Pink Pony Lit Mags!

Renaissance in African Publishing; 100 years of VQR; Joyland books; return of Literary Mama & Fantasy Magazine; december magazine on hiatus; Arkansas International hiatus; and more

Welcome to our bi-weekly news roundup!

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Greetings Lit Magstrologers,

Lots of changes are upon us in the lit mag landscape. First, the good:

According to The New York Times, In African Publishing, ‘There Is a Renaissance Going On.’ Reporting from Kenya, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa, Abdi Latif Dahir writes,

For decades, there was one path to becoming a successful African writer: Getting a book deal in the publishing meccas of New York, London or Paris. But a radical shift is underway, transforming the region’s literary landscape from within and opening up possibilities unimaginable to previous generations of writers.

It all started more than two decades ago, when the Kwani? literary magazine in Kenya began publishing and connecting African writers…

Now, a robust publishing ecosystem has grown in the region: African writers and their agents are signing deals with African publishing houses. Those publishers are trading book rights and collaborating on everything from translation to the design of book covers. And those books are finding readers through new bookstores, literary magazines and literary festivals that are fostering transnational reading communities and launching regional best sellers.

Here in the U.S., this spring marks 100 years in print for Virginia Quarterly Review. Their centennial issue will debut some new designs and the magazine is set to launch archival newsletters that will run each week. You can learn more in this Cavalier Daily interview in which “Director Allison Wright and Senior Editorial Intern Michael Newell-Dimoff… reflect on the magazine’s last hundred years…”

Joyland Magazine has launched Joyland Editions, an independent nonprofit press. From their site: “We publish two novellas per year, and aim to promote memorable and unclassifiable works of fiction that challenge the conventions of traditional publishing.”

Literary Mama is back! Writes Editor-in-Chief Amanda Fields in a candid and personal letter,

Why did Literary Mama go on hiatus? A difficult question. For a while, we tried to expand our purpose: becoming a nonprofit, bringing on more staff, changing our processes, fundraising, and celebrating our 20 years of publication. But there were tensions. Money created tension—unsurprisingly. The rush of anxiety created tension. The needs of the magazine to grow, develop, speak up and out to our zeitgeist: this created tension…

…During our hiatus, I’ve been so heartened by the way that our community of volunteers has rallied around the vision of Literary Mama. We are here because mamas need not just time and space, but also support.

…May we do the hard, often uncomfortable work we need to do. And may you, our readers, enjoy this latest issue. It is both a return, and a gesture of love.

For those of you who write fantasy & sci-fi, Fantasy Magazine is also back! Sean Markey, Publisher of Psychopomp, posted this heartfelt statement:

Psychopomp is relaunching Fantasy Magazine!!

I wanted to write a whole fancy thing about this, but I’m just too excited, so I’ll stick to the straightforward story:

I was super bummed to hear Fantasy was closing. I know many people reading this were as well.

I immediately reached out to John Joseph Adams (publisher of Fantasy at the time it closed) to see if it was a possible to pick up Fantasy Magazine where they left off in October 2023.

…Consequently, Arley Sorg (co-editor of Fantasy Magazine from 2020 to 2023) reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in creating a magazine with him, as he enjoyed his role at Fantasy.

Me? Sure! I said. I love publishing things!

Lastly in the realm of good news, CLMP (The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses) “has announced it will award $285,000 in grants to 35 literary publishers formerly distributed by Small Press Distribution (SPD), the country’s only nonprofit distributor that had been in operation for 55 years before its abrupt closure in March 2024.” Grant recipients include several presses that publish lit mags such as Conduit Books & Ephemera and Hanging Loose Press.

Moving into less happy news, two magazines have announced hiatuses.

Last week, december sent an announcement to readers and posted a statement on their site.

After careful consideration, we are announcing that Vol. 36.1 — our spring issue and the 24th since our revival — will be the last under our current structure and leadership. We will not accept new submissions or sell subscriptions for the time being, as we determine whether a different model or structure might be available.

We hope it won’t take another 32 years for some idealistic visionary to come along and breathe new life into december once again. In the meantime, we are deeply grateful for the support of the countless contributors, staff members, donors, and community partners who have done so much to make december the exemplary magazine it is. We are eternally grateful.

I’m especially curious about this line: “We hope it won’t take another 32 years for some idealistic visionary to come along and breathe new life into december once again.” Does this mean they are actively seeking someone to take the helm of this magazine? Are they open to applicants? Or just hoping “some idealistic visionary” will come along? I would love to know, as I’m sure many in the literary community would be eager to step in and try to help find solutions.

