Our Mission
We prioritize the accessibility of our magazine—this is why we respond within 48 hours and don't charge for submissions.
We believe all writers—especially young writers, new writers, and writers from marginalized communities—should be provided an avenue to present their work to the world.
We hope to promote "risky" writing, including work that takes unconventional positions, work that subverts the traditional expectations of poetry and prose, and work that uniquely incorporates visual and auditory art.
Notes on Risk-Taking
A few days after 9/11, Susan Sontag wrote:
"Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a 'cowardly' attack on 'civilization' or 'liberty' or 'humanity' or 'the free world,' but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?"
On Sontag's statement, Kaveh Akbar wrote:
"[Sontag's] ability to articulate that, at a moment when Walmart was selling out of American flags, felt like bravery and risk-taking to me. I talk to my students a lot about risk. And there’s a way in which writing about doing x, y, or z drug, or doing a, b, or c sex act, passes for risk. But Allen Ginsberg was doing all that in the ’50s. That subject matter hasn’t been risky for seventy-five years, at least not in a way that would shock a reader of contemporary literature. But what did shock this reader of contemporary literature was Sontag’s essay and Baker’s Checkpoint. I have always had this in my mind as a thing to aspire to: What would actually be risky for me to do?"
Masthead
Founder and Editor in Chief
Chloe Xu is a poet from Chicagoland whose work has been recognized by YoungArts, National Poetry Quarterly, the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. When she is not writing poetry, she loves to blog and solve physics problems. She can be found at https://chloexu.carrd.co/.
Staff Editor
Claire Furlanetto is a young writer living in Los Angeles whose work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Poetry By Chance, and numerous youth-run literary magazines. In her free time, you'll find her watching movies, baking, and daydreaming. Check her out at claire.mackenzieee on Instagram!