Editor Interview: Henry Dumas Fiction Prize

Writing from USA & abroad

Literary magazines: The Sun, Gulf Coast, Words Without Borders, Asymptote, World Literature Today, The Paris Review, Poetry Northwest ... Publishers: Archipelago, New Directions, Entre Ríos Books, Deep Vellum, Open Letter, World Poetry Books, New York Review of Books ...

Michele Mari, Claudia Rankine, Jeanette Winterson, Jane Hirschfield, Mario Luzi, Valerie Luiselli, Marguerite Duras, Paolo Cognetti, Sallie Tisdale, W.S. Merwin, Annie Dillard, Carol Ann Duffy, Julian Barnes, Paolo Giordano, Luigi Nacci, Antonio Moresco, Vivian Gornick, Lucia Berlin, Don Mee Choi, Elaine Feeney, Sebastian Barry, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Clarice Lispector ...

The Arkansas International seeks to put US writing in conversation with writing from around the world. We seek out poetry, prose, and comics not only in English by US writers but also in translation from other languages and original work in English by writers from elsewhere. We value writing that challenges ideas of "global" and "regional" literature, and support writers at risk in their home country with our Writer-at-Risk residency. Our website, www.arkint.org, publishes selections from the magazine alongside additional content, such as reviews, author Q&As, and other features.

Please inform us at the outset if you are simultaneously submitting your work elsewhere (it's best if you're not), and let us know immediately if anything you've sent us has been taken elsewhere. As for translations, please include, if possible, copies of the original texts, and let us know whether or not you have already secured permission to publish your versions. (it's best if you have.)

A comforting, disturbing, hilarious, heartbreaking, traditional, experimental poem or story or essay or comic, either originally in English or translated from another language. Work that both recognizes and transcends boundaries, that speaks in a distinctive voice, that enlivens the senses of the reader.

Submitters most often get it right, but when they don't it's usually because they haven't taken a close look at our magazine or our website (www.arkint.org).

Cover letters and lists of previous publications are welcome but not required. Do let us know in your cover letter if your submission was solicited by anyone on our staff.

Each submission is read by multiple editors. Usually we read a piece to the end before rejecting it -- indeed sometimes we each read it multiple times. Other times we can tell before we read the whole thing that it isn't right for us.

The editor of each genre (poetry, prose, comics) makes their initial recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief. If the work in question is a translation, the translation editor consults with the genre editor before making their recommendations. Initial recommendations are then discussed and sometimes revised after conversations among the genre editors, the translation editor, the managing editor, and the Editor-in-Chief. Our primary consideration is literary excellence as we perceive it, but beyond that we consider other factors in order to produce issues that present a diverse range of voices, themes, styles, geographies, and cultures.

Much of the reading happens late, early, or on weekends and holidays since all our staff have day jobs and busy lives. Our staff meets once a fortnight in person and connects frequently between meetings to keep all the the plates spinning. We consult often, collaborate enthusiastically, support each other and regroup when life happens, and celebrate large and small successes.

It depends. We always provide basic proofreading and copyediting, we often suggest minor line edits, and in some cases we work with contributors to provide more substantive editing. The author always gets to approve any edits: we send out proofs to all contributors before we go to press.

Yes, we nominate work we've published for inclusion in the Pushcart anthology and for any other awards for which they might be eligible.

When the Arkansas International was founded in 2016, it was primarily funded and staffed by the MFA program at the University of Arkansas. Since its inception, it has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Whiting Foundation, and numerous individual donors. In 2025 the University of Arkansas ended its affiliation with the magazine, and as a result the journal has recreated itself into an independent 501(c)(3) organization.