Editor Interview: Panorama

Travel, place, nature.

I particularly admire independent publishers and presses. People who devote their lives to support new writers and new writing, taking operational and financial risk to develop new voices. The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) deserves special mention here for convening a supportive and loving environment between small publishers. Each day I open up my computer to letters of support from other small presses, all sharing experiences and advice on a range of issues from rights, accounting, publishing, to tech.

Literary magazines such as Places, Aeon, and Emergence Magazine regularly come up in discussion, as do Brittle Paper, and Isele Magazine. Our sister publications Lolwe and Jalada also deserve a mention for their efforts pan-Africa.

Many of the 572 authors who've written for Panorama have also written for household names such as the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, and the Guardian. Essays in Panorama have appeared in curated lists such as those by Longreads, featuring alongside work from Condé Nast Traveler, Harper’s Magazine, and others.

Reading interests of our authors span the gamut of genres from nonfiction (86.1%), fiction (72.8%), poetry (64.6%), to short-form/flash works (58.2%). Their writing interests naturally follow with our authors writing nonfiction (85.4%), short-form/flash works (56.1%), poetry (54.1%), and fiction (49.0%).

We're delighted when authors we've published feature in other journals or in other formats. Many have published manuscripts through imprints such as:

Bodleian Library
Canongate Books
HarperCollins
Icon Books
Jantar Publishing
Mad Creek Books
Mariner Books
Mountaineers Books
Penguin Random House
Salt Publishing
Sourcebooks Landmark
University of Georgia Press
Vintage
William Morrow and Company

We have a virtual bookstore on our site to help authors on Panorama’s masthead and their indie (or larger) publishers promote their books. Literary citizenship is especially important to us so if small presses would like to be listed here please do be in touch.

On the practical side of travel, there are myriad travel books publishers such as the Bradt guides that are so helpful.

A list of admired publishers would be remiss not to include stalwarts such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Granta that crossover to wider groups and something we all strive for.

My bookshelves are filled with historians, philosophers, and more—reflecting a trend amongst our authors interested not only in literature, but also art (76.7%), film (76.0%), theatre (67.1%), music (67.1%), and more.

I have a range of artist books from Yan Wang Preston to Yukari Chikura, exhibition catalogues to a range of others from:

Aperture
Art Africa
Dewi Lewis
Mack Books
Phaidon
Steidl
Thames & Hudson

We publish a range of Poetry, Fiction (Travel and Flash Fiction), Nonfiction (General and Speculative, Travel Flash works, Memoir, New Nature Writing, Decolonising Travel, Eaten/Gastronomy, Streetview), Books (Reviews, Excerpts), Visual Arts (Photography, Video Essays, Art Moving Image, Documentary Film, Exhibition Reviews). This broad offering reflects our diverse interests, team, and voice. Inspiration is drawn from a broad array of authors, editors, artists, filmmakers.

My personal writing heroes include James Baldwin, John Muir, Toni Morrison, Orhan Pamuk, Maya Angelou, Susan Sontag, Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh, Hannah Arendt. Anton Chekhov. Mikhail Bulgakov. Anna Akhmatova. Chika Unigwe. Ali Smith. My bookshelves are filled with guides to places, cities, countries, maps, travelogues but also historians, philosophers, artists. There are writers who inspire through their writing but many are so much more. Bernadine Everisto, Rebecca Solnit, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood have inspired as a person, teacher, interviewee and author. Editors regularly recount Bourdain, Amis, and others who lit their interest in travel and writing.

Authors who've inspired us now also call Panorama home. Paul McVeigh, Robin Hemley, Faith Adiele, Anne Louise Avery, Dato Magradze, Katie Ives, Sarge Lacuesta. We've featured excerpts from talents such as Chika Unigwe, Lola Akinmade Akerstrom and always look to do more.

Editors have also taken particular inspiration from Joan Didion (incisive), Beryl Markha (pioneer), Don DeLillo (prophetic), Haruki Murakami (cross-cultural and boundary/paradigm shattering).

A multiplicity of viewpoints from a global and often globetrotting masthead. From the very beginning of Panorama, we’ve had a truly diverse mix of authors, editors, senior executive team, regional champions, authors and readership hailing from countries as diverse as Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tajikistan, Iran, Yemen, USA, UK, and more. We’re keen to champion authors from many backgrounds, regions, and careers. A diversity of people, place, form, and voice. Focusing on the world and writers outside of the U.S. There are no "best of" lists or any lists at all. These are stories about accessing the self through travel.

