All Lit Mags Had To Do Was Stay!
Aliases of a serial plagiarist; closing of two lit mags; Poetry Foundation fellows; Ireland's flourishing lit scene; red flag lit mag; workshops & classes; and more
Welcome to our bi-weekly news roundup!
Greetings Lit Magstellations,
It’s been a while since we’ve had updates on the lit mag world’s serial plagiarist John Kucera. Turns out he’s been busy. I received word that Kucera has been submitting under another alias, Patrick Whitney. When I looked into this more, I discovered yet an additional alias: Eric Whitney.
This is in addition to previous aliases R.J. Franz, Brian Bianchi/Bianci and John Siepkes.
Editors, stay vigilant. Writers, take note. There is a mystery novel here screaming to be written!
In other news, the closing of another lit mag came to my attention last week. Idle Ink, a mag for “genre fiction too weird to be published anywhere else,” announced on X:
And EcoTheo Collective, a venue which “celebrates wonder, enlivens conversations, and inspires commitments to ecology, spirituality, and art” and which publishes EcoTheo Magazine, has paused operations. In April they announced a hiatus “to reflect on the consequences of this tragedy, and to discern both what the future of the organization looks like.”
The “tragedy” in question is the arrest of Reverend Jason Meyers, an Episcopalian minister in Texas and the former Executive Director of EcoTheo Collective. Meyers was arrested for the alleged online solicitation of a minor.
Board members wrote,
Jason has been removed from all roles with EcoTheo Review and EcoTheo Collective, effective immediately. The magazine, and as such, the essence of the organization, existed before Jason’s leadership, and the Collective now operates as a 501c3 non-profit governed by a Board of Directors.
As an organization, EcoTheo Collective envisions a world in which caring for the places we inhabit, the people we encounter, and the lives we lead makes for lasting beauty in art, nature, and community. As the board of EcoTheo, we are shocked and deeply troubled by the news regarding Jason Myers. Accordingly, the board of EcoTheo Collective is announcing that EcoTheo Review and the Collective itself are taking an intentional pause to enter a period of contemplation and action.
In brighter news, The Guardian has posted a lovely article about the flourishing literary scene in Ireland. (“Key factors include an arts council that cares about literature and a culture of intergenerational benevolence.”) Crucial in that scene is treasured lit mag Stinging Fly, the first outlet to publish author Sally Rooney, among others.
Open submissions are a crucial part of what the magazine does. [Publisher Declan] Meade says he has no desire for it to become a closed shop, even if international interest has spiked [recently]. He estimates that about 30% of the magazine’s 2,700-odd subscribers now come from outside Ireland. “It’s important to us that Irish writers are getting the chance to be published at home.”
The Poetry Foundation has announced the 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows.
Since 1989, the Poetry Foundation has awarded fellowships to outstanding young poets in recognition of their current and potential future contributions to the field. The $27,000 prize makes the fellowships among the largest awards available to young poets in the United States. Each fellow receives a subscription and an invitation to publish in Poetry magazine.
And an interesting new lit mag has opened. I don’t highlight all the new journals, as so many are popping up all the time. However, since I hear from so many of you on the subject of age and questions of ageism in the literary world, I thought this was worth mentioning. “ is an intimate space for readers and writers at midlife to come together and feel less alone.” They are “now accepting personal essay submissions…about love, loss, and friendship at midlife.” (I know, I know, “midlife” is hardly old. What even is “old”? No matter, we will take what we can get!)
Also, if you are a Substack writer and you write about midlife, they have begun a directory, so be sure to submit your ‘Stack if you’d like to be listed.
Now, some of you may recall that back in May I wrote about a lit mag called The Letter Review. I had misgivings. Here is what I wrote:
Well, it seems that not all of you ARE LISTENING TO ME, even as I try desperately to save you time, money and heartache (not to mention your souls!!).
Several people informed me last week that they entered contests here. And guess what happened. They did not win. Or, maybe they did. They don’t know because the editors did not inform them of results. What the editors did do was send an email to entrants, inviting them to view the list of winners. Only, when they clicked on the link to view the list, they encountered this:
That’s right. If you want to know whether or not you won this contest, or to find out who did win, you must subscribe to the magazine.
