ZYZZYVA 93 / San Francisco, CA
New England Review 32.3 / Middlebury, VT
DIAGRAM 11.4 / Tucson, AZ
Camera Obscura 3 / Addison, TX
Fiddleblack 2 / Peninsula, OH
Barrelhouse 9 / Washington, DC
Antioch Review Fall 2011 / Yellow Springs, OH
Birkensnake 4 / Providence, RI
Gigantic Sequins 2.2 / Philadelphia, PA
Paris Review 199 / Manhattan, NY
Bateau 4.2 / Northhampton, MA
6x6 24 / Brooklyn, NY
Excerpts and complete works from new and old issues of literary magazines.
Maybe it’s just me, but I find the editor commentaries on the sides of these Recommended Reading offerings nearly as interesting as the stories themselves. Here’s a bit from Benjamin Moser’s introduction for an excerpt from Clarice Lispector’s “Near to the Wild Heart”: “The whole book,” critics wrote, “is a miracle of balance, perfectly engineered,”
In my essay in the new issue of Creative Nonfiction I try to figure out what the difference is between publishing online and offline, and also just what my own hang-ups about such things are. (I also get into the origins of the Internet, my computer-savant brother, and some other things.) Here’s the start: 1997—a
In the third installment of Electric Literature’s new literary offering Recommended Reading is Marie-Helene Bertino’s stunning story “North of” about bringing Bob Dylan home for Thanksgiving. (Yep.) Of course, it’s about other things, too. Siblings, for instance. War. Family. Cities. The story was chosen by American short story superpower Jim Shepard, who writes of Bertino’s
In the winter issue of New England Review (32.4), Jonathan Levy makes a compelling argument in “Education and the Human Voice” for bringing the Platonic dialogue back to the schoolhouse. Here’s the beginning: When I was fourteen I fell in love with Plato. I thought at the time it was because I loved philosophy. In
Below is the opening of Tania James‘s new story “The Scriptological Review” in the latest issue of A Public Space. Not many stories center around editors of small magazines, maybe none do so this endearingly. (Just typing the beginning out now, here, I see how much the story rewards rereading.) James’s story collection Aerogrammes, in
It was OK to start with literature and art. As long as you said what you meant, and what you really thought on reflection (subject to later correction), then if you spoke honestly about anything you would be striking a blow. The magazine started with just $8,000, which four of us had pooled, plus $2,000
In the latest issue—May/Summer 2012—of AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program director Robin Hemley makes a case for the gift economy of literary magazines in his essay “Writing for Free.” Of course this is an easy position for Hemley to take, as he recieves a regular salary from the university, and Hemley himself
The following is the introduction to Mississippi Review volume 39, numbers 1-3, an issue reprinting highlights from Frederick Barthelme’s three decades as editor of the magazine. Introduction: Thirty Years Before the Mast Thirty-three and a half, to be exact. That’s how long Frederick Barthleme worked as editor of Mississippi Review, an odd little bi-annual literary magazine
I worked at Mississippi Review for a year and a half in graduate school. Fiction writer Frederick Barthelme—Rick—was the editor of MR, and he was also my graduate school director down there in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I am fairly certain the only reason Rick finally let me work on the magazine was because I pestered him
Some editors and writers view the literary magazine world a necessary one for the ends of aestheticism and intellectual conversation: for, simply put, a piece of writing to live, and to be read. Yet those who hope for monetary payment are not automatically writing for that sole purpose; often times they are part of the
