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Editor Interview: The Nassau Review

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

A: Traditiona/Experimental

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

A: The Disappointed Housewife
fillingStation
Fence
Poetry
The Rumpus
Booth
Redheaded Stepchild
Right Hand Pointing
Punk Monk Magazine
Anti-Heroin Chic
Visual Verse
Nine Cloud Journal
Main Street Rag
The Comstock Review
Arts and Letters
Zingara Poetry Review
Dancing Girl Press
Kore Press
Aqueduct Press
Alien Buddha Press
Roi Faineant Press
Another New Calligraphy
Parks & Points & Poetry Series.

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

A: WRITERS: [Poetry]: Alexis Pauline Gumbs; Lawrence Ferlinghetti; Richard Blanco; Michelle Whitaker; Frank O'Hara; Matthea Harvey; Phillip B. Willams; Frannie Choi; Natalie Diaz [Fiction] Taylor Jenkins Reid; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Elizabeth Acevedo; Ling Ma; Rahul Raina; Oyinkan Braithwaite; Mira Jacob [Creative Nonfiction & Nonfiction] Dorothy Allison; Jennifer Clement; Mira Jacob [Graphic]: Charles Burns; Will McPhail; Tim Kreider
ARTISTS: Louise Bourgeois; Andy Warhol; Jean Michel Basquiat; Sebastia Selgado; Roy Lichtenstein; Edward Hopper; Georgia O'Keeffe; Antonio Santin; Bettina Witte Veen

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

A: We hope to tell an over-arching story with the submissions from individual writers and artists.

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

A: Follow the guidelines carefully, proofread your work, and be professional.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: The ideal submission follows all guidelines! It considers the theme of the issue and it responds directly to us rather than sending a form letter.

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

A: Many submitters do not consider our theme. Many do not follow guidelines. These are the top two pet peeves of publishing.

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

A: We include a bio in the issue that allows submitters to offer links or previous publication, but during the selection process, the bio does not matter.

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

A: In the first stages, I do not read every single piece to the end. It's impossible, time-wise. Once the first round or two is over and the genre editors and student interns have had their say, I start to dive in further. Of course, in the last round, I've read everything at least two or three times straight through.

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

A: Some pieces go to a general genre editor for additional feedback if we're on the fence about it.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: Each genre editor and I read through submissions on a rolling basis, and no day is the same since we are all also professors in the English department with full teaching loads. Sometimes I read a little every day as submissions roll in, and other times I leave chunks at a time for review.

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

A: Embracing online submissions is highly important--it's the first change I made when I became Editor-in-chief. All that paper and postage is not necessary if you, as a publisher, have the technology at hand. Print issues versus online issues is a trickier topic. I like the idea of having electronic versions of journals online, but there's something about the feel of a hard copy journal, the smell of the pages, that keeps me in the tradition of a print run. We are working towards having both a hard copy version plus a sample of each issue online for a nice balance between progress and tradition.

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

A: We do not provide substantive editing. Mostly, we make changes for proofreading. We may suggest a change in a line or two of poetry or prose. We do make changes to follow our style guide. Otherwise, no major changes are suggested due to our timeline. Therefore, we appreciate polished work and authors open to suggestions. If we are suggesting changes, that means the piece is close to being in the final round.

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

A: This year we aim to nominate for Pushcarts.