Where is the next generation of writers and critics coming from? There's a wealth of literary magazines out there but do they give new writers space?

Not Granta, for sure. The literary magazine that was started as a Cambridge student magazine and was transformed into a literary power in the late 1970s is celebrating its hundredth edition with a contributors' list that reads like an A-list awards ceremony: a short story from Martin Amis, a Harold Pinter poem, Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes. Not forgetting the Nobel laureate Doris Lessing.

Then there is the poet and Oxford don Craig Raine's Areté, a heavyweight journal with even more heavyweight ideas. It may exhibit an irreverence towards the literati, but most of the contributors come from the Establishment they presume to attack.

But newer magazines are emerging. The Drawbridge, a broadsheet launched in 2006, is now on its seventh issue. With 18,000 readers, it is more visible than Areté. Much of the content is interesting. Yet with the yellow-tinted broadsheet pages

(designed to become a collector's item, apparently) abstract themes (Issue 2: The Impossible City, Issue 7: Risk) and even more abstract headlines (“The Hazards of Preventing the Infinite Unknown”) it can be off-putting even for aficionados.

The Drawbridge does publish new writers, but when established ones knock at your door, it is hard to resist. Big-name contributors include Terry Eagleton, D.B.C. Pierre, Christopher Ondaatje and Noam Chomsky.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of an outlet for new writers. William Boyd, guest editor of Granta 100, recalls first being published in the London Magazine: “It was a ‘hello, I'm here' shout,” he says.

A shortage of outlets for short stories is also crowding out newcomers. Take Notes from the Underground. Edited by two recent Oxford graduates and designed for the commuter freesheet market, it publishes stories, poems and columns. But the headline story in the pilot edition was by Boyd - “significantly better than the one he wrote for The Spectator” in the editor's opinion - and the next issue boasts Frederick Forsyth.

Although agents are keen to use magazines to pick up new writers, publishers have an agenda too - promoting their books. Notes from the Underground has an agreement with Virgin Books for crime-fiction extracts, and Litro, another freesheet, is giving one of its eight pages to a publisher each fortnight, charging them for printing excerpts from new books.

With this and the need for extensive advertising to cover costs, Litro features only one short story per edition - which doesn't leave much space for up-and-coming writers.

Some magazines do give new writers a chance, but they tend to be ones that specialise - such as Poetry London, The Wolf, and Agenda for poetry, and regional titles such as Tripod (East Midlands) and The Reader (Liverpool). Mslexia, for women writers, is possibly best of the bunch. It includes names such as Helen Dunmore and Carol Ann Duffy, but is not overwhelmed. It contains new writing with features, debate and reviews, and has established competitions such as a Women's Poetry Prize.

But the future of literary debate may be online. Short Fiction (short-fiction.co.uk) showcases a huge range of short stories. Anyone can post their work - so there is no guarantee of quality, but it does give young writers the chance to write flawed pieces, receive feedback and improve. No writer can claim never to have published a bad piece in their youth.

According to Boyd, the state of literature in the 20th century can be seen from its little magazines: the healthier the culture, the better the magazines. Britain has a great range of magazines today, reflecting its talented writers.

Magazines, from The Drawbridge to Litro, are all promoting reading and writing. But to ensure the health of literature in the 21st century, there is space for more - and for more dedicated to unknown voices.

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