I think we are truly the most diverse when it comes to literary genres/forms, the definition of travel, and international representation.

Lit mags receive far more submissions than they can publish so there’s a certain serendipity to the process. Keep going and eventually the stars will align.

Read Panorama first. Well, at least one issue. See where your work could fit in or whether you could add something that could complement our offering. Most of all, keep writing and submitting.

Editors are willing to champion any work if it touches them. Whether that's more academic, factual, fiction, a critique, a meditation, a contemplation, a vision, a travelogue, a memory, a social observation and/or criticism, or any kind of story.

A narrative about unusual places, people, and events that refrains from exoticising. An ideal submission would have clear accessible language and story arc. I want to be immediately thrown into the text, yet also surprised in some way. Text, images or media that brings us on a journey whether physically, emotionally, intellectually prick our senses and lift our spirits or challenge us in some way. Writing works well when it connects with the experience of the reader but I also appreciate when the opposite is true – that the reader sees something new in the author, and is taken to a new place or different reality. Often this comes from an honest, authentic self, revealing one’s innermost thoughts and feelings. At these points of vulnerability the best writing seems to come through. Submissions should follow the guidelines (word count, genre, style guide, etc) but the decision to include the work is really based on whether it moves us or not.

Submitting to any journal is a leap of faith, so we’re incredibly grateful to anyone who puts their work forward. The biggest mistake would be not to submit.

We take great pride in the prize-winning authors we publish, the many established writers. But, we take equal pride in providing a space for new writers. Around 20% of our authors received their first byline in Panorama.

I try to encourage authors to become involved in the submissions process as it can be a rather enlightening experience, informing not only their view of the journal and how it comes together, but also their own submissions. A great review process requires great care, time, and tact. Submitters should understand that reviewing submissions is demanding.

You can make the reviewer's life easier by having clear formatting, and understandable sentences. Being really clear about the intent of your work, the story you’re trying to tell, and not overwriting are useful checks. Ask yourself or a friend: “does this make sense?”. Ultimately I will be asking editors to champion submissions they love.

For people new to Panorana, you should know that we are open for submissions three times a year to coincide with the three tri-annual issues we publish. It’s a small window and the themes for each issue are specific to each issue. The issues in 2025 are SURVIVAL in March, the PARIS edition in July, then ENCOUNTERS in November. Editors particularly enjoy work that relates to the theme laterally, creatively, and imaginatively.

We ask that each submission includes a short cover letter, bio, and social media handles. This is to get a sense of the author and their work, and to save time later in the process as each piece we publish is accompanied by the name and bio of the author. Social handles/website links are also included if the author requests these.

When we accept work, we’re accepting both author and work. It’s an act of good faith that we will endeavour to work together to ensure we do the best we can for the author. We expect that the author enters in the same spirit.

Most editors go straight to the work then come back to the cover letter if they think the work has potential. Others read through the cover letter first which then informs how they read the work. If we know the author has been published in a litany of respected outlets, from the cover letter or otherwise, we may have certain expectations, but each piece has to stand on its own rather than solely on reputation.

We are thrilled when established authors choose to share their work with us and have many recognisable authors on our books. Equally important to us, however, is that we bring new talent through. It’s just as exciting to hear that an author was first published in Panorama. There’s no need for pretence in the cover letters. Be straightforward, clear about your intent and we’ll make sure that your work is given consideration.

It depends. Sometimes we know very early on that a piece isn't a good match. Sometimes we suspect very early on that it is and read on to confirm that. If we don't look up or get distracted while reading a piece, that's a great sign. If the piece doesn’t immediately grab us we may come back to it later. The important thing is that we give each piece a chance. We read each submission to the end.

Due to the workload involved with submissions, editors use a simple review system with three prompts:

1. Yes/No/Maybe (mandatory)
- Yes - excellent work with minimal to no edits required (score: 5)
- Maybe - additional reviewers to see (score: 4)
- Maybe - development work required (score: 3)
- Future potential - not a suitable submission but interested to see future work (score: 2)
- No - doesn't satisfy aims of the journal in content or form (score: 1)
2. Review (optional)
3. Feedback (optional)

We’ve found that this approach allows us to give submissions a quick read and at least respond to the first prompt (Yes/No/Maybe), so we can start to see where we are with work coming through and start to respond to authors.

