Clifford Garstang's Blog, page 30

I’ve Got Questions for Gary Eldon Peter

Oranges by Gary Eldon Peter



What’s the title of your book? Fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry? Who is the publisher and what’s the publication date?

Oranges, a collection of short fiction, New Rivers Press, October 2018

In a couple of sentences, what’s the book about?

The book focuses on Michael, a gay man from the Midwest, and really the trajectory of his life from childhood through middle age. He deals with coming out during the AIDS crisis, relationships, aging parents, and what it means to become an adult and to find connection and belonging in the world.

What’s the book’s genre (for fiction and nonfiction) or primary style (for poetry)?

It’s a linked short story collection, so in addition to the focus on the main character, there are other key characters that appear throughout the book. I’d like to think that, even though it’s not “technically” a novel, it sort of reads like one.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about the book so far?

I’ve had some readers take the time to reach out to me through my web site to tell me how much they appreciated the book and that the stories were very meaningful to them in capturing life experiences similar to theirs. To know that you’ve connected with your audience is such a personal way…for a writer, it doesn’t get much better than that.

What book or books is yours comparable to or a cross between? [Is your book like Moby Dick or maybe it’s more like Frankenstein meets Peter Pan?]

Not surprisingly, I’m somewhat of a big fan of the linked story collection genre so I have definitely been influenced by similar books. I love Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, for example, and if my book is one-tenth as successful as a linked collection as her book is, I’d be happy. In other words, saying it’s “comparable” is a bit much for me, but I am comfortable saying that it aspires to be a book like that.

Why this book? Why now?

I think I wanted to tell the story of a life at particular point in time and in history, and I suppose my life in some ways, but trying to write a memoir didn’t seem the way to go, and a novel really didn’t either. So short stories it was, and it was way for me to draw upon my own experiences but also have a lot of freedom to “dramatize” feelings and situations in a way that worked for me…to think of discrete periods of time and experience and what they all add up to.

Other than writing this book, what’s the best job you’ve ever had?

Teaching, by far. It can be exhausting, but after doing other things that didn’t seem to fit (including working in the legal field), I can’t imagine doing anything else. It sounds cliché, I know, but you really do have a chance to make a difference in a person’s life.

What do you want readers to take away from the book?

A sense of history and perspective about what it means to be a GLBT+ person of a certain age in this country…to not forget the struggle to get to where we are today (which, given the current state of our politics, still feels tenuous in a lot of ways).

What food and/or music do you associate with the book?

A lot of the book takes place in the seventies and eighties, which were such formative times for me. While I didn’t include much specifically in the way of music (looking back I wish I had!), I can very much feel those great disco anthems by Donna Summer, the Village People, Madonna, and many, many others when I think about certain stories, and even now when I think about those songs I’m back there in those times in two seconds.

What book(s) are you reading currently?

I’m currently in the throes of wrapping up the fall semester so most of my reading is all about student papers, but once that’s finished I have a huge “to be read” pile to dive into over the semester break. I’m looking forward to Exile Music, a historical novel by Jennifer Steil, a friend and former MFA classmate from Sarah Lawrence, which is set in Vienna and Bolivia during World War II. For non-fiction, it’s Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify, a collection of essays by Carolyn Holbrook, another friend, outstanding writer, and literary icon in the Twin Cities, where I live. I also can’t wait to get my hands on Olive, Again, the sequel to Olive Kitteridge.

Gary Eldon Peter

Learn more about Gary at his website.

Buy Oranges from Small Press Distribution or Bookshop or wherever books are sold.

Cover Reveal . . . soon

My new novel, Oliver’s Travels, will be published on May 18, 2021, by Regal House Publishing. I can’t wait to share the cover with you! The book has been a long time in the making, as I was writing it at the same time as my previous novel, The Shaman of Turtle Valley.

Come back on later this week to see the cover.

