TMR Editors’ Prize
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Current Issue: 35.1 (Spring 2012)
Poem of the Week- David Kirby: “If Any Man Have an Ear, Let Him Listen”
- Larry Levis: “Labyrinth as the Erasure of Cries Heard Once Within It or: (Mr. Bones I Succeeded. . .’ Later)”
- Amy Newman: “The Day After The Dean of Michigan State College Admits Him To Lansing Sparrow Hospital For Rest, A Naked Theodore Roethke Barricades Himself Behind A Hospital Mattress”
Category Archives: Links
Smart Conversations
With the end of the fiscal year looming, I’ve fallen a wee bit behind on the blogging. So, a quick link for you. Tip o’the cap to TMR favorite Cheryl Strayed for this link to Danielle Evans blog, who pushes through the typical complaints about MFA programs and discusses several interesting concepts (particularly the novel in workshops) on her blog.
The Mumbai Attacks
Approximately two years ago, ten gunmen executed a three-day assault in Mumbai, India, attacking hotels, a railway station, a restaurants, and a Jewish center. Today in India, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, a Pakistani citizen aged 22, was found guilty on Monday of many charges, including murder and waging war on India. He was the only gunman taken alive, and most observers considered his sentence – death by hanging – a foregone conclusion. The New York Times article is here.
In our the most recent issue of The Missouri Review, Tom Ireland tries to understand what makes a man like Mohammed Qasab turn to terrorism. Read it here. It’s an engaging piece driven by curiosity to discover more about a region that, as Americans, we rarely experience beyond the thirty-second news clip. Given the recent terrorism attack in Times Square, Tom’se ssay is a good reminder of how complex and dangerous our world can be.
Tiers For Fears
Everybody wants to rule the world (is that song stuck in your head yet? No? Give it time …) and be at the top of any given list: Best Dressed, Best One Hit Wonders, Best Late Night Dining Options, etc. The Missouri Review isn’t the top of this new list, but hey, art is subjective, right? Also, it’s always fascinating to see if your mental list of top “tiers” is in agreement with this writer’s.
Everyone's Gunnin' For That #1 Spot
Who is the “best” is something that all writers think about: where do we want to be published, what magazines do we want to read, where are we going to find the most innovative and engaging work. While one might quibble with the specific order in Michel’s list, my guess is that there would be generally agreement here. Ranking something, say, #24 or #25 doesn’t, in the end, matter all that much anyway, does it?
For much more on the journals, be sure to check out Luna Park and The Review Review, a pair of journals that review literary magazines.
Tip o’the cap to Anne Earney for the Lincoln Michel article.
"The Lost Arts of Writing, Reading, and Drinking"
Tip o’ the cap to TMR favorite (and fellow Buckeye) Kyle Minor for posting about this interesting site from acclaimed writers Bill Roorbach and Dave Gessner. I would tell you what it is, but I’m not entirely sure how to classify it. There are essays, cartoons, podcasts, links, and all kinds of thought-provoking goodness. It’s fascinating and fun, and really, if Kyle Minor digs it, then you’ll dig it, too.
Richard Bausch Comes Correct
Richard Bausch, also, is coming to Columbia. One of TMR’s favorite writers has generously donated his time for The Missouri Review’s annual fundraiser. The event is May 2nd at Murry’s Restaurant and begins at 600 pm. You can purchase tickets or make a donation here. I hope you can make it, drink some wine, eat great food, and listen to one of the great American storyteller’s.
If you can’t attend (What? Why not?), you should definitely read his latest essay in The Atlantic.
"Two Dollars!"
Brevity, the awesome online journal of (very) short non-fiction, has been around for over a decade, publishing, in 750-words or less, wonderful work that has been anthologized in Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, and Utne Reader, among others. Heavy hitters published by Brevity include Sherman Alexie, Terese Svoboda, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Robin Hemley, Lee Martin, Rebecca McClanahan, Robin Behn, Abby Frucht, Bret Lott, Ira Sukrungruang, Rigoberto González, and Diana Hume George. Also:
“The three most recent issues also include work by graduate students, recently graduated students, and those still very much at the beginning of their publishing careers. We have featured at least one undergraduate in our pages (though we didn’t know she was an undergraduate student until well after we accepted her stunning essay), and we read always with an open mind.”
In a blog post this week, Brevity asked readers what they thought about a new policy the magazine is considering: charging a submission fee of two to three dollars.
Originally, I wrote up a lengthy post about Brevity’s decision, but really, everything that crossed my mind was brought up by the comments in the original post. Go back and read them carefully because there are many thoughtful ideas and strong emotional responses that editors and readers alike need to consider. There are comments from Travis Kurowski, Karen Craigo, Chris Offutt, Leslie McGrath, Liz Prato, J.T. Bushnell, Amy Holman, Antonio Vallone, and Mary Tabor.
From Dinty:
“I have logged many personal man hours contacting the schools that have gone overboard with sending unprepared students, and the following semester, even more schools show up doing the same thing. Very disheartening.”
Based on what was written in the comment section, a submission manager system would be a tremendous benefit (Travis Kurowski’s suggestion). Submission managers require registration, and usually ask for basic information such as an email address, mailing address, as well as the option to be added to the mailing list. This is information that a journal can use to not only control submissions (particularly writers that ignore Brevity’s guidelines and send work more than twice a year) but can provided subscription deals, coupons, links, and so forth. Currently, submitters to Brevity fire work off to a Gmail account, and without explaining it here, I bet you can imagine how quickly that can get, um, messy.
Anyway, to me, the most important and laudatory aspect of all this is that Brevity asked its audience for their opinion first. Whatever decision the editors make—and to be clear, a decision has not yet been made—Brevity first went to the most important people: its reading audience and its submitters. Those two camps (which are not mutually exclusive) are the reason Brevity exists. And asking for their opinion first is a strong indicator of a magazine that gets it.
Oh, and if you read the comments, and actually, even if you didn’t, you should enjoy this and this.
Michael Nye is the managing editor of The Missouri Review.