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Editor Interview: Dark Matter: Women Witnessing

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: ecofeminist all genres

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Emergence
Kosmos
Yes!
Orion

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: Linda Hogan
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Lidia Yuknavitch
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Leslie Marmon Silko
Amitav Ghosh
Kathleen Dean Moore
Deena Metzger
Sophie Strand
Alice Walker
Joan Mitchell
Edvard Munch
Suzette Clough

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: We publish writing and artwork created in response to an age of massive species loss and ecological collapse. We are especially interested in "othered" ways of knowing: e.g. dreams, visions, communications with the nonhuman world and with ancestors, especially those with messages for how we might begin to heal our broken relationship to the earth.
Before each issue appears, the principal contributors gather on zoom for a conversation about each others' work that the editors then shape into an editorial. These conversations have been passionate and often revelatory and have generated deep and lasting connections.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: read material in back issues and submission guidelines so you know what we're looking for.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: clearly resonant with our overall mission as well as the theme for that particular issue and beautifully crafted.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: for poetry, fiction and artwork, we require notes bridging to our mission and/or the issue's theme

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: cover letters can help us determine to what degree the writer or artist resonates with our mission
previous publication credits are not as important

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: WE generally know within a page or two... but in most cases we do read to the end.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: careful reading both by myself and my assistant editors

Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?

A: we generally provide substantive editing on every level and yes the author gets to approve the final edits.

Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?

A: yes