[1] According to Shenandoah's mission statement, the magazine aims to showcase diverse voices because "reading through the perspective of another person, persona, or character is one of the ways we practice empathy, expand our understanding of the world, and experience new levels of awareness.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, W&L faculty member James Boatwright expanded the journal and published occasional theme issues, including a 35th anniversary anthology.

Shenandoah is funded and supported by Washington and Lee University through the Office of the Dean of the College and is located in Mattingly House on W&L's campus.

Recent contributors include Wendell Berry, Joyce Carol Oates, Jacob M. Appel, Speer Morgan, Lee Smith, Claudia Emerson, May-lee Chai, and Rita Dove.

This list complements a long history of literary luminaries who have been published in Shenandoah such as W. H. Auden, James Merrill, J. R. R. Tolkien, T. S. Eliot, Ray Bradbury, and Flannery O'Connor.