Editor Interview: Aromatica Poetica

Writing Smell & Taste

Ploughshares, Electric Literature, The New Yorker, A Public Space, Perfumer & Flavorist, New York Review of Books, The Believer, Catapult

John Milton, David Foster Wallace, Margaret Atwood, Donna Tartt, Oliver Sacks, Helen Keller, Thomas Pynchon, Maggie Nelson, Michael Pollan, Thomas Harris, Patrick Süskind, Mandy Aftel, George R. R. Martin, Ursula K. Le Guin, Oscar Wilde

We at Aromatica Poetica believe that a tad bit too much attention has been paid to the representation of the visual in literature in particular, as well as more generally in the arts and sciences. Our culture’s ocularcentric tendencies limit our vocabulary and our minds. Thus, we seek to uplift the oft-neglected senses of smell and taste, and promote unconventional sensory experiences.
As a blind person and the founding editor, I like to publish historically under-represented voices. We are not a magazine for or about blind people, but we do strive to promote alternative perspectives and to create a space where we can converse on shared experiences and aesthetics.
The submissions of fiction, nonfiction and poetry we’ve published thus far demonstrate how smell and taste provide rich fodder for writing with beauty, clarity, humor, and emotional and intellectual heft.

Write well and with honesty. We tend to like stuff that is weird, eccentric, sweet, funny, intellectual, outlandish, depressing, twisted, freaky, sentimental, gritty, gorgeous, struggling with complexity... Basically, don’t be afraid, and don’t forget to engage with smell and/or taste!

I like a polite, straightforward cover letter with a short bio included in the body of the email. Occasionally, if I’m really torn about a piece, I’ll consider those past publications—maybe even check one or two out. But generally, it’s all about the submission that’s been sent to us.

I read the whole submission at least once before I make a decision.