Newswire archives are delayed by two weeks.

The CLMP Newswire
A Biweekly Email News Dispatch on Independent Literary Publishing
A Project of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (http://www.clmp.org)

Table of Contents for August 1, 2002 (Volume 2, Number 14)

• The Missouri Review Celebrates 25th Anniversary
• Lannan Translation Grants Awarded to Three Literary Presses
• In Brief

THE MISSOURI REVIEW CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Even though The Missouri Review has been publishing for a quarter century, Founding Editor Speer Morgan speaks about his efforts--and the efforts of the authors he's published--with surprise. "Literary magazine publishing is a totally inefficient enterprise," he says. "If you think of all the manuscripts we consider, all the hours we put into editing, all the hours contributors put into writing, it's about 1,000 hours of human labor that goes into every issue of this modest, humble little publication." Despite that, he loves his job. "It's such a weird activity. It's like working at the humane society, only we're dealing with writers," says Morgan. "And we really work hard to present their work in the best way possible. I find it very rewarding."

The non-profit magazine, supported in part by the University of Missouri at Columbia, was once a child of the English Department. The job of editing the publication fell on Morgan, who says at the time he didn't really care much for being an editor. But, while he was teaching in Texas for a year, he received frantic letters from The Missouri Review's Managing Editor about the state of the journal. "All of a sudden I began to feel desperate about not seeing its demise," says Morgan. "So when I returned one of the things I had to do was wrest it from the English Department and make it an entity of the College of Arts & Sciences."

After Morgan successfully provided the publication the autonomy he believed it required in order to stay fertile, he began to get wise to the necessity of getting grants. But the grants wouldn't amount to much, he realized, unless the magazine put its efforts into marketing. Continuing to find fresh ways to market the publication has kept Morgan busy. "No one has the secret formula for marketing something as difficult as a literary magazine," says Morgan. "You can never tell what's really going to work but you have to hit it from all fronts."

To that end, Morgan organizes a yearly direct marketing campaign knowing that of the $25,000 that goes into the mailing he will get only a 1% return rate. But the objective, Morgan says, is to go for the renewal. By offering a three-year subscription for a set rate, there's no work involved in re-subscribing the reader. "People are intelligent consumers. If you give them a good deal, you will get subscribers," says Morgan. The magazine also sponsors two contests a year, one for poetry and one for fiction. The submission fee goes toward a year's subscription to the magazine. Although it inflates the subscriber numbers, Morgan still sees it as an important way to expose the magazine to the public. "It seems like all magazines have resorted to the absolute necessity of the contest," says Morgan. "It's the most inexpensive marketing tool we've got." And Morgan is not afraid to sink to the humblest levels in marketing. He displays the publication at local coffee shops and sends copies to the local bookstores where the authors live.

Morgan says that he is driven to make marketing a priority because beyond that, his first ambition as editor is to make sure his writers are read. "Magazines that don't market are fake. If they go to the trouble to print the work and don't try to sell it, who sees the authors?" he says. In addition to marketing the magazine's authors, Morgan takes pride in the fact that many of the writers the magazine has published remain unknown. And better still, he is particularly pleased by the fact that The Missouri Review has published unknown writers who go on to win prestigious prizes and make the bestseller lists, including Robert Olen Butler, Naguib Mahfouz and Bob Shacochis. "Each issue we have to read 3,000 manuscripts. It's totally uneconomical, yet there's a great deal of value in it. The most likely place you'll find that value is in the discovery of new writers," says Morgan.

But his philosophy about publishing unknowns goes even deeper than that. Morgan believes that it is not the job of the literary magazine to publish famous and established authors but instead to support and encourage new and emerging writers. "The problem with so many literary magazines is they think they have to plaster big names across the front cover. But you can't get the best material on a regular basis from these writers," says Morgan. "The more big names there are the more it probably means the magazine is not well edited."

The Missouri Review is published three times a year and publishes a mix of poetry, fiction, historical features, book reviews and cartoons. Find out more by logging on at http://www.missourireview.org.

