"A Great Feast for Writers." A Chat with Megan Sexton, Editor of Five Points
"What is that shaft of light coming in through the work?"
Ahoy, me again, with one more editor interview, newly in the books!
At the end of last month, I had the pleasure of chatting with Megan Marie Sexton, Editor of Five Points.
Since the publication of its inaugural issue in 1996, Five Points has become one of this country’s best literary magazines. Published three times a year by the Georgia State University Department of English, each issue features poetry, fiction, essays, and interviews with the most compelling writers working today…
Five Points is ranked in the top ten magazines in the nation by Every Writer’s Resource. Works first published in Five Points have been selected to appear in Best American Short Stories, Best American Poetry, O’Henry Prize Stories, Pushcart Best of the Small Presses, New Stories from the South, Utne Reader, Harper’s, and Poetry Daily.
As this interview was part of our Lit Mag Reading Club, we talked to Megan about the journal’s history as well as the specific decisions that went into volume 23. Megan has been with the magazine from its inception, first as a graduate student as part of the university’s program and now as Editor overseeing her own team of grad-student editors and readers.
Work published in this magazine is a mix of writing that Megan solicits from writers she admires, pieces sent from literary agents and past contributors, as well as work that comes in through general submissions. With this in mind, I asked Megan whether unknown writers have a genuine chance of getting published here. She assured me that yes, they do! Several works in the current issue came through this channel, so while this magazine is highly competitive, it’s always worth trying.
So what type of work tends to make the cut? Across issues, commonalities that Megan cited are “commitment to craft” and “to language” as well as “originality.” However, the magazine has published a range of styles over the years and Megan doesn’t see Five Points as belonging to any stylistic camp—“not extremely experimental by any means, not extremely formal by any means. I think that you might find anything.” She hopes for all readers to be surprised and delighted.
For writers who are considering sending work here, what is one thing they can do to make their work stand out? Megan emphasized her love of “imaginative work.” She encouraged writers to pay attention to their “use of figurative language in a story, your ability to conjure space and time.”
For poetry, of course: “strong metaphors, metaphors that are not typical.” She wants to feel that spark of imagination after finishing a piece, to ask herself, “How am I seeing the world in a totally different way?…What is that shaft of light coming in through the work?”
Five Points publishes fiction, poetry, flash fiction, literary non-fiction, and translations in these genres. They have two reading periods and are open now, until April 1st.
To everyone who came out to participate, thank you for tuning in! Your faces are the lingering fireworks in my new year!
And, of course, thank you to Megan for taking us behind the scenes of another splendid little lit mag.
This video is part of our Lit Mag Reading Club, and is for paying subscribers only. You can join the club by becoming a paying subscriber any time. Signing up will also get you access to info sessions, lit mag discounts, and more. Your support is appreciated!