In the meantime, here’s what a few fine writers have to say about the book:

In Oliver’s Travels, Clifford Garstang deftly explores the fragility of memory. Ollie, an aspiring writer, must navigate the mundane while, at the same time, imagining a life of fulfillment for his alter ego, Oliver. Garstang displays his gift for contemplation and characterization as Ollie moves undauntedly in search of answers to life’s questions and discovers, in this journey marked with wanderlust, how the past and the present will forever share porous boundaries.
~Jon Pineda, author of Let’s No One Get Hurt 

One man’s search for the truth about himself — a tour of his own head that winds up taking him on a tour of the world. A witty, humane meditation on the slippery slope of childhood memory.
~Jonathan Dee, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, author of The Locals and The Privileges

This is a novel with an edge and a heart, constantly riveting and always smart, not to mention funny!  Its humor, in part, derives from the keen intelligence and the pitch-perfect nature of the sterling prose. A must read. ~Fred Leebron, author of Six Figures and Welcome to Christiania

A twisty metafictional and metaphysical tour of the world – and the author’s mind – that examines not only how humans make stories, but how they make us. Fascinating and endlessly surprising.
~Liam Callanan, author of Paris by the Book and Listen & Other Stories

I’ve Got Questions for Margo Sorenson

Secrets in Translation by Margo Sorenson



What’s the title of your book? Fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry? Who is the publisher and what’s the publication date?

SECRETS IN TRANSLATION (Fitzroy Books, 2018) is a crossover adult/Young Adult novel.

In a couple of sentences, what’s the book about?

In this celebration of Italian life and culture, seventeen-year-old Alessandra returns for the summer to Italy, where she grew up. Pressured by her parents into babysitting a rebellious twelve-year-old—ruining holiday plans with newfound American friends—Alessandra resigns herself to a tedious summer in Positano. Her babysitting gig, however, turns out to be anything but boring! Not only does Alessandra fall for the handsome son of the Bertolucci family, renowned for their limoncello production, but when a body mysteriously turns up on the beach, the influence of organized crime in Positano become frighteningly real. As Alessandra is drawn further into an elaborate conspiracy, she must risk everything to protect herself, her family, and those that she loves, and in the process, she finds herself—and her Italian heart.

What’s the book’s genre (for fiction and nonfiction) or primary style (for poetry)?

Mystery/romance

What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about the book so far?

(Besides the Italian-American Heritage Foundation’s “It would make a great Hallmark movie!” ?) “Utterly charming!” (Allison K. Hill, CEO, American Booksellers Association)

What book or books is yours comparable to or a cross between? [Is your book like Moby Dick or maybe it’s more like Frankenstein meets Peter Pan?]

SECRETS IN TRANSLATION is a cross between MY BRILLIANT FRIEND and ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS.

Why this book? Why now?

Ours is a multicultural world, and young people are often searching for who they really are and trying to understand their cultural identities, so I hope Alessandra’s story will resonate with all sorts of readers who are dealing with the pull of loyalty between two cultures. Also, Italy has a mystery and an allure that many travelers feel deeply when they visit there, (and what better time to take a virtual trip!) and I hope people can experience the marvelous heartbeat of true Italy, beyond the tourist experience. Having spent my early childhood there (yes, I am a Third Culture Kid!) and having many return trips, Italy is truly my heart, and I hope readers will understand the beauty of its culture and the warmth of its people. Readers can take a trip to Italy and they won’t even have to book a flight—and these days, that’s a plus!

Other than writing this book, what’s the best job you’ve ever had?

My best job was coaching a high school speech and debate team; the kids kept me on my toes and kept me laughing.

What do you want readers to take away from the book?

I hope readers will have a deep appreciation of the richness of Italian culture, of the beauty of Italy, of the genuineness of its people, and an understanding of what it’s like to be torn between two cultures, something which, in our multicultural world, can be essential to recognize.

What food and/or music do you associate with the book?

Because Alessandra’s Italian young man is the scion of a limoncello producer’s family, and limoncello figures prominently in the mystery, definitely the golden, lemony, piquant limoncello is the food/drink to remember not to mention the panini of prosciutto, provolone, and mortadella they get from the Delicatessen in Positano…

What book(s) are you reading currently?

I just finished ANNA KARENINA—I’d never read it (total guilt and true confession!)—and I just picked up THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK to read along with IKE AND KAY (I always read two books at the same time).

Margo Sorenson

Learn more about Margo at her website.

Follow her on Twitter.

Buy Secrets in Translation at Bookshop or wherever books are sold.

I’ve Got Questions

I know how difficult it is for authors who are published by small presses to attract the attention of readers, so I thought I could help in a small way by featuring independently published books every week on this blog. So, I’d like to introduce a new feature: I’ve Got Questions.