LANNAN TRANSLATION GRANTS AWARDED TO THREE LITERARY PRESSES

In an effort to support literary translations in the United States, New Mexico-based Lannan Foundation ( http://www.lannon.org) awarded three grants of $150,000 each to Curbstone Press, Graywolf Press, and BOA Editions. "Our goal is to increase the number of translations in the United States," says Yun Kim, Literary Program Manager of Lannan Foundation, a non-profit family foundation dedicated to supporting literary projects that celebrate diversity through art. "After we finished researching ideas, we felt the best way to do this was to support the presses who have a long-standing track record of publishing translations." The grant specifies that each press must publish two works of translation over the next three years

Each of the three presses has a long history of publishing works in translation. For instance, Sandy Taylor, Co-Director of Curbstone Press ( http://www.curbstone.org), says 75% of its publications are translations. "We've been on the forefront of publishing translations for many years," says Taylor. "This support is very important because it will allow us to advance our marketing efforts and bring translations to a wider audience." This year, the 27-year old press will use its grant to support publication of the novel Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea by Nicaraguan author Sergio Ramirez and No One Will See Me Cry by Mexican novelist and critic Cristini Rivera-Garza. Both books have already gained attention abroad: Ramirez' book received the Alfaguara Prize in Spain, and Rivera-Garza's book was awarded the Sor Jauna Ines de la Cruz Prize, given annually at the International Guadalajara Book Fair for the best work of fiction in Spanish by a woman writer.

Fiona McCray, Publisher of Graywolf Press ( http://www.graywolfpress.com), also sees translations as an important part of her press's history-and future. From 1994 to 2000 Graywolf did not publish translations, but the 25-year-old press recently published two works in translation. "This grant represents a time when we are getting back to Graywolf's roots and publishing translations," says McCray. "And we're so grateful the Lannan Foundation recognized that when they gave us this grant." Like Curbstone, one of Graywolf's translations will also feature a Mexican writer, poet Pura Lopez-Colome. Her book, No Shelter, is translated by Forrest Gander. Graywolf is also publishing Without An Alphabet, Without a Face: Selected Poems by Saddi Youssef, translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa.

Thom Ward, Editor and Development Director of BOA Editions ( http://www.boaeditions.org), echoes McCray when he explains why he believes his press was awarded the translation series grant. "They're obviously happy with our books, and they like the way we treat our authors," says Ward. "We've always prided ourselves on publishing contemporary poetry translations." Ward is overjoyed by the grant. "We are grateful to the Lannan Foundation because we believe it's important to the literary landscape in America to bring more exposure to translations," he says. The $150,000 grant is the largest single award the press has received in its 25 year history, and it will be used to support the publication of The Siege by Italian poet Ljuba Merlina Bortolani and Engravings Torn from Insomnia by Olga Orozco, a contemporary Argentinean poet.

IN BRIEF

The Common Review Turns 1

The Common Review, which has established a reputation for wide-ranging content and for fostering reading and discussion groups, celebrates its first year of publication on September 1. The journal includes poetry, reviews and an eclectic array of articles ranging from political to social commentary. But the publication, in spite of its content, strives to reach a general audience and not just academics or intellectuals. "We are striving to create a public forum that bridges the gap between academic and public discussion," says Editor Born. For instance, the inaugural issue featured a story on how teaching the works of Toni Morrison to jail inmates changed one woman's life

The magazine is published by the 50-year old Great Books foundation, a non-profit organization that supports nearly 15,000 participants in thousands of reading and discussion groups at libraries, schools, homes, and community centers throughout the country. Though it is now distributed by Ingram to 150 bookstores in the U.S., the inaugural issue was distributed to 20,000 librarians, teachers and journalists. For more information, visit the website, http://www.thecommonreview.org.

While the Grolier Poetry Book Shop Turns 75

The Poetry Society of America celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop September 23, 2002, at 7 p.m. at Sanders Theatre in Harvard University's Memorial Hall, Cambridge, MA. A reading will feature Frank Bidart, Robert Creeley, Martin Espáda, Jorie Graham, Eamon Grennan, Donald Hall, Marie Howe, Philip Levine, and Peter Sacks. The book shop, located at 6 Plympton Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge, is both the oldest and the largest of its kind in the United States. It features over 15,000 poetry titles and also stocks books related to prosody, poetry markets, spoken word cassettes, and some poetry journals. For more information, please contact Louisa Solano at grolierpoetrybookstore@compuserve.com.