A literary journal is like a special magazine where people who like to write stories, poems, or essays can share their work with others who also enjoy reading and writing. Imagine if you wrote a really cool story or a funny poem, but didn't know where to show it to people. That's where a literary journal comes in!
A literary journal is a place where people who like to write can submit their writing, and the journal will put it all together into a book or electronic document that people can read. When people read the literary journal, they get to see a lot of different kinds of writing from many different writers, so they can find stories, poems, and essays that they really like.
People who run literary journals are called editors. It's their job to choose which pieces of writing they want to include in the journal. They pick writing that is really interesting and well-written, so that when people read the journal, they will enjoy it a lot.
Some literary journals have a theme, like stories about animals or essays about traveling. Other literary journals are open to any kind of writing. If you like to write stories, poems, or essays, you might want to submit your writing to a literary journal so that other people can read it too!