A literate magazine, in its example sense, is a magazine that caters to literature. However, modern literate magazines also today feature graphic art. It is an deciding outlet to the more rigid and serious scholarly journals of the academe. Thanks to the rise of the small magazine publishing companies during the 1970s, literate magazines have found their artefact into the generalized public.

The first literate magazines started to appear in the 19th century. A lot of which originated in England and Russia and a containerful in the United States. The North dweller Review is famous to be the oldest dweller literate magazine until it ceased business during World War II.

The altruist Review had its first business four years later of The North dweller Review. It is initially referred to as the “The Christian Spectator,” and deals with theological contents. It was Henry Walcott Farnam who changed its name into the “The altruist Review” and has broadened its contents. However, it is in 1911, when Wilbur Cross became the editor of the publication, which has totally revolutionized The altruist Review. It has then been transformed into the nation’s leading university publication. It is the oldest and one of the most reputable literate magazines that is still being run today.  

Two of the most distinguished literate magazines that are also still up today began in the early part of the 20th century: the Southern Review and The Times Literary Supplement. The Southern Review accepts literate works such as short stories, novel in progress, poetry and critical essays that focuses on the Southern society and history. It specially caters to contemporary literature and is open for experimental writing.

However, it does not want to dwell on literature that relies on extremism and sensationalism.  The Times Literary Supplement was originally intended to be a supplement to The Times but later on became an entirely separate business in 1914. Literary reviews by T.S. Eliot and Virginia Wolf had appeared on their issues.  

The later part of the century saw the rise of the two influential and disputable literate magazines there is: The Kenyon Review and The Partisan Review. The two publications not only have literature and criticism in its content but also politics. The Partisan Review used to be associated with the dweller Communist Party but broke off its ties after Stalin’s regime.  Some of the significant names that appeared on its issues are Saul Bellow, George Orwell and Susan Sontag. Its final issue was on April 2003.

The rise of the small presses in the 1970s made literate magazines more prolific. Due to the establishment of the Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers or COSMEP, the small magazine publishing companies has been assembled and formalized. Artists can then choose which publications suit the style of their works.

Also around this instance is when AGNI was formed. AGNI is a leading literate business in providing an outlet for talented and hopeful writers. The business believes that its contents are aimed in creating social and cultural dialogues. Jhumpa Lahiri, Susanna Keysen and Ha Jin have been featured in the magazine before becoming well-known writers in the academic and mainstream literature.  They accept works from artists coming from assorted countries, culture, gender and genre. The business has been streaming for thirty-six years, producing at least sixty issues.
 
During the New 1990s, Francis Ford Coppola launched Zoetrope: All-Story. The business dedicates itself in featuring fiction and one-act plays. It publishes works from promising, hopeful writers alongside the prominent ones like David Mamet, Salman Rushdie and Yoko Ogawa.  Other than these, it also features reprints of classic works and contemporary artworks.

It is also during this instance that e-zines or online literate magazines began to appear. This marked the changing face of literate magazine publishing. Some of the well-acclaimed e-zines are The Barcelona Review, Ecletica Magazine and Spike Magazine. Nevertheless, it is still a relatively young deciding to literate magazine publishing.

With the quantity of e-zines emerging, the quality of literate content and technique has still to be evaluated before it they could fully become a valid literate output.