Lit Journals

Television critic Nancy Franklin will no longer serve as the TV critic at The New Yorker.

She broke the story on Twitter: “Some news: I’m leaving my job as The New Yorker’s TV critic. Happy to have had, for 13 yrs, the best job ever, and happy to be giving it up.”

Franklin had worked at the magazine since 1978. She served as an editorial assistant and fact checker before becoming the nonfiction editor in 1985. She began writing for the magazine in 1995 with the feature, “How Did I Get Here?” (Via Motoko Rich)

The “10 Years Later” issue of Granta focuses on 9/11 and its aftermath, and the literary journal will sponsor nearly 50 events around the globe to continue the conversation.

The events will be held through October 11, ranging from the Wordstock Festival in Oregon to the Brooklyn Book Festival. Follow these links to find events in your neigborhood: USA & Canada,UK, Europe and South Asia. RSVP for free events at events@granta.com.

Here’s more from the journal: “A street vendor in Tunisia, an American marine going home and a signals operator on a North Korean fishing trawler. From the battlefields of Afganistan to the streets of Mogadishu and Toronto, these are just a few of the stories in the issue of Granta that conjure the complexity and sorrow of life since 11 September 2001.”

The literary journal Slake has applied for a $2,500 GOOD award to help pay for ten nonfiction essays for the next issue. GOOD L.A. and EPIP L.A. have decided to celebrate “awesome efforts that are moving Los Angeles forward” with a special award.

Here’s more from Slake: “Help the editors fulfill their mission to revitalize the city’s literary scene by financing 10 deeply reported pieces for its next issue …. Slake’s co-founders and editors are spearheading a movement they call ‘Slow Lit’ with deeply reported investigative journalism and a committed engagement with the city.”

Readers and supporters can can vote for the proposal for the next eight days. The GOOD L.A. Fund currently counts 42 different project proposals, many with literary themes. Follow this link to explore all the proposals.

The Paris Review has unveiled its first digital edition, selling four issues of the literary journal for $30 through Zinio’s digital newsstand.

The summer issue includes stories by Jonathan Lethem, Amie Barrodale, David Gates and Roberto Bolano.

Check it out: “For the first time, readers can buy a digital version of The Paris Review—for easy access anytime, anywhere. TPR digital can be read on your iPad, laptop, or mobile device. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s instant gratification!”

Last night the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) honored both Poetry and Harper’s with National Magazine Awards.

Poetry received the General Excellence (Print) category for Literary, Political and Professional Magazines. The April, September, and October issues were singled out in recognition. Harper’s won the Reporting category for Scott Horton‘s “The Guantanamo Suicides.” More literary winners follow below…

Here’s more from the release: “Known as the Ellies, for the Alexander Calder stabile ‘Elephant’ given to each winner, the awards were hosted by Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, and were attended by more than 700 magazine editors and publishers. The sold-out event was highlighted by the presentation of the Creative Excellence Award to Tom Wolfe by Jann S. Wenner, editor and publisher of Rolling Stone and member of the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame.”

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The cover of the upcoming issue of Granta deconstructs women’s magazines like Vogue with with pink fonts, splashy headlines, and a connect-the-dots cover model.

Granta 115: The F Word will “explore the ways in which feminism continues to inform, address and complicate” the power balance between men and women. Publication is set for May 19th.

It will include writings by Eudora Welty, Tea Obreht,  Louise Erdrich, Jeanette Winterson, and Edwidge Danticat.

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The Virginia Quarterly Review and The New Yorker each received two National Magazine Award nominations for fiction. We’ve listed the nominated stories below. American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), revealed all the finalists at this link.

In addition, five magazines will compete for the Literary, Political and Professional Magazines award that “Honors academic and scholarly publications as well as smaller-circulation general-interest magazines.” They are: Lapham’s Quarterly, The Paris Review, Poetry, The Sun, and Virginia Quarterly Review.

The Atlantic for “Bone Hinge,” by Katie Williams in May issue
The New Yorker for “Foster,” by Claire Keegan in February 15-22 issue
The New Yorker for “Costello,” by Jim Gavin in December 6 issue
Virginia Quarterly Review for “Minor Watt,” by Paul Theroux in spring issue
Virginia Quarterly Review for “Uzon,” by William Malatinsky in  summer issue

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LAist published a list of the best literary journals in Los Angeles–speculating that LA literary journals might even be more hip than their New York City counterparts.

Here’s more from the post: “So maybe our city isn’t host to regal literary journals like Harper’s, Granta, or The Paris Review. And, yes, elite literary parlors with Merlot and Camembert on doilies seem somewhat amiss in a city where flames seize shrubs more often than fireplaces. But that doesn’t mean LA’s literary publications fall short. It just means we’re not stuck up. In truth, several esteemed lit journals prevail in our unassuming city. And with good reason: like many things considered pompous elsewhere (tattoos, indie music, modern art, the color black), literary magazines are cooler in Los Angeles.”

Follow this link to check out all the literary journals. Are there any publications they should add to the list? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The storytelling site Broadcastr won the “Most Attractive for Investment” audience award at the inaugural Next Big Thing event at The Paley Center for Media last week.

Electric Literature c0-founders Andy Hunter and Scott Lindenbaum introduced Broadcastr at the eBook Summit last year,  a storytelling app that will let people record audio versions of location-specific stories around the globe–like Foursquare for storytellers. Above, we’ve embedded a video of the presentation.

Here’s more from Lindenbaum from the release (embedded below): “We were excited to discuss ideas with other start-ups and leaders in the field … The start-up space is competitive, like snowboarding, and you want to be successful. But it’s also about seeing what’s possible, and advancing the community as a whole.”

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Former Harper’s editor Theodore Ross has written an essay at Dad Wagon about being laid off at the literary magazine–calling the current state of publishing “a depression.”

Here’s an excerpt: “I will say that Harper’s problems are hardly original among its publishing peers: the challenges it faces are structural, others stem from poor luck and an inability to plan; most, however, are clearly self-inflicted … I’m 37 years old and out of work in the middle of what, for publishing at least, is a depression. I may never again hold a job of similar prestige and seriousness of purpose. Hopefully, the book I’m working on (tentatively titled Am I a Jew, it is expected in 2012 from Hudson Street Press) will be a success by whatever lights my publisher needs to allow me to write another.”

What do you think? Last week, hundreds of Facebook users joined the new Save Harper’s Magazine cause on Facebook. (Via The Awl)