Proud Lit Mags Keep on Burnin'!

Veteran editors with new ventures; writers demand editor resignation; closures of Broken Pencil, Ligeia, Passengers; gratitude as a way through grief; nonfiction craft tips; 200 + markets; and more

Welcome to our bi-weekly news roundup!

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Greetings Lit Maglidays,

Several interviews with editors crossed my path today. These editors are not only veterans in the lit mag landscape but have been busy lately with new projects.

Many of you may have heard of Ted Genoways. He was the longtime editor of Virginia Quarterly Review and the editor behind that magazine’s shift toward reportage and stunning visuals. Says Genoways in a recent interview for his university, “The goal was to break down artificial walls between genres. Poets and fiction writers were encouraged to engage with world events. Journalists were encouraged to use the tools of literature to tell better stories.”

Recently, Genoways has created “a new magazine in the mold of VQR.” Switchyard, launched in 2023, is “a magazine, podcast, and multimedia production house with big public events.” As of now they do not appear open for unsolicited submissions, but I’ve reached out for more info about this.

At the Nieman Storyboard, Kim Cross talks to Lee Gutkind about his role in establishing Creative Nonfiction as a respected literary genre. (Gutkind is often called “The godfather of Creative Nonfiction.”) “The genre,” writes Cross, has “evolved from a concept that irritated both journalists and English majors into a genre worthy of its own MFA programs.”

Gutkind founded Creative Nonfiction Magazine, which ran for thirty years before ceasing publication in 2022. More recently he has partnered with Narratively, “a platform that champions diverse, indie journalists and storytellers and celebrates humanity through the most authentic, unexpected and extraordinary true narratives.” Narratively is “always on the lookout for fresh, diverse voices.”

And a reader has alerted me to a new project based in Canada, The Literary Magazines Canada Collective. “LMCC is a collective organization run by magazine editors and staff. We work to highlight the vital role of literary magazines—or litmags—in the publishing landscape.” In 2025 they will publish a survey of the State of Lit Mags in Canada.

Finally, I was delighted to see news that Blueline, “a literary magazine in residence at SUNY Potsdam, is celebrating 45 years of publishing exceptional writing and art, with a commemorative issue and special events this year.”

After decades of continuous publication, Blueline remains one of America's longest running nature magazines…The magazine features both new and established writers and artists in every issue. While always focused on the Adirondacks, Blueline has also included fine writing about places as far afield as Washington State and as close to home as the Hudson Valley.

Blueline will always have a special place in my heart as the first magazine to ever publish one of my short stories. The acceptance letter came by mail and yes, I have it framed.

Several magazines have announced their closing.

In the midst of heated controversy, Hal Niedzviecki has announced that Broken Pencil will close:

It is with profound sadness that I announce the closure of Broken Pencil Magazine, an independent publication I co-founded 30 years ago to celebrate and support zine culture and independent media.

…Unfortunately, the values of the zine and small press community have shifted. In recent years, the relentless pursuit of ideological purity and identity politics has overshadowed the core mission of Broken Pencil. Recent events, including online harassment over my personal beliefs, a petition demanding that I resign from the publication I founded, that the magazine formally support the Boycott Divest And Sanction Israel movement and devote an entire issue to the conflict in Gaza, and the withdrawal of authors and sponsors from our Canzine festivals in Ottawa and Toronto, are emblematic of a broader issue. This cultural environment has become incompatible with the values of free speech, independent thought, and meaningful dialogue.

The closure comes on the heels of an open letter entitled Broken Pencil Magazine: Hal Niedzviecki has got to go!. The letter, signed by “zinesters, writers, artists, former staff members, and zine lovers,” states,

Broken Pencil’s co-founder and publisher, Hal Niedzviecki has taken to X…to deny the livestreamed genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Hal has used X to conflate anti-zionism with anti-semitism, to mock protesters at the University of Toronto People’s Circle for Palestine, and to deny the use of starvation by Israel against the people of Gaza as a weapon of war.

…While BP does not have any known financial ties to Israel, we cannot in good conscience continue to support Broken Pencil Magazine with Hal Niedzviecki as publisher.

Covering the story for The National Post, Christopher Dummitt writes,

Never mind that Niedzviecki hadn’t published any of his political views in the magazine — only on his personal Twitter account. And despite the fact that Broken Pencil was still a home to the many diverse voices and views that the activists claimed to support, it wasn’t enough. They didn’t want him to shut down the magazine. They wanted him to hand it over.

