Don't Ya Love Lit Mags Madly!

Boxcar Poetry Review closing; petition to save Sycamore Review; jobs at Consequence and n+1; dozens of new calls for submissions and contests

Greetings Lit Magistrate,

The new year is upon us full of hopes & dreams & aspirations. Sadly too, some lit mags will be shutting their doors.

At Boxcar Poetry Review, Editor Neil Aitken has announced the magazine’s closing. “Over the 15 years of its existence, we were able to publish 41 issues containing 441 poems by 406 different poets, 68 reviews of first books, 52 interviews and conversations with first book poets, and 82 pieces of art/photography by 32 artists.”

All, however, is not lost. Aitken says, “Although Boxcar Poetry Review is coming to an end, I'm still very interested in being involved with literary publishing. This year I'm launching Boxcar Chapbooks, a chapbook press. My goal is to publish 2-4 chapbooks a year, each with a print run of 150 copies and a digital chapbook option available as well.”

Meanwhile, Purdue University’s Creative Writing Program, which hosts Sycamore Review, continues its struggle for survival. Catstone Books has put out a statement, standing “with the plethora writers, students, academics, and industry professionals in wholeheartedly opposing the punitive defunding of, and unfair restrictions placed on, the English department and graduate programs.”

AWP has also put out a statement: “AWP strongly disagrees with Purdue’s logic that English, the humanities, and the arts are no longer necessary to a good education. We are puzzled, too, that the Purdue administration appears to be ignoring current research about the extraordinary benefits of a creative writing degree.”

Literary magazine The Shore has said, “Creative writing courses teach students how to question and pay close attention to the world around them. The Dean is misguided to believe English and creative writing instruction aren’t essential to students at large…As a fellow literary journal, The Shore stands with Sycamore Review and the Purdue MFA.”

You can express support for Purdue’s Creative Writing program by signing this petition.

If your New Year’s Resolution was to get more involved behind the scenes at lit mags, a new Assistant Fiction Editor position has opened up at Consequence Magazine. “Responsibilities include helping manage fiction submissions in Submittable and developing pieces for online features. The publication’s themes concern the experiences of combatants, victims, and witnesses of war or geopolitical conflict, so they are especially interested in individuals with these experiences in their background.”

n+1 is also seeking a Managing Editor. “We’re looking for a managing editor who is passionate about n+1’s mission, keyed into its sensibility, and invested in building the editorial future of the magazine.”

If this year is the year you hit send and send and send again, then now’s the time to check out the many lit mags that await you.

The Writer has posted Opportunities for writers: January 2022 calls for submissions.

Erica Verrillo has a list of 67 Calls for Submissions in January 2022 - Paying markets.

The Masters Review has January Deadlines: 10 Prizes with Deadlines This Month.

Erika Dreifus’s newsletter features new calls for submissions.

From Erica Verillo we also have 61 Writing Contests in January 2022 - No entry fees.

Entropy, which has recently announced its closing, has posted THE FINAL WHERE TO SUBMIT: DECEMBER, JANUARY, FEBRUARY 2021-22.

Authors Publish has posted 31 Magazines that Publish Literary Fiction and 45 Themed Calls for Submissions for January 2022.

And, at Poets and Writers, Hasanthika Sirisena discusses some of the lit mags that have published her work. Sirisena’s essay collection “is formally playful and draws on letters, lists, poetry, and visual art. In placing their essays, Sirisena, who is also a visual artist, appreciated journals that support multimodal work…”

Now, friends, there is no excuse not to get to submitting your work in the weeks ahead!

Finally, in case you missed it, here is my line-up of editor interviews and other events this month. As always, editor interviews are free and open for all to attend. I hope to see you there!

And that you goal setters and dream makers, you poppers of the champagne cork of your inhibitions and you who shoot off into the night sky like a firework, you working fire, you spark who refuses to go gently into that good night, and you out there, actually, who does go gently, because there is nothing wrong with a good night’s sleep after all, especially when said dreams are involved, you and you, sailing into the new year with a smile, swirling into the new dawn with a song in your stride, zipping open the day, stepping out, a fearless firefly, a forever passion reborn and reborn again, all fresh and ready for every adventure that lays ahead, or, perhaps, just merely just getting through the day, which on some days is a fine thing indeed, is the news in the literary magazines.

Have a wonderful first week of the new year, pals.

Fondly,

Becky

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