Stack Magazines

John Power Jr was working as a music PR and writer when the pandemic hit and his work suddenly dried up. Faced with the prospect of nothing to do for months on end, he began thinking about making a little zine about the tabletop games he loves playing. But, he says, "I got carried away, as you do, and suddenly it was a 112-page magazine." In this conversation he shares what he has learned from running Wyrd Science magazine, and explains why now is the time to take the next step up.

Nancy Heley is the editor and creative director of Sandweegies magazine, and she has a passionate love for print, and food, and her adopted home of Glasgow. In this episode she explains how one transcendent chicken sandwich led to a magazine idea, and how it's fast growing beyond its original remit.

Austė Skrupskytė Cullbrand is creative director and editor of Playground magazine, the independent publication that fills its pages with stories about creativity and the creative industries. Based between Lithuania and Sweden, the magazine has always had a Nordic / Baltic character, but it's evolving fast, and leaning further into its regional identity as a way to stand out on international newsstands. In this conversation, Austė shares her thoughts on the magazine's progress so far, and the creative community they are building.

Andy Crysell is editor of No Way Back, an archive publishing project that looks back at music and subcultures of the late 20th century, republishing stories from the music press to show how people experienced key turning points in the moment. It would be easy for No Way Back to slide into fond nostalgia, but instead of distant wistfulness, the magazine's main currency is the immediacy of its writing. Dipping into a story from The Face in 1986, or Rolling Stone in 1979, the reader is carried along on the energy and excitement of the moment, rather than ruminating on what it all means decades later. In this episode, Andy speaks about the ideas behind the project, and his ideas of where it will go next.

Editorial directors Kathryn Tann and Robert Harries share their thoughts on the first year of running Folding Rock, the literary magazine that publishes "new writing from Wales and beyond".

Chris Hassell and Josh Jones created Ralph magazine to swim against the digital tide. In this conversation they explain how they were inspired by the chaotic fun of pop culture magazines from the 90s, and why they decided to make a magazine that's guided by creativity and joy.

The latest issue of Debris opens its editorial on an uncompromisingly negative note: "It's the time of no. No war, no genocide, no corporatism, no big business, no oligarchies, no neo-feudalism, no rapacious plunder of land, no capitulation, no phone, no imperialism, no capital, no future." Editors Cher Tan and Jon Tjhia, and founder Julia Flaster speak about their aims with the magazine, and how saying no, "could possibly mean yes to something else".

Hear our independent magazine show, recorded live at St Bride Foundation on Thursday 5 February, and featuring stories from The Fence, Die Quieter Please, Dispatch and Piscine

Hillary Brenhouse is editor-in-chief and publisher of Elastic magazine, and Meara Sharma is senior editor, and in this conversation they describe their new approach to psychedelic art and writing. Playing with time and space, and dissolving the conventional lines between genres, they have produced a magazine of, "the ordinary, only slightly, weirdly, off".

Tom Parr is editor of Carrier, the magazine that tells, "the human stories behind the cargo bike". All the magazines we work with on Stack are niche to some extent, but Carrier digs in deeper than most, representing the cargo bike community to the wider world, and presenting them as altruistic innovators who are working to bring about positive change.

Chris Harrigan is editor of The Story, a publication that launched in 2025 as a literary magazine with a difference. As its name suggests, it’s fascinated by stories and storytelling, and in its pages writers and artists explore the meaning of what they do. They ask why we need to tell stories, how they manifest in such different ways, and why writing can be so bloody difficult sometimes. In this conversation, Chris speaks about the ideas and ideals that motivated him and his colleagues to launch the magazine in print.

New Papers is the literary magazine that's meant to be performed as well as read. Each issue launches with a recital, in which the entire magazine is read in order on stage at the Rose Lipman Hall in Hackney. In this episode, editor Colton Karpman and art director Dilara Koz speak about the ideas behind their publishing and performance project.

Laura Frade is managing editor of Apartamento, one of the world's best known and most beloved independent magazines. As the publication turns 18 years old, I spoke to her about the secrets of its enduring success.

Hear from all the independent magazines we delivered from July to December this year, featuring Hotshoe, Troublemakers, Not Here to Make Friends, Cake Zine, Off Licence and Beneficial Shock!

Rob Orchard is co-editor of Delayed Gratification, the magazine that launched 15 years ago with the bright idea of using the slowness of print as an advantage. Rather than racing to be first with the news, they dedicate each issue to a three-month period and reflect on events after the dust has settled. In this conversation he reflects on what he and the team have learned from publishing 60 issues of the magazine, including the constant battle with deadlines; the changing demands of social media; and the advantages of advertising on the Underground.

As we come to the end of the year, we're looking back at all the independent magazines we delivered to our subscribers in 2025. This first part covers our deliveries from January to June, and it features the people who make Broadcast from Brooklyn, Solomiya from Kyiv, Skin Deep from London, New York Review of Architecture from New York (of course), Playground from Vilnius and Stockholm, and No One from Amsterdam.

Charles Emmerson is the editor of Translator, the magazine that searches for great stories from beyond the Anglosphere, and translates them into English. In this conversation he speaks about the art of translation, the important decisions that have to be made along the way, and how his magazine is helping English speakers to better understand the world.

Sophie Barshall is editor of The Toe Rag, the free arts magazine distributed at independent and not-for-profit venues across London and beyond. In this conversation she speaks about the importance of arts coverage, the dire state of arts funding in the UK, and why The Toe Rag is not a passion project.

Melissa Goldstein and Natalia Rachlin are the founders and editors of Mother Tongue magazine, which presents a distinctly grown-up picture of motherhood. Disillusioned by the type of media that was presented to them as mothers, they began, "to poke holes in all the things that exist or have existed historically in this space. Why do they look a certain way and speak a certain way that just doesn't connect to us personally? And surely we can't be the only ones." In this episode they speak about the process of defining a new picture of motherhood, and building a sustainable business out of that initial disillusionment.

Mark Blacklock and Roderick Stanley are the editors of Offal, a self-proclaimed "haggis of literary culture", created from odd and experimental bits of text that don't quite fit anywhere else. It's a brilliantly anarchic print magazine and digital audio title, and in this conversation they speak about their interest in AI tools, explaining how they push them to glitch and break, sifting through the artistic and aesthetic potential of what remains.