A quarterly print magazine of art, writing, and ideas — woven from many threads.
krama /krɑːˈmɑː/ n.
the checked cotton cloth of Cambodia — worn by farmers and kings alike. Humble and durable, single thread made whole.
Our cover, each issue, is the cloth itself; the issue takes its colour from it.
Krama is a print quarterly published from Phnom Penh. We will publish art, essays, fiction, photography, and reportage — work that does not sit still inside a single border or discipline.
We take our name from the cloth that is everywhere here and belongs to everyone, proof that the ordinary and the extraordinary are woven on the same loom.
We are based in Cambodia, but we are not only about Cambodia. We are interested in the region and what passes through it, in writers and artists working far from the usual capitals, in the conversations that happen between languages rather than inside one. A magazine is itself a krama: separate threads pulled into something you can use, and keep.
We will publish in English, edited from the ground, without the distance of the foreign desk. The cover is always the cloth — a different krama, photographed close, every season — and each issue takes its colour from it.
We will be printing our Issue Zero: a prototype that shows what Krama will be before its first true issue exists. It will be a dummy — the design, the paper, the weight in the hand are real; the words are placeholders waiting for the writers and artists we will be reading. We will make it so that partners, sponsors, and contributors could see the magazine, not just hear about it. Ask us for a copy.
Each cover is a different hand-loomed krama, photographed close — and the issue takes its colour from it. But the cloth is more than a cover. In every edition we follow that exact krama back to where it began: the province it came from, the loom it was woven on, the dyes, and the hands that made it. A standing feature, in every issue, printed for every reader. International readers can have the cloth itself sent along.
Wherever you are, the magazine carries the full story of the issue's krama — where it came from and who wove it — in print.
An international add-on: each issue arrives with the very cloth from its cover, woven by the makers in the feature. The cover, in your hands.
We are building the first issue now and reading for it. We have no theme to hand you and no house style to imitate. We want the piece you have been told is too strange, too regional, too long, too quiet — the one the bigger magazines kept asking you to explain.
We are looking for:
We believe in valuing creative labor. Krama is proud to offer a modest honorarium for all accepted works, to support our community's practicing artists and writers.
An independent literary print journal cannot survive on passion alone.
To keep Krama accessible to local students, writers, and creators, we rely on the visionary support of our community partners. We invite progressive brands, local businesses, hotels, and cultural institutions to help us champion the contemporary arts in Cambodia.
We do not run loud, intrusive advertisements that disrupt the reader's immersion. Instead, we offer curated, minimalist Sponsorship Spreads at the back of each issue — aligning your brand with considered design, intellectual curiosity, and local cultural preservation.
Your sponsorship directly funds our contributor payout pool, ensuring that local Cambodian writers and artists are paid for their intellectual property.
For sponsorship tiers and media kits, contact our publishing team at partners@kramamag.com.
Partner with usSubscriptions open with the first true issue. Leave your details and we will reach out before it prints — founding subscribers receive Issue One first, ahead of the shops. International readers can add each issue's cover krama, woven by the makers in that issue's feature.
This krama edition ships four hand-loomed kramas a year