Monday Night Review in the Contra Costa Times

EAST BAY A HOTBED OF LITERARY JOURNALS

By Calvin Liu
Contra Costa Times, February 27, 2005

THERE WERE EARLY, telltale signs indicating just how difficult it was going to be. The one that really stung was the reaction from family and friends: "You're publishing a literary journal? Congratulations! So, what exactly is a literary journal, anyway?"

It wasn't always this way.

Once upon a time, literary journals were highly regarded, widely read, even notorious. You need only think back to a different era, when writers were producing the fiction and poetry considered "outsider" and "experimental" in their time, but that have become the classics of ours.

Take the Little Review, which began publishing out of Chicago in 1914 and was the original U.S. venue for James Joyce's "Ulysses," now considered a seminal modernist text. The Little Review ran for 15 years, regularly publishing Joyce, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens and countless other now-iconic writers.

Following "Ulysses," the Little Review found itself in criminal court on charges of obscenity, and even before that, copies of the journal that included an earlier Joyce play and a Wyndham Lewis short story were seized and burned as pornography by the U.S. Post Office.

Fast-forward some 80 or 90 years, and the renegade spirit of the Little Review is still very much alive --although contemporary journals are considered commercially negligible and often are relegated to the deepest, darkest corners of bookstores. Barnes & Noble, for example, might carry a handful of the more prominent titles, while some Borders refuse to carry them at all.

"Sales do help, of course, but small press publications are rarely financially solvent," says Rusty Morrison, co-editor of the Moraga-based journal 26 and co-founder of Omnidawn, a publishing house in Richmond.

"Funding is an enormous challenge," she says. "We five editors put in our own money to support the design and typesetting as well as printing costs." The struggle continues even with support from St. Mary's College and the Zellerbach and Hewlett foundations.

Despite the difficulties, the East Bay remains a hotbed for literary journals of all types -- old and new, mass-distributed and hand-distributed. They run the gamut from Oakland's Monday Night, a photocopied, hand-stapled journal that grew out of a small, informal writer's group in 2002, to Berkeley's venerable Threepenny Review, which has been one of the nation's top literary publications for more than two decades. (Two friends and I launched our journal, Bullfight, last year.)

Ultimately, few of these journals -- regardless of stature -- can profit or even break even, and their publishers often accept that they never will.

So why do literary journals persist?

Sharon McGill of Monday Night seems to do it mostly for fun. She says she and her colleagues just get "a real thrill to see Monday Night in bookstores," although she adds that publishing the journal is also about providing alternatives to mainstream literature.

"It's a very satisfying sense that you're a part of a vibrant, new voice for independence," McGill says. "A tiny step made in an effort to provide a more approachable place for new writers, who so often feel shut out of the corporate-controlled, profit-driven publishing world."

Recent issues contain mostly poems, prose poems and "flash" fiction (stories under 500 or 1,000 words) by a range of writers, from Andy Dixon, whose contributor bio lists him as a "Little League umpire and experimental musician," to Ishle Yi Park, current poet laureate of Queens, N.Y.

The writing in Monday Night is quirky -- from a poem about wasps flying into people's mouths to a short story about a man trying to make a few bucks selling the crab he's just caught "the hard way." Pieces like these are fun to read, but no doubt appeal to a limited audience.

Looking for quality

Monday Night prints about 200 copies once a year, which makes it a much simpler operation to run than other journals that print more copies more often.

Watchword, for example, prints almost 1,000 copies twice a year. It has continuously operated since 2001 on about $15,000 that came mostly through donations or out of then-publisher Danielle Jatlow's pocket. Since then, a mix of loyal subscribers, grants and further donations have kept the journal afloat.

Watchword recently launched its seventh issue under a new publisher, Liz Lisle. It's one of the more finely produced local journals, sparing little expense on its thick, watercolor-texture stock cover and heavy text paper. Each issue draws about 800 submissions, Lisle says, but features no more than 20. The current issue has everything from a story about a man named Headlight who has an artificial leg, to a Vitezslav Nezval poem translated from Czech, to a transcript entered into evidence in an investigation in which the interviewee had unwittingly aided the suspect. It's certainly an eclectic mix.

"The Watchword editors don't look for style as specifically as they look for the quality of the work," Lisle says. "We have published a poem about grandmother's underwear and a story that explores transgendered identity without blinking an eye."

Like her predecessor (Jatlow was a literary agent), Lisle has a full-time day job -- she's managing director of the Shotgun Players theater troupe -- and can only work on Watchword in her free time.