Now will you listen to me as I try to guide you, my dear ones, on the right path? This journal has some serious:
A handful of lit mags are offering classes this coming fall.
Narratively “offer[s] classes, seminars and writing critiques taught by Narratively’s editors, contributors and storytelling heroes.”
ONE ART has upcoming workshops.
River Heron Review has a mix of classes and workshops.
Rattle Poetry offers a free workshop every Friday.
And moi! I’ll once again be teaching with Write or Die this fall. The class is called “Writing Great Content for Your Substack or Other Online Spaces.” If you are thinking of starting a Substack but you’re worried about keeping up momentum, or if you want to learn how to write sizzling saucy sellable articles, I’ll cover it all.
Finally, typically this is the section of the newsletter where I share the latest Buellers. That is, those magazines that appear to be operational but may in fact have gone quietly defunct.
However, I haven’t heard of any Buellers recently. Could it be? Have we covered them all? Is the world truly Buellerless?
It appears so, for now. Happy Buellerlessness to one and all.
Of course, if you encounter a lit mag that may be worth a mention among Buellers, you can let me know anytime.
As for us, whew, lots to look forward to next month!
I’ll be posting the September line-up of info sessions and interviews soon, so be sure to be on the lookout for that.
In the meantime, I’m happy to announce that our Lit Mag Reading Club selection for September is Terrain.org. “With a focus on place, climate, and justice, Terrain.org is an independent magazine of literature, artwork, commentary, and design founded in 1997.” We will be speaking with Editor-in-Chief Simmons Buntin at the end of the month.
This magazine is all online and free to access. They publish on a rolling basis. I’ve highlighted the specific works we will read for September here. Those of you in the Club can go on and get started anytime!
I am still putting together the final roster for our 2024-2025 Reading Club. Friends, it’s going to be awesome. You can learn more about the Reading Club and see the partial list of participants here:
Another Year of Reading Lit Mags! 2024-2025
It’s time to kick off this year’s Lit Mag Reading Club!
And that you lifelong learners embracing the back-to-school bonanza, you last-minute crammers for all those lesson plans still in need of preparing, you who are thrilled by your brand new Trapper Keeper (ah, remember those?), and you who keep trapping the waning days of summer in your wide open palms, you careening into the classroom, you craving a good curl back under the covers, you with education on your mind and knowledge in your…well, somewhere, you charging back into the fray, you feeling the fray of all of summer’s seams, so sweetly stitched, you on the lookout for new adventures afoot, you footing the bill for, sigh, textbooks and markers and glue sticks and clothes and all the whatever else, you with your autumnal resolutions, you with your eager embrace of change, you ready and roaring, you, everywhere, in your zone, your flow state, your zen, your juju, your wildcat wilderness of wondrous walkings through the waking unwalled wheels of windy water, weather changes notwithstanding, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most wondrous week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
And now a word from our lovely Lit Mag News sponsors!
Meg Pokrass, Founding and Managing Editor of Best Microfiction teaches ongoing microfiction classes with an emphasis in the tiniest stories. Meg has Writing Workshop Substack Newsletter for upcoming classes with special features such as “Quiet Masters of Flash”. Additionally, she creates a quirky and popular prompt newsletter, Pokrass Prompts, recommended by Etgar Keret, with writing prompts, free 12-word story contests and occasional guest writers such as Etgar Keret, Aimee Bender, and Amber Sparks.
This "John Kucera" person's story might be a novel waiting to be written. However, I have a feeling that he's just an a**hole who is trying to prove that literature is not all that, or something along those lines. And morons like that don't make good protagonists. On the other hand, perhaps our actual protagonist is a woman who looks a lot like Becky Tuch who goes nuts trying to track down the plagiarist only to find out that he's... (I'm not giving away the ending!) Of course, the novel's title is The Plagiarist.
Oh PS, Rattle Poetry is amazing! I love my Daily Rattle every day! And their classes on YouTube are wonderful. A master class every week, which I only manage to catch occasionally but always say, Damn, wish I attended more often. You can listen back to them, anytime. My dream is to get into RATTLE!