I’m a proud contributor to an anthology releasing this week from the University of Chicago Press, The Little Magazine in Contemporary America, edited by Ian Morris and Joanne Diaz.
The collection features 23 prominent editors whose magazines have flourished over the past 35 years. You’ll find insights into how their publications sometimes succeeded, sometimes reluctantly folded, but mostly how they evolved and persevered. Other topics discussed include the role of little magazines in promoting the work and concerns of minority and women writers, the place of universities in supporting and shaping little magazines, and the online and offline future of these publications.
My essay, perhaps unsurprisingly, speculates on what’s ahead for little magazine publishing. It’s titled “The Future of the Gatekeepers.” (Read advance reviews of the entire book here.) Other contributors include:
- Andrei Codrescu, Exquisite Corpse
- Dave Eggers, McSweeney’s
- Keith Gessen, n+1
- Lee Gutkind, Creative Nonfiction
- Amy Hoffman, Women’s Review of Books
- Don Share, Poetry
- Betsy Sussler, BOMB
- and other excellent authors and editors
I’ll be discussing this topic at a panel this week at the annual AWP Conference in Minneapolis, on Friday, April 10, at 10:30 a.m. Official description:
The Little Magazine in America: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (Jeffrey Lependorf, Don Share, Ian Morris, Jane Friedman). A diversity of literary magazine experts discuss and debate the sometimes secret history and roles of “the little magazine” in America. Where do literary magazines seem to be headed now? What other routes might they take?
You can catch me on another panel related to literary journals on Saturday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m.:
Literary Publishing in the 21st Century (Travis Kurowski, Daniel Slager, Jane Friedman, Emily Smith, Gerald Howard). In 1980, Bill Henderson assembled The Art of Literary Publishing, an anthology that defined the challenges publishers would face for the next thirty years. In recognition of the seismic change in the industry over the past decade, Literary Publishing in the 21st Century brings together a diverse group of publishing professionals to explore challenges the next thirty years may hold. This panel assembles four contributors to the anthology to explain how publishing will thrive in the 21st century.
If you’re also headed to AWP this year, I’ve curated a list of sessions focused on the business side of writing and publishing.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