When editors are immediately taken with the work I encourage them to reach out to the submitter to confirm the piece for the issue. Other submissions generally need more discussion.

Once we’ve reviewed each submission, we move immediately with the author if we’re sure about the work. We then look at the shape of the issue overall which then informs which other submissions we will accept.

It may be useful to see this within the wider context of the general steps associated with producing each section of the journal each issue. Editors will typically:

1. Help define the call for submissions for the section
2. Promote the call once live
3. Encourage/work with authors they would like to see published in the section (some editors mentor/coach potential future contributors or have emerging authors from their writing programmes they are helping to improve their craft)
4. Answer questions from submitters re specific submissions or the process more broadly
5. Read essays and write up notes/thoughts on the submissions
6. Score essays against criteria in the Submittable one-page review form
7. Discuss the essays [with each other] to see what the feeling is on a particular essay — the goal is not always consensus on each piece (as that can dilute the range of work published) but to have work that someone in the group would like to champion and the work provides something additional to the journal
8. Choose the essays once they have all been reviewed (or earlier if there are particularly strong submissions that they would like to secure so they don't place elsewhere)
9. Communicate with authors that they would like to progress and under what terms (i.e. edits they would need to be able to accept the piece, checking the work hasn't been published before, etc), letting them know also the date of publication and the process they should expect
10. Send the contract as well as the link to the form to provide all supporting author information (bio, social media handles, etc)
11. Reopen the submission for editing on Submittable to allow the author to replace the initial submission with updated, final copy
12. Once the contract is in place, accept the work in Submittable and ask for any remaining edits including those to align with the style guide (if not requested earlier in the process)
13. At this stage, they may want to ask the authors for a summary of the piece, logline, tagline, supporting imagery, etc that can be used on the website and for social media posts
14. Copy work to pre-press folders, check over again, and ask any remaining clarifying questions/edits with the author
15. Upload work to the CMS and have authors make a final check before the issue goes live
16. If a reading can be provided, this can be added now
17. Thank all non-selected authors for submitting their work — let them know that we will not be placing their work this issue but wish them well in all future endeavours and give encouragement to keep writing
18. Let all authors and submitters know that the issue is now live
19. Share the publication more widely

I spend much of my time making sure everyone is happy and included in all the work we do whether this is deciding which theme to focus on in upcoming editions, work we publish, edits required. A happy team makes for a happy, and sustainable publication. There is a heinous level of admin but each day we try to make the publication a little smoother and improve our ability to help support authors a little more.

Editing is a sensitive task and requires openness on both the side of the author and editor. When we accept a piece we are accepting the author and their vision for their work. We will suggest revisions but the author will have the final say. The goal is always to make the work as strong and engaging as possible.

Given the aims of the journal, if we see potential in an author but the work still requires development, we would likely reach out to the author first to see if they would be willing to work with an editor to finalise the piece. If authors see this in good faith, this can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the publication.

Most work we publish doesn’t require much development work. Most of the line edits are to get the piece in-line with style requirements. But, around 10-15% of each issue goes through a much more intensive process as editors see something in someone or some story that isn’t quite ready yet and are happy to work with the author until the text feels right.

Award nominations are an important part of championing authors and new writing. Our masthead includes Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Pushcart prize winners, and each year I nominate our authors for international awards, such as the Caine Prize, the O Henry Prize, the Millions, Best of Net, PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, and Pushcart Prize. The editors and wider masthead also support these by championing specific works and authors.

In 2024 we held an inaugural Panorama Prize. Everyone on the masthead was asked to nominate one piece we’ve published during the calendar year. Our editors then went through a process of voting for work they think best represents what we’re trying to put out into the world, work that’s resonated with them, and they feel is particularly important/relevant.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd places went to Grace Loh Prasad, Devi S. Laskar, and Joelle Renstrom respectively. Honourable mentions were also awarded to authors who placed just outside the top three, by the finest of margins—Jenny Boyar, Yoko Nogami, Samuel Autman, and Katrina Woznicki.

The works awarded related a deep connection to others and place, the losses we face and ways we find to survive. There is an authenticity in the work championed by the editors that continue to set the bar for the writing we publish in Panorama. Honest moments, humble experiences which define us as people and our unique selves, unique voices, and diversity of writing and form.