C.J. Bartunek on the Georgia Review‘s Winter 2001/Spring 2002 Restrospective

Dear Chillsubs writers,

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“The best way to get published in a journal is to familiarize yourself with the journal first.” The Georgia Review’s Winter 2001 / Spring 2002 is an opportunity to REALLY familiarize yourself with GR’s legacy of publishing compelling nonfiction—the issue is a retrospective of essays spanning 1947 to 1996. This issue gives a sense of the vibrant history of literary journals in the twentieth century, which continues to inform literary publishing today, even as many journals now appear online rather than in print. Then-editor T. R. Hummer’s introduction explores how GR’s approach to nonfiction evolved and how he understands the special challenges and opportunities of the essay.

As the issue shows, GR published some of the most respected authors of the latter half of the twentieth century—Ernest J. Gaines, Joyce Carol Oates, Naomi Shihab Nye, Barry Lopez, Donald Barthelme, and more. Some of the earlier essays included, especially those more academic in tone, seem more obviously of another time and sensibility. Others, like Louise Erdrich’s “Skunk Dreams,” still feel contemporary. Some authors reflect on the writing life—Raymond Carver remembers his college creative writing professor John Gardner (now best known for The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers), while Eudora Welty recalls her very first published short story, which was also the first she ever submitted. She had asked a poet who lived in her neighborhood to suggest where to send it. Manuscript, a “little magazine” published out of Athens, Ohio, by a pair of editors married to each other, welcomed pieces by new writers and enthusiastically accepted “Death of a Traveling Salesman.”

This issue of The Georgia Review is heavy on famous names, but while there is much to learn
about craft from these authors, we too are excited to see work by newcomers, and to occasionally have the honor of featuring an author’s debut publication. The next two issues we’ll send as part of the Chillsubs collaboration will give you a better sense of what we’ve been publishing more recently. You can also browse selections from recent issues for free at thegeorgiareview.com if you’re wondering whether we’re a good fit for your work. We also post on Instagram: @georgiareview.

Hope you enjoy the issue!

Sincerely,
C.J. Bartunek
Managing Editor and Nonfiction Editor
The Georgia Review