mb's David Hirschman recently caught up with former Paris Review editor Brigid Hughes to discuss her new publication, A Public Space a Brooklyn-based quarterly that describes itself as an "independent magazine of literature and culture." The magazine, which launches in January, will feature fiction and poetry.

What was the genesis of A Public Space? What separates it from the other lit mags out there, and what kind of writing are you looking for? Is it more for established writers, or are you interested in finding new talent? Will it be as highbrow as the Paris Review, or are you modeling it more after the avant-garde McSweeney's set?

I don't want to create a magazine that can be so easily labeled. I hope the magazine, and the writers we publish, will be all of those things. Established and new. Highbrow as well as avant-garde. And more.

I don't think anyone goes into a bookstore looking for a highbrow book. You want a good book. Who's taking on an interesting idea? Telling an engaging story? Those are the writers-that's the work-I want to publish.

More here.