My idea is to draw attention to books at around the time of their publication, but I’m going to start with a whole lot of books that have been out for a while. And, for the most part, for now, the books I feature will be by people I know or writers whose books are published by the same small presses I’ve worked with. Once the feature gets going, that will likely change. Also, I have a backlog of books to post about, so I’ll do several each week in January, but that, too, will change, probably to one post every Wednesday.

Here’s how it will work: I will send the writer a standard list of questions and then I’ll post the writer’s responses along with a book cover, a headshot, and a website and/or buy-links. Those posts will remain archived under the I’ve Got Questions Category, and I would hope that interested readers will follow up by buying or at least reading the books.

We’ll get the ball rolling on Monday, January 4, so plan to come back to check out this new feature.

Writing Goals for 2021

Happy New Year! What will you accomplish in 2021?

For the past year or so, I’ve put up the same post on my Facebook page every Monday morning: What will you accomplish this week? Some weeks, there are a lot of responses by people who take the goal-setting invitation seriously. I usually also get some attempts at humor—a reasonable mechanism for coping with the bizarre year 2020 turned out to be. Others have told me in other forums that they anticipate the post each week and don’t respond, but that it does cause them to think about goals.

I find goal-setting to be a useful exercise. As noted in my year-end review of my 2020 writing goals, I didn’t achieve everything I hoped to last year. And that’s okay. I’m moving a couple of those goals into 2021 because they’re still important to me. But goals are different from resolutions which I don’t make in quite the same way. Resolutions, it seems to me, are about behavior, and I’ll keep those to myself, to the extent I make them. Goals are about measurable achievements. (I like to-do lists, also, and have a running list on my calendar; it makes me happy to cross things off that list.)

If you want to read more about goal-setting, you might find this article useful. The short version is that your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

So, here are my goals. I’ll let you know I’m doing mid-year.

Finish my new novel. Considering that this has been a goal for two years now, I’m getting close. I would like to be done with a draft in January and then spend the next several months shaping and polishing. If that goes well, I’d like to query agents in late spring or early fall (the summer being a lousy time for querying agents, according to trusted advisors). I believe this is achievable. I’ve shed some non-writing responsibilities recently with a view to narrowing my focus on this project.Write a personal essay.Actually, I’d like to do more than one, but let me start small. I’ve yet to finish an essay, and that’s the first step. If I get one written that I’m happy with, I’ll submit it to a magazine.Write a short story. Or more than one. I love writing stories and I miss the feeling of finishing something and sending it out to magazines. If the opportunity arises to take a break from the novel I’m working on, I’ll work on a story or two. Certainly, if I get to the stage of sending out queries to agents for the novel, I’ll need a new, shorter project.Write poetry. Writing poetry was a new adventure for me in 2020, in part because I was on the faculty of an online arts program that involved writing prompts. Following those prompts, I produced some poems I actually liked and near the end of the year started submitting them to journals. I’ll do more of that in 2021.Write book reviews and interviews. I’ve already got one review “in the can” scheduled to be published, and an interview done also, so in a sense I’ve already achieved this goal. But there will be more, I’m sure.Update the Literary Magazine Rankings. As I do every year, in late fall when the new Pushcart Prize anthology comes out, I’ll update the Literary Magazine Rankings and will post them on my website.

2020: My Writing Year in Review

We all know that 2020 pretty much sucked overall, so good riddance. But it wasn’t a complete waste, at least not in my narrow little world, which is all about writing.

For the past few years, I have posted my writing goals for the year in early January. At the end of the year, then, I have taken a look back at how I did. Considering that no one anticipated that our lives would be disrupted by a pandemic, I think I did pretty well. Because I work at home anyway, my actual writing wasn’t directly impacted because of the situation, so in that I feel very fortunate.

New Book Published. The major event for the year and one of my primary goals was the launch of my new story collection, House of the Ancients and Other Stories, which Press 53 published in May of 2020. (The Kindle version came out in December.) While I’m very happy with the book, the pandemic did limit opportunities to get the word out. I did some readings on Zoom and managed to do a number of other online interviews, and a few reviews of the book appeared, but of course there were no in-person bookstore events. In fact, the pandemic put an end to the promotion I was still doing for my novel, The Shaman of Turtle Valley, which came out in 2019. Although I did a short book tour in North Carolina for that book in February, some events I’d had planned in March were canceled. I’m hopeful that we can all meet in person again in 2021.

