Things have very recently changed at Mississippi Review, as they have also changed for its former editor, Frederick Barthelme, who, among other things, is on the board of advisors here at Fictionaut. Though Barthelme made the magazine what it is today (international, awesome) after taking the helm in 1977, the editor is now Julia Johnson. And the masthead of the magazine is, well, gone. No Rie Fortenberry, managing editor for decades. No contributing editors. No student assistant editors. Just Julia, the new editor, alone at the top.

This strange business at Mississippi Review—a magazine described by Ann Beattie, Raymond Carver, Charles Simic, and others as one of the best mags in the country—has been lost in all the hullabaloo going on at The University of Southern Mississippi, host of the magazine. To make a long, and utterly complex story short: Barthelme is leaving The Center for Writers after 33 years. Here’s a bit from a recent news article on the topic:

Ordinarily it should be a time to pop the cork on the champagne. After 33 years of building up a creative writing program from relative obscurity to one ranked in the top 10 percent in the country, award-winning novelist Frederick Barthelme is leaving the University of Southern Mississippi.

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