Join the Revolution.
Our Mission
At HerStry we believe in the power of stories. True stories and stories that reflect the lived experience. We believe in the power of narrative to reveal truths about ourselves and our world. Since 2015 we’ve collected hundreds of stories from cis women, trans women, queer women and nonbinary writers around the world. Stories of love, loss, parenthood, friendship, bodies, sex, and so much more. We are a home for the hard things. The stories you feel can’t be told. The things that are too raw and rough for the other literary magazines. Bring us your broken and hard edges, this is where you belong.
We aim to center the experiences of underrepresented voices. We’re looking for work from bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, non-binary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two-spirit. If you are a cis man, we kindly ask that you refrain from submitting. Cis men have many places in this world where their stories are represented. At HerStry we give voice to those who have been overlooked or silenced for too long.
Our Story
HerStry became a literary magazine by accident. At least, that’s what our founder, Julia Nusbaum, will tell you if you ask.
Here’s the story: in 2014, while finishing her Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University Divinity School Julia spent a year working for the social enterprise Thistle Farms, a recovery community in Nashville, Tennessee for women who have survived trafficking and life on the streets. While there, she started a writing class. Working with the women of Thistle Farms Julia saw the deep need for storytelling. No matter the prompt she gave—fiction, nonfiction, poetry—the lived experiences of the women always came through. Julia became interested in the way our narratives shape our lives and change how we see the world and perceive ourselves. When we tell our stories—claim our voices—we become stronger, more confident, and more empathetic.
Today, HerStry collects and centers the stories of women and nonbinary folks by accepting nonfiction, fiction, and poetry to our quarterly magazine. In 2019 we also started the writing community The Babes Who Write, which again works with women and nonbinary writers to help them succeed in the publishing world. We offer critique groups, educational workshops, beta and sensitivity readers as well as editing services. HerStry believes in the power of storytelling. We also believe that good writing cannot happen alone. We need community. So we’ve created the kind of supportive community we wanted to see. If you feel like your voice is getting lost in the crowd, we invite you to come join us.
Meet The HerStry Team
Julia Nusbaum
Founder/Editor-in-Chief
Julia is the founder and Editor in Chief of HerStry. She is a native of rural Northern Illinois where she grew up on a farm. She earned her bachelor's degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, her Master’s of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and her MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago. Her Work appears in The Wisconsin Review, Mutha Magazine, The Feminine Collective, and elsewhere. She currently lives with her partner and son in Milwaukee, WI. To read her writing check out julianusbaum.com.
Kris Busch
Staff Editor
Kris Busch (she/her) is a lesbian non-fiction writer and editor from the Twin Cities. She has work published or forthcoming in the Rumpus, Anime Herald, and more. Follow her on Instagram @itskriskringle.
Selena Raygoza
Staff Editor
Volunteer Reader Coordinator
Selena is a graduate from the University of California-Riverside with a BA in Creative Writing and a focus on Nonfiction. She began her journey as an editor with Mosaic, UCR’s Literary Journal. She has found her inspiration as a writer from her mother’s life stories and her own experiences as a daughter. When she’s not writing nonfiction pieces she loves to experiment with poetry.
Gretchen Corsillo
Director of Operations
Gretchen is a native of the greater NYC area. She received her BA in Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Political Science from Ramapo College and holds a Master's in Library & Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. By day, she works as the director of a public library and also owns a small tarot business. An avid writer, she is working on a novel and enjoys dabbling in personal essays and poetry too. Follow her on Instagram @gretchencorsillowrites.
Sarah Messina
Social Media Coordinator
Sarah Messina is a creative designer and artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She finds joy in uplifting those around her, and she is continuously inspired by other artists and their stories. In 2019, Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction. Being so young, Sarah knew she wanted to help others who were going through the same and similar experiences with breast cancer, so she created The Creative Self Project, which is a creative outlet for young previvors, thrivers, survivors, and metavivors. In pursuing a Master of Arts in American Studies at Stockton University, she has been able to focus her research on the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and art history.
Briana Gwin
Critique Group Instructor
Briana Gwin embraces multitudes as a neurodiverse, Afro-Latina hybrid creative and multicultural Citizen. She received a BA in Literature and Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, and an MFA in Fiction and Nonfiction from The New School. She is the current senior editor of prose at The Seventh Wave magazine, and the former editor & storyteller of Milkweed Editions. Her words have appeared in Midnight & Indigo, The Seventh Wave, Guernica, and elsewhere. She currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her three hairless cats and more books and houseplants than she can count.
Khushi Bajaj
Chrysanthemum Crenshaw Cohen
Michael Delsin
Virginia Laurie
Jennifer Martin
Sarah R. New
Ada Onobu
Leigha Rossi
Katie Shepard
CJ Scruton
Critique Group Instructor
CJ Scruton is a trans writer and musician from Tennessee who currently splits their time between Milwaukee and Brooklyn. They received a Ph.D. in ghost stories and folklore from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and currently teach poetry and nonfiction workshops alongside horror fiction, dystopian sci-fi, and research writing. Their poetry-performance collection, Suite for Hallucinated Voices, is forthcoming from Half Mystic Press in 2026.