Second Novel Readied For Publication. My second writing goal was to finalize the edits for my novel scheduled to be published in the spring of 2021 by Regal House Publishing. The editing process was fairly painless and went smoothly, after which I undertook the more painful task of asking other writers for blurbs. But I took a deep breath and did that and received some very nice comments from several writers I really admire. The publisher arranged for the cover design and after I suggested one slight change, that was also finalized. So, Oliver’s Travels is all set to come out in May 2021. In early January I’ll reveal the cover along with the blurbs.

Write and submit a personal essay. Nope. Didn’t do it. I did read more personal essays in 2020, and I’m currently reading a collection of essays, so I’ll be keeping this on the list of goals for 2021. On the other hand, I wrote a handful of poems that I quite like and toward the end of the year started submitting those to journals. That was somewhat unexpected and unplanned, but I’m pleased with the result.

Write and publish one or more book reviews.I was rather unambitious by specifying just one book review, because in the end I published five book reviews and two interviews, with another interview and a book review finished and scheduled to appear shortly. I think this kind of engagement with literature and the literary community is an important part of being a writer, so I’m pleased with this output.

Update the Literary Magazine Rankings. In early December I received the annual Pushcart Prize anthology and used it to update the literary magazine rankings that appear on my website. It’s time-consuming, but I know a lot of people use the rankings, so I remain committed to providing this service. I used to ask for donations to support the website, but I’ve had problems with the paypal link for donations so now I’m asking people to buy my books if they can. Cash is nice, but I’d rather have my words in the hands of readers.

Apply to Writing Residencies, etc. Nope. That didn’t happen, thanks to the pandemic, because virtually all of the arts colonies shut down in March and are only now beginning to make noises about reopening in 2021. I did two residencies in 2019—four weeks at Ragdale in January and two weeks at VCCA in December—but none in 2020. With pent-up demand, residencies may be very competitive for the next couple of years, but that’s okay. If travel becomes possible again in the second half of 2021, I may plan a DIY residency somewhere.

Finish my Work-in-Progress. I’ve been working on a novel for a few years and I had hoped to finish it in 2020 so I could query agents in 2021. But that did not happen. I’m nearing completion of a draft, but not a polished manuscript, so this goal is going to get shifted into the new year.

That’s it. I also had some ambitious reading goals for the year, and you can read about the results here. And tomorrow I will post my writing goals for 2021.

2020 Reading: The Year in Review

Considering the 2020 pandemic stay-at-home advice/orders, I probably should have done even more reading than I did. As it was, in October I blew past my goal of 66 books and managed to log a total of 80 for the year. (Goodreads has a handy Reading Challenge tool that I’ve used for many years, which is how I know these numbers.)

I posted about the books I read each month, which you can read about at 2020 Reading, which should link to a page with twelve blog posts. Visually, at the bottom of this post, I’ll include an image that includes the covers of all the books I read this year.

Out of that sizable number, some of my favorites were:

Apeirogon by Colum McCann

Educated by Tara Westover

Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee

The Book of Jeremiah by Julie Zuckerman

The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

2020 Reading–December

The Big Baby Crime Spree by Darrin Doyle

The Big Baby Crime Spree and Other Delusions by Darrin Doyle is a short collection of short stories—just 90 pages long—that was sent to me by the publisher for review because I’ve reviewed Doyle’s work in the past. The five stories in this volume are odd or, rather, they’re about odd, mostly unpleasant men. (As a side note, the book in some ways reminded me of my own recent story collection, House of the Ancients and Other Stories, which is mostly about men behaving badly and the consequences thereof.) My review of this book will appear in Southern Review of Books in February or early March 2021 when it is scheduled to be published.