Like Shotgun Players, Watchword is incorporated as a nonprofit arts organization, but Lisle says it's exceedingly more difficult to secure grant money for literary endeavors.

The East Bay selection

The Bay Area's many independent bookstores make this one of the better literary markets. Some stores (such as Cody's in Berkeley) even feature bookshelves devoted entirely to literary journals. In many cases, publishers can simply walk in and place a few copies on consignment. Once sold, the money is generally split -- 60 percent of the cover price goes back to the publisher; 40 percent is kept by the bookstore.

Perhaps the greatest success in the East Bay -- at least in literary journal terms -- is Berkeley's Threepenny Review, which celebrated its 25th anniversary with the publication of its 100th issue in January. It often features short stories, essays and reviews by best-selling authors as well as Nobel Prize-winners and U.S. poet laureates, and boasts a quarterly circulation of more than 10,000.

Still, even Threepenny staff members have no illusions about making it their full-time gig.

"I didn't set out to make a living off of Threepenny and I still don't," says founding editor Wendy Lesser. "I take other work -- writing and teaching -- on the side to make ends meet."

Much of that struggle is meeting the cost of production. Here the choices of paper, ink and binding are major variables. Threepenny, for example, looks more like a tabloid newspaper, which is certainly more affordable to print than the standard, "perfect-bound" paperback journal.

If you look around, you can easily find a few mass-circulation paperback titles such as Granta and the Paris Review, and occasionally academic heavyweights such as the Iowa Review and the Mississippi Review.

Look harder and you might even find something published right here in the East Bay. Here's a selection of locally published literary journals, which can be ordered online or found at local independent bookstores.

Berkeley Fiction Review
Established: 1982.
Home base: Berkeley.
Web site: www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~bfr
Editors: Rotating; currently Juliana Yee and Michael Grisolia.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "Inventive short fiction by emerging and established writers who represent the fragmented voices of contemporary life," Yee says.
The skinny: The review is funded by UC Berkeley's student union. It is designed and published solely by Cal undergrads and is descended from the oldest literary publication on campus, the Occident, established in 1881.
Next issue: May.
Price: $10

Bullfight
Established: 2004.
Home base: Walnut Creek.
Web site: www.bullfightreview.com
Editors: Calvin Liu, Sarah Charukesnant and Liz Tascio.
Published: Biannually.
Mission: "Death-defying feats of fiction."
The skinny: Bullfight also administers the Bullfight Little Book Prize, a writing contest for manuscripts under 100 pages. For 2005, it will be judged by Tom Bissell, Pushcart Prize-winning author of "God Lives in St. Petersburg" and "Chasing the Sea."
Next issue: No. 2 will be released at a launch party March 5 in San Francisco.
Price: $8.

Chain
Established: 1993.
Home base: Oakland and Philadelphia, Pa.
Web site: www.temple.edu/chain
Editors: Juliana Spahr and Jena Osman.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "A yearly issue of writing and art gathered loosely around a topic," Spahr says. "The topic serves as an editorial limit and changes the question asked of each piece submitted from 'Is this a great piece of art?' to 'Does this piece of art say something about the topic that is not already known?' This makes Chain a little rougher around the edges, a little less aesthetically predictable."
The skinny: Spahr teaches at Mills College in Oakland, while Osman teaches at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Next issue: Fall.
Price: $12.

Eleven Eleven
Established: 2004.
Home base: Oakland.
Web site: www.cca.edu/1111
Editors: Youmna Chlala and Brent Foster Jones.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "Eleven Eleven is a forum for writers and artists to risk, experiment, and find answers for and from their contemporaries," Chlala says. "We welcome works with vision and insight, and our aim is to produce a publication that serves as an exchange between writers and artists."
The skinny: Published by the MFA program in creative writing at the California College of the Arts in Oakland.
"Our perspective -- as a journal based in a writing program within an art school -- reflects an interest in the ways artists and writers explore and expose similar ideas, obsessions, memories, and current culture," Chlala says.
Next issue: This spring.
Price: $8.95.

Five Fingers Review
Established: 1986.
Home base: San Leandro.
Web site: www.fivefingersreview.org
Editors: Rotating; Jaime Robles is the publisher and main editor.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "Each annual is organized by a central theme, which is then interpreted by four guest editors who select and introduce the work in their section," according to the Web site.
The skinny: Has ties to the Literary Arts Project at the Berkeley Art Center; holds annual fiction and poetry contests.
Next issue: September.
Price: $12.

