Varnish is a literary journal dedicated to exhibiting the timeless beauty of written art.

Our aim is to publish evocative work with lasting relevance, with the writer’s vision enriched and preserved beyond the moment in which it is published. We encourage writers to find joy in language and be inventive with form.

Proudly independent, Varnish is motivated by a desire to see a broadening space for fiction-driven literature; more literary journals means greater opportunities for writers to be published and for readers to experience a greater diversity of voices.

Varnish is based on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin and we pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.