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

Oracle Night by Paul Auster is a complex study of imagination vs. reality, but I’m not quite sure what to make of it. The story is told by a novelist, Sidney Orr, some 20 years after “the day in question,” a day in September 1982 when his life hits a big speed bump. He’s been recovering from a serious illness, but on that day he is taking a walk around Brooklyn when he sees a new stationery store and stops in. He buys a blue Portuguese notebook and brings it home, promptly beginning to write in it, the first writing he’s done since his illness came on. He begins writing a story that his writer friend John—who is actually a friend of Sid’s wife’s father—suggests, based on a minor character in a Dashiell Hammett novel. Sid keeps writing and is pleased with himself (the story involves a story withing the story) but eventually hits a dead end. There’s another thread to the novel dealing with the Chinese man who sold Sid the notebook, and another about the secrets that Sid’s wife is keeping, and also about the problems John’s son is having. Very convoluted, with several threads that are left hanging, but that seems to be part of the point. From what I understand, this isn’t one of Auster’s best, but at least it’s intriguing and kept me reading.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins was my book club’s selection for December. It’s controversial for a couple of reasons that exacerbate one another. First, the author got a huge advance for the book and so the publisher invested a lot into making a bestseller, including getting blurbs from heavy-hitters (such as Stephen King and John Grisham). Second, the author is white but the protagonist is a Mexican woman. Critics who are upset about “cultural appropriation” also say that the author got a lot wrong (despite demonstrable research) and, they continue, the writing is awful. I’m not concerned about the primary complaints—the big advance or the so-called cultural appropriation—but I don’t like the book for other reasons. It is basically one long chase scene and we know from the beginning that the protagonist will survive or she won’t, but that the whole story is nothing more than obstacle after obstacle, with a few decent people who help her out along the way. The obstacles are pure melodrama, beginning with the “inciting incident” which is an attack on the protagonist’s family by an Acapulco drug cartel in which 16 members of her family are killed. I wish I could have stopped reading right there. But I also didn’t love the writing. Probably my biggest complaint is the overuse of Spanish mixed with the English. Many writers, myself included, throw in foreign words now and then to give a cultural flavor to the material, but there is a philosophical problem with this tactic and that is the reason it should be done sparingly. The problem is that these characters are all Spanish speakers (mostly Mexican) and it is understood that they are speaking to each other in Spanish, even though the words are rendered in English for the reader, as if their dialogue were being translated instantaneously. That being the case, why do they throw in Spanish words so often? Either we’re reading English or we’re reading Spanish.

Murmuration by Sid Balman Jr.

Murmuration by Sid Balman, Jr. isn’t out yet but will be published next summer, I think. The author asked me for a blurb. Because it is something of a sequel to his first book, I read that one last month to prepare me to read this one. While the Laws and Zarkan families of Texas, who were the focus of the first book, do appear here, the main character is a Somali refugee, known as Charlie Christmas because he was born on Christmas Day and the Americans he works for can’t pronounce his real name. In fact, the early part of the book involves Charlie working as an interpreter for Ademar Zarkan, a female sniper and important character from the first book, in the rescue of two American hostages held captive by a Somali pirate and then in Mogadishu. Their team rides camels across the desert to get Charlie and his family to a refugee camp in Kenya. Two years later, the Laws and Zarkan families help extract Charlie and his son from the camp and bring them to Texas. In the second half of the book, the families help Charlie settle in Minnesota, where there is a large community of Somalis, but the son is recruited by ISIS, a similar story line to the first book in which Ademar’s brother Anil is recruited.

The Story of England by Christopher Hibbert

The Story of England by Christopher Hibbert is a condensed version of English history that I’ve had for a good long time but finally was motivated to read. Recently while doing some family-tree work I managed to follow one particular line back to John of Gaunt and King Edward III (13th Century), and decided I needed to have at least a sketchy understanding of the period and how that family came to be English royalty. [It has been pointed out to me that just about anyone with European ancestry can trace a line to royalty if you go back far enough, in this case 20 generations.] It’s also interesting to match the facts to the Shakespeare history plays, which tend to play with the truth somewhat. This book is a good overview and very readable, although the royal succession gets complicated, what with murder and all, although now I may want to dive more deeply into some periods.

Five True Things by David Richo

Five True Things by David Richo is subtitled “A Little Guide to Embracing Life’s Big Challenges.” In many ways it is a re-packaging of some of Buddhism’s most valuable (and difficult) advice. After telling us what the Five True Things are, the rest of the book proceeds to elaborate and then to draw on many religious traditions and philosophy to apply these notions in a practical way. The Five True Things are: (1) Everything changes and ends; (2) Things do not always go according to plan; (3) Life is not always fair; (4) Pain is part of life; (5) People are not loving and loyal all the time. While it’s hard to argue with this, this sort of philosophy, as with other religions, does promote a sort of fatalism that I think is dangerous. While I wholeheartedly endorse letting go of situations and events that are not in one’s control, we have the power to shape our lives more than many people are willing to admit, in my opinion.

