Editor Interview: Streetlight Magazine Essay/Memoir Contest

Personal memoir.

I personally subscribe to Agni, Paris Review, London Review of Books, New York Review of Books. I also like, online, Fully Grown People, Creative Nonfiction, Hippocampus, and Persimmon.

I like a whole lot of writers. My current memoir favorite is Doireann NI Ghroiofa for her wonderful memoir, A Ghost in the Throat. I recently very much liked Kim Barnes, "Into the Wilderness."

I don't think of us in comparison, but strong qualities we have are: always looking for new and fresh ways of writing, along with vivid description of setting and feeling; and a concern for our writers--we respond pretty quickly and encourage re-submissions. We have a good local base, but get a lot of work from across this country and from other parts of the world.

If it's essay, good clear writing and a deep personal involvement in the work. We like wry and witty too., but it's optional.

The ideal submission? A variety of things make an ideal submission: relevant subject, deep feeling, excellent writing. We're open to a lot different kinds of outlook. I always advise a potential contributor to take a look at what we've already published. Not that we're looking for the same things--but it should give an idea of the variety and quality of writing we're looking for.

Not much. Probably the main thing is length. We're looking for less than twenty pages, more than two. But even there, we have made exceptions.

I don't read cover letters until I've read the piece itself. If I like the piece, i don't prioritize prior publication or lack of it. We are interested in bio material, once we've taken a piece for publication, so we can share it with our readers.

I read everything all the way through. At least once.

There are two of us reading here. We confer with each other and might also ask another of the staff for an opinion.

It's pretty simple. Paula Boyland, my associate, and I read separately and compare notes periodically. During the pandemic of course it's all been by email, but we like to meet in person. And as i said, if we have widely divergent opinions, we might ask for a third reader to look in.

We don't usually ask for a lot of editing, but it has happened that we've asked for a change or two. No substantive changes are ever made without author approval. We do proofread and format margins and spacing to meet the magazine requirements.

We nominate for the Pushcart Prize