Pool Party | A Reading Series & Literary Journal

Pool Party is an independent online journal, reading series, and book publisher founded by Ryan-Ashley Anderson and Kevin Maloney—writers and artists who look for well-crafted literary and critical writing that that questions reality, evokes nostalgia, explores the uncanny, and interrogates the human condition.

Newly Published

Cotton Candy

by Miklós Vámos
January 20, 2026 | Fiction

At first glance, “Cotton Candy,” with its uncomplicated writing style, might seem like a simple little story. But as we read

Three Poems

by Adam Deutsch
January 8, 2026 | Poems

The sun has an extra weight, a hammer that falls like hurricane when we make the sky quake at least once per year. But now

Top 15 Books of 2025

by Ryan-Ashley (Anderson) Maloney
December 18, 2025 | Features

We read a ton of great books this year and wanted to share some of our favorites, so we decided to be like everybody else and put together a 2025 “best of” list. Why invent the wheel? Our editors...

The Hideaway

by Sarp Sozdinler
December 6, 2025 | Fiction

When my parents got divorced, my dad moved into a house three blocks away and left the shed in our backyard to rot. The kind of shed with cheap plywood walls, a warped door, and...

Everything’s Okay, Nothing’s Bad Here: Patrick Wensink in Conversation with Kevin Maloney and Ryan-Ashley Anderson Maloney

by Kevin & Ryan-Ashley Maloney
November 21, 2025 | The Deep End

Unlike the dinosaurs, whose extinction was the result of a single cataclysmic event, humans are courting...

I May Leave

by Alicia Gee
November 13, 2025 | Essays

Mum says that Don’s womanizing killed him, along with the smoking and the drinking. Fucking is good cardio, I tell her. I have a soft spot for infidelity. Dad tells the story of a family Christmas Eve party he attended when he was a child. My grandfather Don...

News

New poetry editor, EOY party, February reading, and…read more

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Notes

12.15.2025

by Ryan-Ashley (Anderson) Maloney
December 15, 2025 | Notes

We've begun reviewing manuscripts and curating our 2026 print anthology …

12.10.2025

by Ryan-Ashley (Anderson) Maloney
December 10, 2025 | Notes

People are reading more than ever—words, not books—text messages,…

Upcoming

Book Publishing
Announcements
Jan. 1: publicizing manuscript
submission decisions. Learn
more about Books here

February Reading
Tues., Feb. 10, 6-7pm
@Grand Gesture Books
Get all the details here

Anthology Publication
We’re thrilled to announce that Vera Blossom, author of How to Fuck Like a Girl, is writing the intro. to our first anthology, out this spring! Stay tuned for details.

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