Mission

Drunken Boat is an international journal of literature and the arts. We provide a platform for works of art that challenge conventions of form and format, of voice and genre.

Drunken Boat is committed to actively seeking out and promoting the work of marginalized and underrepresented artists, including especially people of color, women, queer, differently abled, and gender nonconforming artists. We recognize that, as Kazim Ali wrote brilliantly to Aimee Nezhukumatathil: “The notion of an unbiased concept “literary merit” is an inherently and inescapably racist principle. An institution that relies on it is by definition a white supremacist institution.” Drunken Boat recognizes that aesthetics are not neutral, and that difference tends to be marginalized.

Drunken Boat is committed to encouraging experimentation in the arts.

Drunken Boat believes in the importance of compensating artists for their work, and we are working toward financial sustainability, which will allow us to compensate our contributors and our editorial staff for their work.

History

Drunken Boat is one of the world's oldest electronic journals of the arts. Founded in 1999 Drunken Boat has been publishing continuously with a focus on especially innovative and experimental literature and arts. Drunken Boat is run by an entirely volunteer staff, dedicated to literature and art and the internet (well, more like literature and the art on the internet, but we’re fans of the medium, too). Drunken Boat has been awarded a SxSW award, and according to The Review Review:  “Drunken Boat is, or should be, central to any discussion of literature online or online literature ... Drunken Boat is a ... beautifully presented, carefully maintained space.”