Turquoise Door by Lauren Camp

Turquoise Door by Lauren Camp is a collection of poems subtitled “Finding Mabel Dodge Luhan in New Mexico.” I bought this book when Camp was visiting the area and we did a joint event at an area bookstore. Unquestionably, it’s a beautiful book, with an intriguing premise. Camp was Poet-in-Residence at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico, and the poems originated there. One of the things that is intriguing about these poems is what I’ll call Camp’s challenging imagery. Often poets will combine words in a fresh way to create images, but my reaction usually is one of recognizing that this has occurred. That is, I understand what the poet is getting at. In reading this book, I frequently found myself puzzling over the images, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes I settled on a meaning and sometimes I didn’t.  

2021 Literary Magazine Ranking–Poetry

Below is the 2021 Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry. For an explanation of the rationale and methodology, please go here.

If you find the list useful, please consider purchasing one or more of my books.

2021 RankMagazine2020 Rank2021 Score1Poetry190.52American Poetry Review3553Kenyon Review249.54Poem-a-Day446.55Southern Review6336New England Review529.57Threepenny Review7298Paris Review824.59Gettysburg Review92310Rattle2619.511Copper Nickel191812Cincinnati Review121713Sun1016.514Copper Canyon Press1114.515Ploughshares131415Tin House © 161417Michigan Quarterly Review1513.518Boston Review2112.518Hudson Review4812.520Poetry Northwest2311.521Beloit Poetry Journal261121Birmingham Poetry Review261121Ecotone261121Foglifter541121Georgia Review141121Poetry Review261127Blackbird1610.527Massachusetts Review4110.527Spillway1910.530American Journal of Poetry691030Smartish Pace691032New Ohio Review239.532Southern Indiana Review369.534Field © 21934Willow Springs32936Virginia Quarterly Review268.536ZYZZYVA448.538jubilat41838Palette Poetry124840Agni257.540Alaska Quarterly Review447.540Lake Effect327.540Orion1317.540Sugar House Review327.540Tupelo Press447.540Vallum: Contemporary Poetry327.547Arroyo Literary Review36747Prairie Schooner172749Ninth Letter486.549Pleiades526.551Adroit Journal54651American Scholar36651BOA Editions52651Five Points16651Iowa Review186651Literary Imagination36651Nepantla54651Plume54651The Journal36651White Pine Press54651Four Way Review662Greensboro Review645.562Missouri Review545.562New Criterion645.562River Styx645.562Salamander545.562Southeast Review545.568Abstract Magazine TV69568Bare Life Review69568Bennington Review69568Bettering American Poetry69568Clover ©69568Conduit69568Constellations69568Foundry69568Four Way Books44568Hawaii Pacific Review69568Hopkins Review69568I-70 Review69568Kweli Journal69568LitMag69568Love’s Executive Order69568Moonpie Press69568Nerve Cowboy69568New Orleans Review69568Nimrod64568Purple Passion Press69568Rhino69568River Teeth69568Salmagundi69568Saturnalia Books69568Seneca Review69568Shade Journal69568Storm Cellar69568Sycamore Review69568Tipton Poetry Journal69568Tule Review69568Twyckenham Notes69568Volta69568Washington Square Review69568Waxwing Literary Journal69568Wordtemple Press69568Yale Review48568Arkansas Review568Ashland Poetry Press568Court Green568Gordon Square Review568Fjords Review568Indianapolis Review568Ligeia Magazine568Pirene’s Fountain 568This Broken Shore (?)568Two Sylvias 5114Tar River484.5115Denver Quarterly1154115Indiana Review1164117Alice James Books543.5117Awl © 1203.5117Hotel Amerika1163.5117Hunger Mountain1203.5117Image693.5117Little Patuxent Review1163.5117Manhattan Review1313.5124Codex (?) 