Assignment LIT MAG

Putting a literary magazine together takes time, passion, and does not make a profit for anyone. Approach these journals that you have chosen as someone’s labor of love. That said—do not let generosity and respect dull your critical eye.

This presentation will be a review. Any review should have two salient purposes: 1) to introduce/synopsize the collection at hand,  2) to comment on the work in the collection, its organization, and presentation.

A few notes.

1. The presentation will be 5-8 minutes long. (I will stop you at 8 minutes).

2. Investigate both the magazine and the website. Give yourself a long stretch of time to do this (the presentation will be due during the 2 weeks following Spring Break--we will sign up for slots)

3. You will consider some/much of the following info:

            What the editors say they’re looking for

            A mission or editor’s statement or guidelines can usually be found on the website or in an intro

            Is this national/international/regional/special topic magazine? Organizational principles?

            What you think they’re looking for

            Your assessment of the stories and poems

            What kind of writers they publish

            What they say about themselves (contributor’s notes)

            Who you find in the magazine (feel free to google)

            What are the poems like?

            Formal or informal

            Narrative or image-centered

            Experimental/concrete, etc.

            Short, long, serial, stanza type? 

            What is the fiction like? (if there—read or skim)

            Point of view / realistic or non- or mix

            Use of flashbacks or other techniques

            Length of stories 

           

            What subjects are favored?

            Urban or rural

            Clean-cut or gritty

            Uplifting or dark

            Entertaining or conceptual

            Come up with your own descriptions...

            What about the design?

4. You will provide a handout to everyone that summarizes your key points and presents a representative poem (or section of a poem) from the magazine. You will tell us why you chose this poem: how it is a good example of the type / form /thematic subject matter favored by the editors. These handouts will serve as a reference library for fellow classmates considering sending out their work for publication.