NELLE celebrates and publishes the best, most innovative writing by women. The journal is a UAB publication staffed by faculty and students and funded by the English Department and the College of Arts and Sciences. It was founded by Linda Frost in 2001 under the title poemmemoirstory, and edited by Kerry Madden from 2010-2017. The journal was renamed NELLE for its 2018 issue edited by Lauren Slaughter.
Past contributors include Erica Dawson, Wandajune Bishop-Towle, Bryn Chancellor, Naoko Fujimoto, Dorothy Allison, Carrie Jerrell, Patricia Brieschke, Edwidge Danticat, Jennifer Horne, Leslie Nipkow, Carys Brays, Li Yun Alvarado, Irene Latham, Tara Isom, Christina Nettles, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Molly Peacock, Heather Dundas, Cynthia Ryan, Lucia Perillo, Sonia Sanchez, Diana Wagman, and Natasha Trethewey.