Editor Interview: Another Chicago Magazine

local/global, small press

publications: The Paris Review, The Rumpus, The Sun, Iowa Review, New Letters, Lilith, A Public Space, Michigan Quarterly Review, Granta, Guernica, LitHub, Bellevue Literary Review, Georgia Review, Fourth Genre, Electric Lit, New England Review, Massachusetts Review
Presses: University of Nebraska/Massachusetts/Iowa/Northwestern/Missouri/Trinity/California/West Virginia/Wayne State/Alabama/Georgia presses, Copper Canyon, Kerpunkt, Coffee House, Graywolf, Split/lip, Red Hen, Alice James, City Lights, Sarabande, Dorothy, BOA, Night Boat

just too too many of both

We publish local Chicago writers as well as global writers who write in English as well as those who are translated (and we run the piece in the original language as well), we publish poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews of writers/artists/activists, reviews of small-press lit books as well as books about social/political issues. We publish original artwork with each piece and we publish TWICE a WEEK with virtually no budget. We are just starting to systematically publish excerpts of forthcoming work from small presses. We publish what has literary depth, and we are always looking for work with political/historical/social depth, too.

Read the publication. Don't call us AMC.

Lyrical work that has one eye looking inward and one eye looking outward/historically

They send poetry in the fiction portal and so on.

I do glance at them despite myself. Publication in journals I admire biases me toward the piece, but it's the piece itself that counts for 100 percent of the decision.

Two pages for prose. I don't read prose all the way through if I can tell it's not for us.

The editors and readers read each piece and discuss, except in the case of poetry. Poetry editors and guest editors make the decision.

I check nonfiction and Forthcoming submissions, glance through our emails. I confer with the managing and associate editors often. I read submissions usually in order sent, except if I recognize a name or am intrigued by a title.

The author always gets the last word. We edit according to how much a piece needs. That could be line editing, more, or less.

Best American Essays and Short Stories, Pushcart Prize, Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards (when they're offered)