Lit Mag Reading Club Chat: Conjunctions, Issue 79

Q & A with Clare Shearer, Managing Editor of Conjunctions

Another editor interview is freshly wrapped!

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Clare Shearer, Managing Editor of Conjunctions. This lit mag out of Bard College “publishes innovative fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by emerging voices and contemporary masters.”

Clare shared insights on how this issue came together, noting that here and with every issue there is a mix of work solicited from writers as well as from the slush pile. It will make many writers here happy to learn that she called the slush pile “a kind of a gold mine.”

The editorial staff of this magazine is tiny. There are about twelve readers and then the two editors, Bradford Morrow, who founded the journal in 1981, and Clare, who joined the staff last year.

For this reason, the submission window is also tiny—just three weeks, twice per year. But, Clare informed us, submissions are open year-round for postal submissions.

In today’s conversation we also heard from Yxta Maya Murray, whose story “Bakersfield” appears in the latest issue. Yxta told us about the genesis of this piece and her ongoing editorial relationship with Morrow that saw the piece through multiple rounds of revision until it came to its final published form.

Indeed, if you think the postal submissions sound old-fashioned, wait until you hear about the long-standing editorial relationships cultivated here. This is a magazine where, much like magazines of yore, the editors seek to maintain relationships with writers and work together editorially, revising work and perfecting it for its pages.

Conjunctions publishes theme issues bi-annually in print and weekly un-themed content online. The next theme issue will be announced in the spring.

To everyone who came out today to join the conversation, thanks for tuning in!

And, thank you to Clare for taking us behind the scenes of another vibrant little magazine.

This video is for members of Lit Mag Reading Club. It’s never too late to join!