Contemporary Literary Publishing

Contemporary Literary Publishing started out as a practicum in reading and evaluating contemporary poetry recently submitted for potential publication, and later continuing in the form of critical-creative thought and research about the literary publishing system: its past and present nature and qualities of experience; its most significant value and limitations; its participating and nonparticipating communities; its alternate and future possibilities. 

Over the course of 2022, the core energy of the cluster has evolved into a largely autonomous project led by undergraduate research fellows Cynthia Huang, Anne Pritikin, and Caleigh Stephens. Together they form the core editorial cadre of a new literary magazine called Textile Mag. The aim is to create a web platform for the collaborative generation of creative and critical writing, and perhaps to collect these materials in a printed volume later on. In the coming years, the cluster will also continue to provide interested students with a series of events related to the wide scene of contemporary literary publishing, including sponsored conversations with editors and writers working at the forefront of the scene, among them our creative-critical faculty Chicu Reddy (editor of the newly relaunched Phoenix Poets series for the University of Chicago Press), Edgar Garcia, current guest editor of the prominent literary publication Fence, and Rachel Galvin, closely involved with the influential Chicago literary periodical MAKE.

We will further draw on the editorial staff of the Chicago Review here on campus; on the energies of the poet Margaret Ross, our Harper-Schmidt colleague in Creative Writing; on several concurrent courses ideally suited for this cluster project  (Chicu Reddy’s "The Means of Production: Contemporary Poetry and Literary Publishing”; Rachel Galvin’s "Translation Theory and Practice”; Dana Glaser’s “What is nonfiction?; Megan Tusler’s "21st Century American Ethnic Literature”; Michael Esparza’s “The American Story Cycle”. In addition to the above courses, other broadly relevant offerings include Emily Coit’s “Writing in the Humanities: Genres of Literary Scholarship,” Mee-Ju Ro’s “Introduction to Asian American Literatures” and David Wray’s “Poetics”

Both our internship awardees and other interested students will be supported by our departmental Writing and Research Advisers (Nell Pach and Sylvie Boulette) as they conceive and develop independent research projects.