Like the mythical phoenix, many literary publications — indie and renowned alike — have been consumed by fire. In only the past year and a half, three iconic American literary magazines — The Believer, Bookforum, and Fantasy magazine — have shut down due to financial hardships that were only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But why should the general American public care? More specifically, why do I care? A young girl stuck inside her house all day with nothing but the keyboard in front of her shall explain all.
As a member of Gen Z, I’m not alone when I say that I grew up on the Internet. But what many don’t seem to understand when I say this is that I literally grew up on the Internet. As in, for 18 years, my school, my friends, my life resided inside the computer on my desk. From kindergarten through high school, I went to an online charter school. Because of this, outside of my school’s email system and Google Hangouts (now called Google Chat), I had no friends and, therefore, no reason to leave the perimeters of my house, save for weekly shopping trips and yearly family vacations. Needless to say, I had a lot of free time that, for much of my childhood, I spent art-making and spending time with my little sister. As we grew up, however, I started to grow sick of my sheltered life. I longed for stories that exceeded the walls of our house. As a result, I started to read stories and, from 8th grade on, write my own. From Percy Jackson fanfiction to Ray Bradbury-inspired short fiction to Ocean Vuong-inspired poetry, my writing has certainly evolved over the years. What hasn’t changed, however, is what drives me: the longing to see my stories published and read by others.
One of the first literary projects that my writing was published in was the Ralph Munn Creative Writing Anthology, an annual publication that highlights the work of youth writers in Allegheny County. Words can’t describe the feeling of jubilation within me when I first held a copy of the 2019 anthology in my hands and felt the inked words of my short fiction sci-fi piece “Stop” printed on the page. I was 16 years old and dying for my words to be heard. A year later, I was published in Ralph Munn’s 2020 anthology, this time for my flash-fiction horror piece “Bloody Mary,” and I started to feel confident — an emotion foreign to my insecure teenage self — both in my skills as a writer as well as in the possibility of publishing future works. Four years later, with several more publications under my belt, I can credit literary publications such as Ralph Munn for sparking my love of writing and sharing my words. These lit mags transformed me from a depressed, lonely teenage girl to a young woman with a passion for stories. Their impact on young writers — the literal future of literature — cannot be overstated; hence, it’s imperative that we save them from a slow, painful death.
Upon joining a newly-formed group of writers in my sophomore year at the Community College of Allegheny County, I learned that change truly is possible, if only we put our heads and hearts together. After months of weekly meetings spent planning promotional events and campaigns, accepting and rejecting submissions, and finalizing layout design and print details, my friends and I successfully resurrected a student publication, the Phoenix Literary Arts Journal, that had been dead for nearly two decades. Watching students whose works my fellow editors and I had spent months praising finally get to see, read from, and take home their printed words — something I had first experienced only a few short years ago — made me realize that, no matter how long a project is dead for, it can always be reanimated by writers’ hard work and passion. Six months after the nearly-30-year-old magazine Bookforum announced it would be ceasing publication in late 2022, it was relaunched by The Nation magazine with invigorated financial backing after public outcry on social media platforms such as Twitter. Change is possible. For editors and writers to keep these literary projects — and themselves — afloat, we need to radically change how we approach funding efforts. In America of 2023, publications shouldn’t have to solely rely on a haphazard “mix of grants, advertising sponsorships, membership fees, and grassroots donations,” as written by Electric Literature editor-in-chief Denne Michele Norris. As Norris’s article title insists, “the future of literary magazines depends on us” (Norris). If we want to encourage young writers — both by instilling confidence in their own skills and demonstrating that a career in writing and publishing isn’t, as editor Janique Vigier laments, a “‘vow of poverty’” — we need to crowdfund dying projects, encourage colleges to support their undergraduate publications, and appeal to donors to ensure that literary projects have the resources and money they need to keep sharing the stories of American youth (Dwyer & Harris).
While I’m only a single young writer and aspiring editor living in Pittsburgh, I can make an effort within my community to ensure that my work resonates with others and inspires those with more privilege and prestige than I to save lit mags as we know them. It’s only after we put our money where our mouths are that these projects can rise from the ashes, like the phoenixes they’ve always been destined to become.
Works Cited
Asmelash, Leah. "Long-standing Literary Magazines Are Struggling to Stay Afloat. Where Do They Go from Here?" CNN, 9 Feb. 2022, www.cnn.com/style/article/the-believer-literary-magazines-closing-down-struggling-cec/index.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
Berley, Marc. "Why I Refuse to Charge Writers Submission Fees." PublishersWeekly.com, 31 Mar. 2017, www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/73241-why-i-refuse-to-charge-writers-submission-fees.html. Accessed 12 Sept. 2023.
Branwen, M.R. "Why Literary Journals Don't Pay." The Millions, 31 May 2017, themillions.com/2017/05/why-literary-journals-dont-pay.html. Accessed 12 Sept. 2023.
Dwyer, Kate, and Elizabeth A. Harris. "Bookforum Is Closing, Leaving Ever Fewer Publications Devoted to Books." The New York Times, 20 Dec. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/books/bookforum-magazine-closing.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
Lorentzen, Christian. "What the death of a literary magazine says about our cultural decay." The Washington Post, 18 Apr. 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/18/bookforum-closing-loss/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.
Yant, Christie, and Arley Sorg. "Editorial: August 2023." Fantasy Magazine, 4 Aug. 2023, www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/non-fiction/editorial/editorial-august-2023/. Accessed 24 Sep. 2023.
Norris, Denne M. "Forget Billionaires! The Future Of Literary Magazines Depends On Us." Electric Literature, 27 Oct. 2021, electricliterature.com/forget-billionaires-the-future-of-literary-magazines-depends-on-us/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.