643124Lana Turner1243124Little Star1243124Paterson Literary Review1243124Poetry International1243124Prelude543124Sixth Finch413124Subtropics1243132Account1312.5132Assaracus (?)1312.5132Atlanta Review1312.5132Briar Cliff Review1312.5132Brick1312.5132Butcher’s Dog692.5132Café Review1312.5132Cave Wall692.5132Collagist1312.5132Court Green © 1312.5132Crab Orchard Review692.5132Crazyhorse1202.5132Cypher Books (?)1312.5132Dunes Review1312.5132Fifth Wednesday © 1312.5132Forklift Ohio1312.5132Granta1312.5132Graywolf Press1312.5132Green Mountains Review1312.5132Gulf Coast1242.5132Harbour Publishing1312.5132Harvard Review1312.5132Ibbetson Street1312.5132LSU Press692.5132Malahat Review1312.5132Muzzle Magazine1312.5132Nebraska Poets Calendar © 1312.5132New South Books1312.5132New Verse News1312.5132Pilot Light1312.5132Pleasure Boat Studio1312.5132Poems & Plays (?)1312.5132Prism692.5132Quarterly West692.5132Quiddity1312.5132Southern Poetry Review1312.5132Spork (?)1312.5132Summerset Review692.5132TAB692.5132Think Journal1312.5132Thrush692.5132Tiger Bark Press692.5132Treelight Books1312.5132Verse Wisconsin © 1312.5132Water-Stone Review1312.5132YesYes Books1312.5178Colorado Review1722178Common, The1862178Grub Street1862178MIZNA1862178Narrative1722178New South1722178Upstreet1722178Verse Daily1722186A Public Space2361.5186Believer1791.5186Iron Horse Literary Review1791.5186New Letters1791.5186Persea Books2361.5186Poet Lore1791.5186World Literature Today1721.5193Academy of American Poets1861193Bauhan Publshing1861193Birdfeast1861193Chinquapin Literary Magazine1861193Cleveland State Univ. Poetry Ctr.1861193Columbia Review1193Cossack Review (?)1861193Cutbank1861193Great Weather for Media1861193Gulf Stream (?)1861193Gun Powder Press1861193Heart © 1861193Hobart1861193Lake, The1861193Louisiana Literature1861193McNeese Review1861193Meadow1861193North American Review1861193Offing1861193OmniVerse1861193One Throne (?) 1861193Pembroke Magazine1861193Pinch1861193Poetry South1861193Porkbelly Press1861193Portland Review1861193QWERTY1861193Raleigh Review1861193Raritan1861193Rove1861193Rumpus1861193Scablands Books1861193Shenandoah1161193Southwest Review1861193Springhouse1861193University of Pittsburgh Press1791193Valley Voices1861193Yarn © 1861193Zone 31201193Adirondack Review1193Consequence1193Delta Poetry Review1193Glass, A Journal of Poetry1193Halcyone1193Los Angeles Jewish Journal1193Mercer Univ. Press1193Matter1193Quarry, The1193Tahoma Literary Review1193Wordfarm1243Able Muse2360.5243Airlie Press2360.5243Autumn House2360.5243Barefoot Muse2360.5243Bellevue Literary Review2360.5243Black Warrior Review2360.5243Bloom2360.5243Calyx2360.5243Cardinal Points2360.5243Chautauqua2360.5243Chiron Review1860.5243Cimarron Review1790.5243Clockhouse2360.5243Columbia Poetry Review2360.5243Connecticut Review (?) 2360.5243Construction2360.5243Enizagam1860.5243Epoch1860.5243Evansville Review2360.5243Examined Life2360.5243Exit 71860.5243Fort Hemlock Press © 2360.5243Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review1790.5243Haven Chronicles (?)2360.5243Healing Muse2360.5243Hollins Critic2360.5243Jai-Alai (?)1860.5243Make2360.5243New Madrid2360.5243Normal School2360.5243Paris American2360.5243Pluck1860.5243Radius1860.5243Saranac Review1860.5243Silk Road2360.5243Sink Review (?) 2360.5243Solstice2360.5243Tupelo Quarterly1860.5243Upstairs at Duroc (?)1860.5243Valparaiso Poetry Review2360.5243Verse Magazine2360.5243Wave Books1860.5243Wordcraft of Oregon2360.5243Zephyr Press2360.5

2021 Literary Magazine Ranking–Nonfiction

Below is the 2021 Literary Magazine Ranking for Nonfiction. For a discussion of the rationale and methodology, please go here.