Pidgeonholes’ Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Todhunter posted on X that she is no longer able to run the journal and is seeking someone to take it over.

Ligeia Magazine announced that it will be “returning to the tomb for a permanent vacation.”

And Passengers Journal, which announced its closing in May, has published its final issue. On X they wrote:

For those of you seeking a few more sources of kindness in your life, Andrea Firth has written for the Brevity blog about a practice of connecting with other writers during a time of grief. In A Few Kind Words, Firth writes,

I often share the published work of friends, students, and writers I know via emails, Instagram posts and my newsletter. But what if I set about it more broadly and with more intention…Not daily but with a routine. I read a lot of essays written by people who I don’t personally know. I like their work. I learn from their work. I might use their work in a class, or for a prompt, or to inspire my own writing—but how often do I say thanks?

So now I keep a list of the essays I read that move me in some way and have a plan to follow up with a brief email to the writer. Three sentences: what, what more, and thanks.

And speaking of Creative Nonfiction and said godfather thereof, Submitit Founder Erik Harper Klass has written a helpful blog post about the genre, drawing many examples from one of Gutkind’s books. In Thoughts on Creative Nonfiction Klass writes,

As with great literary fiction, the sound of the creative nonfictionist’s prose is not just important; it is, at least in my opinion, most important. I don’t care if you’re talking about politics in America or the end of a love affair or the shape and texture of a pebble in your flower garden: the quality of your prose is what will determine the success or failure of your piece. Most writers have good ideas. Few writers put them down on the page in a way that makes us want to read about them.

For those of you seeking work in the fast-paced, splashy and buzz-tastic land of lit mags:

Ploughshares seeks an Editor-in-Chief.

For those of you looking for homes for your latest & greatest (note: this list will now only be compiled in the first newsletter of each month):

The Book Chikka (Jessica Kusisto) publishes a new list of open lit mags each week.

The Practicing Writer 2.0: A Newsletter from Erika Dreifus

has posted 50+ fee-free, paying/funded opportunities.

Erica Verrillo has posted 80 Calls for Submissions in December 2024 - Paying markets and 49 Writing Contests in December 2024 - No entry fees.

Authors Publish has 37 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for December 2024 and 10 Magazines Accepting Books for Review.

Sub Club

has 46 Recently Opened Submission Calls, Upcoming Deadlines, Contests, Theme Calls & More.

And

Submission Sunday

posts “eight submission opportunities every other Sunday” as well as “interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general…”

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As for us, lots happening this month, and it all starts this week! Be sure to save the dates and register for these fun sessions and interviews:

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Finally, remember the Buellers? It’s been awhile, I know.

As a refresher, this is a portion of the newsletter I dedicate to magazines whose whereabouts are unknown. Their website might be up, they might even be open for submissions. But their social media is inactive, their publishing schedule is behind, the editors seem to have gone quiet, leaving us all to wonder…

This week a writer wrote to me about New York Quarterly. “The press is still active, but the journal last published in February. They accepted two of my poems in August of 2023, but they never published them. I wrote to them in September 2024, enquiring about it nicely. No answer. I have sent another email yesterday to Raymond Hammond through his personal website, but so far nothing.”

I found that Duotrope has marked this magazine as Does Not Qualify for their listings.

If you have further information about this journal, do let us know!

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And that you makers of dreams and manifesters of all the magic your mental maps can manage to muster, you channel changers dialing in to the frequency most aligned with all you envision for your own brightly charged and electromagnetic future, which is already here, by the way, that distant light you crave already grasped within your fingers, that faraway destination already arrived at, imagine that, you, yes, you, creator of territories unchartered and determiners of outcomes different than what you ever even thought you knew, you, everywhere, emboldening your soul, fishing within the reflective vision of so much lake water, so much iridescent ice, you with palms containing all of every life’s lines stretching, worlds unfolding and remaking, in every blinked eye’s lifespan, you, so very golden, you so very sparkling, you here, ready, always, radiant, in all ways, with your swoops and sweeps and whoop-de-doo’s so shiny and sweet and oh so unexpected, is the news in literary magazines.

Have a most exquisite week, pals.

Fondly,

Becky

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