspective, a resolution, or a thematic pivot, adding complexity (Academy of American Poets). Volta most certainly offers this change and added complexity to the literary community, publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translations, and visual art twice annually, open access online.
From a Place of Appreciation
When asked about the motivation for starting a literary publication, Ungar shared, “As someone who has a deep appreciation not only for literature but for the literary magazine community, I felt I could recognize, in this moment, an opportunity to implement my own aesthetic while also creating a new space to cherish the beauty of visual art, how art itself can mesh alongside literature in current and interesting ways.
“My first love was photography, and the first piece of technology I ever understood how to use was a tiny pink camera. A decade later, noticing how everyone walks around with their own camera, so bombarded with images, I couldn’t help but feel this sense that we are now all consuming the world at rapid speed but not dignifying those moments.
“As I became more immersed in literary magazines, I began to feel like the literary magazine was the golden answer to that phenomenon, that we search for authenticity so desperately in our culture yet do not know how to properly process it or give it a platform. A lot of magazines I was reading were pushing art to the back seat or not considering visual art at all. This didn’t make much sense to me because most people that I know, young people really, for better or for worse, are much more inclined to look at an image before reading an essay.
“Last summer, when [Co-editor-in-chief] Maisie and I began the project that would become Volta, we talked a lot about how the image itself has already solidified its place, irrevocably, in nearly all facets of the media we consume, an expectation, really. In that spirit, it made a lot of sense for us to begin as an online magazine, and I am so thankful to be understanding how to always improve the digital presentation of what is most important to me. Surprising, though it really shouldn’t be, is how effectively you can refine your vision just by working on it. Since launching, we’ve really been able to arrive at an aesthetic more than we anticipated.”
Experienced Masthead
Unger herself is recently graduated from the University of Connecticut, where she studied English and creative writing, and served as the Poetry Editor and Translations Editor for the Long River Review. Her poetry was awarded the 2024–2025 Wallace Stevens Poetry Prize and she represented the university on the Connecticut Poetry Circuit. She also has interned for World Poetry Books, Trio House Press, and Autumn House Press, and she currently reads for Trio House Press. Her most recent work appears in The Jewish Literary Journal, Barnstorm, The Penn Review, and elsewhere.
Joining her is Co-editor-in-chief Maisie Bilston, a Senior at Yale University, where she studies English with a Creative Writing concentration. She has interned at American Short Fiction, Zyzzyva, and Curtis Brown Ltd. and serves as a reader for The Yale Review; she is also the Managing Literary Editor at the Yale Literary Magazine. Her poetry has won several prizes, most recently the Yale University Academy of American Poets prize and the Albert Stanburrough Cook Prize for undergraduate poetry, and she was the university representative on the 2025 Connecticut Poetry Circuit.
Seeing Writers to Fruition
For writers hesitant about submitting to literary magazines, Unger can identify. “That’s exactly what I thought for many years, and I know, especially how my writer friends felt all the time. There is a level of fear in sending out your creative work to the world, but that fear confirms a truth that you could actually see your work to fruition. It was only after working in publishing that I realized how accessible and gratifying the experience of being a part of a literary magazine is — both as a contributor and an editor. Sometimes things don’t go your way, but everyone who wants to and tries persistently will eventually get there in the way that was meant for them.”
Writers looking to submit to Volta can expect their work to be screened by several readers. Due to the high volume of submissions, Volta cannot provide feedback at this time.
New & Established Voices for Readers
Volta readers can expect to find writers from all stages of their careers in Volta where, for many authors, this is their first publication, but there is also space for more widely published artists and authors. The inaugural issue features poetry by Oliver Preston, Liliana Greyf, Olga Vilkotskaya, Will Cordeiro, Lucy Ton That, Sheila E. Murphy, Eesha Rao, Netanel Schwartz, and Marie Ungar; fiction by T.S. Bender, Eleanor Polak, and Rose Gowen; nonfiction by Douglas A. Martin and Miranda Argyros. Translations in this issue include Tacitus’ Annals translated by Eli Mandel, and Wang Jiaxin’s “A Poem Written on the Last Day of August” translated by John Balcom. The cover art is Figurine, and oil on canvas by Iris Yu (2025).
Into the future, the goal of Volta is to publish both online and print versions of the magazine, which is already in the works with hopes the print version will be coming soon. Volta is also looking to introduce both literary and art contests.