If you find the list useful, please consider purchasing one or more of my books.

2021 RankMagazine2020 Rank2021 Score1Sun1512Georgia Review249.53Orion3414Granta5365Tin House © 4306Ploughshares629.57Salmagundi7268Threepenny Review10259Fourth Genre1324.510n+1921.511Creative Nonfiction122112New England Review1519.513Agni131914Narrative1618.514Point, The1118.516Gettysburg Review816.517New Letters1615.518Paris Review2113.519American Scholar241319Oxford American241321River Teeth1812.521Virginia Quarterly Review2812.523Antioch Review211223Brevity211223Iowa Review201226Kenyon Review281126Pinch331128Ecotone271029Conjunctions199.529Sewanee Review429.531Missouri Review24832Southern Review287.533Boulevard31733McSweeney’s35735Image316.535Southampton Review336.537Bennington Review35637True Story100637War, Literature and The Arts35640World Literature Today355.541About Place Journal42541Bat City39541Believer39541Harvard Advocate545Colorado Review424.545Hedgehog Review484.547Alaska Quarterly Review52447Blackbird48449Big Roundtable (?)483.549Harvard Review473.549Hudson Review523.549Ruminate523.549Yale Review483.554Guernica76354Hunger Mountain57354Normal School57354Raritan52354Sweet57359American Circus (?)622.559Boston Review762.559Fourth River422.559Fugue622.559Gigantic (?)422.559Great River Review622.559Massachusetts Review622.559New Orleans Review622.559News from the Republic of Letters (?) 622.559Prairie Schooner572.559Radio Silence622.559Seattle Review (?)622.559Tusculum622.559ZYZZYVA622.573Another Chicago Magazine76273Baffler100273Bellevue Literary Review76273Broad Street57273Catapult76273Common, The76273Crazyhorse76273Electric Literature76273Hopkins Review76273Ninth Letter39273Offing76273Witness100273Longreads286Brain, Child621.586Brick621.586Five Points761.586High Desert Journal931.586Los Angeles Review931.586Milkweed Editions – Press761.586Mount Hope931.586O-Dark-Thirty761.586Southwest Review621.586TriQuarterly761.586Water-Stone Review761.586Willow Springs1001.598American Athenaeum (?)100198American Chordata100198Baltimore Review100198Barrelhouse100198Black Warrior Review100198Caught by the River100198Chattahoochee Review100198Cimarron Review100198Cincinnati Review100198Consequence100198Copper Nickel198Crab Orchard Review100198Denver Quarterly100198Epiphany100198Gulf Coast76198Heyday Books100198Kitchen Work100198Malahat Review100198Michigan Quarterly Review62198Pacific Standard100198Passages North93198Pen America198Pleiades100198Potomac Review100198Prism76198Red Hen Press100198Redivider100198Room100198Santa Monica Review100198Slice100198Speak 100198StoryQuarterly100198Tahoma Literary Review100198Terrain.org100198Third Coast100198Timberline Review100198Transition100198Turtle Point Press100198War Horse100198Arrowsmith198Emergence Magazine198Hong Kong Review198Nowhere Magazine198Pidgeonholes198New Rivers Press1143Arts Fuse1450.5143Bomb1000.5143Bookforum1450.5143Camera Obscura1450.5143Catamaran1000.5143Chautauqua1450.5143Chicago Review1450.5143Dart Society1450.5143Delmarva Review1450.5143Diagram1450.5143Epoch1000.5143Fifth Wednesday © 1450.5143Five Chapters © 1450.5143Florida Review930.5143Free Inquiry1450.5143Hub City Press1450.5143Lapham’s Quarterly930.5143Memoir © 1000.5143Natural Bridge1450.5143New Ohio Review1450.5143North American Review1450.5143North Dakota Quarterly1450.5143Oregon Humanities1450.5143Oregon Quarterly1450.5143Packinghouse Review © 1450.5143Provincetown Arts1000.5143River Styx1450.5143Shenandoah520.5143Subtropics1450.5143Tavern Books1450.5143Tikkun1000.5143Tupelo Press1450.5143Under the Sun930.5143University of Michigan Press1450.5143Wilson Quarterly1450.5143Zone 31000.5