Speaking of eagerness to find solutions, Arkansas International put out this statement today:

Due to some significant structural changes within our organization, the Arkansas International will be going on a brief hiatus until May 12th, 2025.

As a literary magazine, our mission has always been to bring domestic and international literary voices together. Since our founding in 2016, we have been fortunate to receive the support of the University of Arkansas’ English Department and the Program of Creative Writing and Translation to pursue that mission…

However, as of late December, the University informed us it is unwilling to sustain our partnership moving forward. While this news is undeniably a setback, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our mission….This hiatus is an opportunity—a moment to regroup, to reimagine, and to ensure that when we return in May, we do so with renewed strength and focus.

Someone familiar with the situation has informed me that the magazine staff is quite distraught and the university has not been particularly welcome to discussion about how to keep the magazine alive. If the journal folds it will be a huge blow not only to the landscape of literary magazines but to the student-editors in the University of Arkansas’ MFA program and its English department overall.

In the realm of literary analysis and advice-giving, I found this piece by Liza Libes

Pens and Poison

interesting. In The Eternal Now: How Present Tense Fiction Is Eroding Literary Depth, Ibes writes,

I could write you an entire dissertation on why this overall standardization of literary fiction terrifies me—and how the homogenization of writing through the MFA degree killed authorial voice and uniqueness. But I’d like to focus today on the last of these items—what, in my eyes, is the most egregious of these literary fiction sins: the collective conversion of all literary writing to the present tense.

…By encouraging novelists to operate in the present tense, the MFA professor pumps out factory-made books that are pre-screened for agents and publishers, driving book sales by enticing a reader to stay for just another moment…In creating a world where literature is simply about “reeling you in,” we are destroying the deeply intimate purpose of literature: reflection on the human condition.

At

Open Secrets

the editors offer advice on How to Get Your Personal Essay Published in Open Secrets Magazine:

My next writing tip is: Be unique! I sometimes receive multiple essays on a given subject that, when read back to back, tend to blend together in my mind, even if they’re well written. I can’t speak for other editors, but I can say I’m looking for memorable, emotionally resonant essays, the kind that make readers think and feel, that make them feel less alone, that make them return to that essay or cite it when talking to friends.

If you are excited by the return of Fantasy magazine, Angelique Fawns has interviewed the publisher at

Writing & Selling Stories with Angelique Fawns

and includes some advice from Editor Arley Song:

Read through our submissions guidelines first. Beyond that, don't overthink what we want (especially as part of the writing process: write stories for yourself, not for markets). If you feel that the piece can somehow be described as "Fantasy" - which is a term encompassing a huge range of things - and if you feel it's great/strong, then send it our way. If we don't take it, send the next one. Keep sending; and even if we never take one, it doesn't matter - what matters is that you keep writing, that you keep sending your work out to lots of places, and that you keep finding new and better ways to say the things you want to say.

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As for us, as I mentioned over the weekend, we will be reading Post Road no. 42 for our February Lit Mag Reading Club pick! Editor Christopher Boucher has kindly provided us with a discount code for the issue. You can learn all about our Lit Mag Reading Club and find that discounted-issue link here:

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I will also be speaking with the Editors of Hunger Mountain this Thursday. You can learn about that and register right here:

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Oh, and I will be on the receiving end of an interview tomorrow at 1:00 pm est. If you’re not yet tired of hearing me talk and talk and talk about lit mags, come join us! This one is free and hosted by Allison Williams & Sharla Yates, who are both lovely and delightful. You can get the registration link here.

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The February line-up of Lit Mag News interviews and info sessions will be hitting your inbox soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

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And that you gossip hounds and hungry-hearted story chasers, you on the scent of some hot spilled tea and you with your sharp ears piqued for all those secret slippery signs and signals, you on the breadcrumb trail, you with the puzzle pieces falling into place, you of sleepless nights where only the sandman can wrap those unraveled yarns back into line, should they need re-raveling, which, come to think of it, maybe they do not, you dialing in for the 411, you in search of the skinny, you with palms open wide to gather each and every sweet saucy scoop in hopes they’ll land like rain, you with nothing but a hunch, a lead, a gut instinct, a string to pull, but pull you shall, you of unrelenting curiosity, you of insatiable hunger, you who only you know, and you who trust that even in darkness the path will lead to all things bright, magical and illuminated, until you are you in stillness, you in wonder, you and you, everywhere, in precisely passion-born and patience-tested therefore pure, profound and all-perfect knowledge, (perhaps?), is the news in literary magazines.

Have a bold and fearless week, pals.

Fondly,

Becky

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