"Trying to Support as Many Different Kinds of Writers and Writing as I Can."A Chat with Beth Staples & Mubanga Kalimamukwento, Editors of Shenandoah
"If you’re serious about getting into this magazine, you may want to set your alarm clock!"
Hello! I come with news of a brand new interview, freshly wrapped!
Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Beth Staples and Mubanga Kalimamukwento, Shenandoah’s Editor and Editorial Fellow, respectively. From the journal’s site:
Shenandoah was founded in 1950 by a group of Washington and Lee University faculty members and undergraduates, Tom Wolfe among them. For a brief time it was primarily an undergraduate magazine, but under the leadership of student editor Tom Carter, Shenandoah became a quarterly, publishing a cast of international writers including e e cummings, Dylan Thomas, W. H. Auden, James Merrill, Ezra Pound, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor…In 2011, Shenandoah moved online, and is now a web magazine that publishes semiannually. In August 2018, after the retirement of R. T. Smith, Beth Staples took over as editor. Shenandoah is now part of W&L’s English Department and, under Beth’s direction, is supported by a class of undergraduate interns studying editing and publishing.
Today’s interview came at a good time, as the magazine is about to celebrate its 75th anniversary. And yes, you read that right, it was founded by Tom Wolfe (one of my personal favorite writers of all time).
These days, Shenandoah has a unique editorial fellow program, which gives people from all over the world a chance to gain editorial experience, learn the ropes of this magazine and receive a small honorarium. In addition to working with Shenandoah, Mubanga has worked for other journals in both the U.S. and Africa. She recently founded Ubwali, whose “core mission is to publish and promote work by Zambian artists.”
At Shenandoah the editorial fellows read submissions, make selections and work with writers on editing chosen work. For the Fall 2023 issue (which we read last spring in our Lit Mag Reading Club) Mubanga chose work that is a mix of surreal, wry, quirky and heartfelt. Asked about what keeps her inspired in her role as an editor, Mubanga answered that she loves finding work that feels like magic.
Because the editorial fellows change from year to year, the aesthetic of the magazine is more fluid than that of other magazines. They are not looking for exclusively regional or specifically Southern work. Stylistically, Beth said she loves pushing the envelope, publishing work that is different than what they’ve featured in the magazine before. She would also love to see more humor. “I’m never laughing in Submittable. I would love to be laughing.”
All submissions are considered for publication. The editors do not solicit work. That said, this market is highly competitive, with a roughly 1% acceptance rate and an extremely narrow submissions window for fiction. Because of the arrangement they have with Submittable, and also to manage editorial workload, there is typically a cap on submissions; Beth said a submissions cap of 250 will close within a few hours.
If you have a story to send, Shenandoah’s next submission period opens at midnight on September 10th. If you’re serious about getting into this magazine, you may want to set your alarm clock!
Submissions in other genres such as creative nonfiction, poetry and comics are typically more open in terms of timeframe. This fall there will be a call for eco-focused work. Beth shared with us that Nonfiction Editor DW McKinney tends to favor work that is “vulnerable” and focused on “personal experience.”
What are some common reasons for rejection at this magazine? What is the feeling Beth wants to come away with after reading a short story submission? What are her personal pet peeves? And how did we find ourselves talking about wood frogs, stink bugs, kitchens, cars and hunting?
For all that and more, dear ones, you will have to tune in.
This one is part of our Lit Mag Reading Club, and therefore for paying subscribers only. It’s never too late to sign up (and support Lit Mag News in the process).
To everyone who came out today, thank you for participating! Your faces are the radiant glow of my cool early-autumn-feeling afternoon.
And, of course, thank you to Beth and Mubanga for taking us behind the scenes of another lovely little magazine.
Happy viewing!