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Editor Interview: Muzzle Magazine

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

A: Intentional, moving poems

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

A: To name a few: PANK, The Offing, Adroit, Shade Journal, Cream City Review, Blood Orange Review, Haymarket Press, Alice James Books, YesYes Books, Sarabande Books, decomP, Word Riot.

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

A: Brittany's Favorite Writers: Gwendolyn Brooks, Krista Franklin, Toni Morrison, Jesmyn Ward, Nikki Giovanni, Jericho Brown, Safia Elhillo, Lyrae Van-Clief Stefanon.
Raena's Favorite Writers: Adrienne Rich, Paisley Rekdal, Tarfia Faizullah, Lynda Hull, Audre Lorde, Jericho Brown, Victoria Chang.

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

A: MUZZLE aims to bring together the voices of poets from a diverse array of backgrounds, paying special homage to those from communities that are historically underrepresented in literary magazines. Many (but not all) of the poems we've published have revolved around themes of sexuality, gender, race, class, and difference. Notably, our past issues have included many tender and gorgeous poems from folks both from slam backgrounds and non-academic traditions more broadly.

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

A: Please proofread your work, follow our submission guidelines, read our representative authors to get an idea of our aesthetic, and send us something that is astonishing for all the right reasons.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: The submission guidelines have been followed; the language is fresh and inventive; the narrative is being told in a new way; the weight of the piece hits me at a gut level; we feel lucky to have had the opportunity to read the piece.

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

A: Our submissions are screened anonymously; please do not put any identifying information in the submission itself (including saving the file under your author name).

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

A:

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

A: Our first round readers read the entire submission.

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

A:

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: Very! As a fully online publication, we want to remain as accessible as possible to as wide an audience as possible.

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

A: From time to time, we will work with an author on edits before publication; however, we do not recommend that you submit work that is not ready to be published! Ultimately, authors get to approve final edits.

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

A: We nominate work for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net Anthology, Best New Poets Anthology, Best American Poetry, & any other anthologies that we are eligible for.