Hold Me Closer, Tiny Lit Mag!
Believer Magazine closing, Hawai'i-based lit mags, McSweeney's new audio issue, job openings at Narrative and Los Angeles Review of Books, new contests & calls for submissions and more
Greetings Lit Magicionados,
The Believer Magazine, which was the subject of a scandal earlier this year, has announced its closing. The magazine will print its last issue in spring 2022. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the journal’s host, “called the decision to kill the publication ‘part of a strategic realignment within the college and [Black Mountain Institute] as it emerges from the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.’”
Not everyone accepts this explanation. Writes Nicholas Russell,
While the official record supplied by BMI and UNLV paints a picture of an unfortunate, but ultimately pragmatic decision to ‘focus on its core mission,’ the reality is less noble. Callous mismanagement and a lack of care overshadowed the good work being done at the magazine. Frankly, what BMI hopes to achieve without The Believer as its crowning glory is beyond me. Despite the turmoil, abuse, and rampant neglect they face, its employees turned out one of the most unique and striking magazines around…
Many writers, including myself, would not be where they are without The Believer. It saddens and angers me to write about the magazine in the past tense. Unless there are more labor successes in the publishing industry, where writers and workers committed to putting out good work are protected and fairly compensated, this will keep happening. For now, The Believer’s archives are freely available, with two more issues to come, and the current staff, who have had to put up with media scrutiny and internal strife, deserve better places to work.
New Pop Lit has asked, “WILL there be pushback from UNLV’s faculty and students for the university’s choice to drop the publication (while at the same time spending $43 million per year on its sports teams)? Is this an indication of higher education’s real priorities?”
Meanwhile, other lit mags continue to grow. This week Hawai’i Public Radio highlighted Tinfish, “a tiny press magazine making a name for itself from Hawai’i.” Jaimie Gusman will take over as editor of this journal dedicated to “Experimental Poetry of the Pacific.”
Speaking of Hawai’i, The Masters Review has posted a list of lit mags based there. Say they, “The indigenous islands of Hawai’i are home to diverse cultures, languages, and literary histories. In this leg of our road trip, we’re highlighting literary journals and events that celebrate work from the Pacific region, elevating Native Hawaiian literature and exploring the intersection of art, culture and sovereignty.”
If you’re in the mood for something different, the latest issue of McSweeney’s is an audio issue and “may be the most elaborate yet.” Reports KQED, the most recent issue of the journal features “a box of booklets, a scroll, a keychain, a fictional toy company catalog and other objects that…all have audio components. The issue experiments with ways audio and text work together in storytelling, and it seeks to expand our understanding of what it means to make art accessible to those with impaired hearing, or sight, by expanding content across the senses.”
Meanwhile, if it’s employment you seek, opportunities abound. Narrative Magazine seeks an Executive Director. “The ED position requires a proven record of fundraising and development success, as well as demonstrated creativity, organizational expertise, and entrepreneurial instincts. Leading the founders and the board on all noneditorial efforts, the ED will develop new strategic partnerships, lead all fundraising activities, and direct and execute new program initiatives…”
The Los Angeles Review of Books seeks a Managing Editor. “The Managing Editor is responsible for overseeing the editing, strategy, production, and distribution of the LARB Quarterly Journal; managing the LARB Books backlist; and collaborating with LARB staff, interns, and volunteers on the creation of literary events and community partnerships.”
The Asian American Writers’ Workshop seeks a Senior Editor. “The Senior Editor will report to and work closely with the Managing Editor and in close collaboration with the entire editorial team. Overall, this person will be responsible for ensuring the successful and consistent publication of excellent works in translation, works by translators, and literature by writers outside of the United States, as well as representing the Workshop in the broader field of literary translation.”
Peatsmoke is seeking an Art Editor. “The art editor will be responsible for managing art submissions to the journal, and finding appropriate and evocative pairings for the writing in each issue.”
If it is new markets you seek, then you’re in luck. The ever-helpful Erica Verrillo has posted calls for submissions for November. And in case you didn’t know, Poets and Writers has a database of grants and awards, many with deadlines just around the corner.
Finally, it’s a new month, which means all new lit mag editor interviews, a Submissions Q & A and a Submissions Study Hall coming at you in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned for this month’s schedule so you don’t miss my chats with the good folks behind Philadelphia Stories, Ligeia Magazine, Maudlin House, 100 word story and Fractured Lit!
And that you all-seeing owls of the wild, you chirpy cookoos chiming away with unending cheer, you who glide and you who graze, you in all your great wingspanned glory, you who have no time for the albatross strung round your sturdy speak-ready throat and you who are a stork, bringer of beautiful bundles of bubbly babbling newborn butterflies, you canny cardinals and you clever capacious cormorants, you who do a wacky web-footed waddle and you who soar past the endless salt-soaked sea, you with your frolic, you with your feathers, and you there who are free, ever-floating, forever finding the fabulous fables and funny-ferocious fairytales, you, everywhere, face forward, fearless, fantastic, flying, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a magnificent week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
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