580 Split
Established: 1999.
Home base: Oakland.
Web site: www.580split.com
Editors: Rotating; currently Jennifer Uhlich, Raquel Baker, Pancha Diaz, Jessea Perry and Melinda Barnes.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "580 Split is dedicated to publishing the best in experimental art, poetry and fiction from artists and writers around the world," Uhlich says. "We firmly believe in supporting work that pushes the boundaries of their respective genres."
The skinny: Published by the MFA program in creative writing at Mills College in Oakland.
Next issue: April.
Price: $7.50.

Floating Holiday
Established: 2001.
Home base: Oakland.
Web site: www.penelope.net/floating.html
Editors: Chris and Victoria Heifner.
Published: Irregularly.
Mission: "To make people feel less lonely," Victoria says. Floating Holiday's title page calls it "a friendly magazine."
The skinny: "We do everything and I print the covers at my studio (Milkfed Press)," Victoria Heifner says. "Chris and I even do the binding. It's a total labor of love."
Next issue: The third issue was released in January and dedicated to former contributor Shannon Hamann, who died while it was being compiled.
Price: $9.

Monday Night
Established: 2002.
Home base: Oakland and State College, Pa.
Web site: www.mondaynightlit.com
Editors: Sharon McGill, Rob Pierce and Jessica Wickens.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "Monday Night exists to spread the excitement of first publication to new writers," McGill says. "Although the explosion of online literary journals offers emerging writers plenty of opportunities for publication, we really like the tangibility of ink on paper and figure there are still a few other writers who do, too."
The skinny: Started as a writing group that met at members' houses every Monday night.
Next issue: June.
Price: $3.

Nocturnes
Established: 2001.
Home base: Oakland.
Web site: www.nocturneseditions.org
Editor: Giovanni Singleton.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "A theme-based journal committed to publishing quality innovative critical and creative art from throughout the African Diaspora and other contested spaces," Singleton says.
The skinny: "It is also one of the very few independent literary journals in the United States that is edited by an African-American woman," Singleton adds.
Next issue: End of April.
Price: $15.

Threepenny Review
Established: 1980.
Home base: Berkeley.
Web site: www.threepennyreview.com
Editor: Wendy Lesser.
Published: Quarterly.
Mission: "A quarterly review of the arts and society that is of nationwide interest," Lesser says.
The skinny: Threepenny is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an ongoing lecture series at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. For more information, visit City Arts & Lectures at www.cityarts.net.
Next issue: This spring.
Price: $7.

26
Established: 2002.
Home base: Moraga.
Web site: www.26magazine.com
Editors: Avery E.D. Burns, Rusty Morrison, Joseph Noble, Elizabeth Robinson and Brian Strang.
Published: Annually.
Mission: "26 is an annual literary journal which takes its name from the number of letters in the English alphabet so as to emphasize the material presence and limits of language, which nonetheless yield innumerable possibilities," Morrison says.
The skinny: Affiliated with the MFA program in creative writing at St. Mary's College. Each semester, one graduate student serves as an intern, whose salary is paid by the college.
Next issue: April.
Price: $12.

Watchword
Established: 2000.
Home base: Berkeley.
Web site: www.watchwordpress.org
Editors: Liz Lisle, Kasia Newman, Jenny Davis, Evan Rehill and Helene Poulshock.
Published: Biannually.
Mission: "We seek to publish emerging writers who are generally underrepresented by the larger, market-driven, commercial publishing houses," Lisle says. "While we publish a variety of works, our main focuses are on emerging American writers and modern translations."
The skinny: Founded by Danielle Jatlow, who recently moved away for graduate school.
Next issue: This summer.
Price: $10.

Others

Carquinez Poetry Review (Benicia), edited by Dave Badtke, Josanna Berkow, Ruth Blakeney and Lorraine Babb Terry.
Laundry Pen (Oakland), edited by Andree Kirk and Shelly Gill. Experimental fiction only.
Rapidfeed (Berkeley), edited by Mike Kim. Poetry only.

Upcoming events

Ker-bloom! #52 release party is 7:30-9 tonight, the Long Haul Infoshop, 3124 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. Sliding-scale admission includes vegan dinner and readings.
Bullfight #2 release party is 8 p.m.-midnight March 5, Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom St., S.F. Live music. Free.
26 hosts a reading to celebrate the release of "Issue D," 7:30 p.m. April 20 at the St. Mary's College art gallery in Moraga. Free.
New York City-based Pindeldyboz joins the East Bay's Watchword and Bullfight for an evening of readings and live music, 7-10 p.m. April 21 at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Free.
Eleven Eleven plans to host an issue release party in May at Den, 849 Valencia St., S.F.

Reach Calvin Liu at cliu@cctimes.com