New England Review

One of the blog's I follow is Hayden's Ferry Review's blog--HFR is one very fine literary journal and a member of our Literary Discount Program.

On their blog today is a post about another member of The Writer's Center's Literary Discount Program, the wonderful New England Review. Seems, sadly, that NER is suddenly in jeopardy. It's been told by Middlebury College, as the HFR blog notes from the LA Times blog Jacket Copy, that it needs to become "self-sustaining by 2011."

This is all written in the HFR blog (and the LA Times blog), and you can see this for yourself on those sites.

But to this I have to say: My God! In this time of declining support for literary journals, we have to absolutely support great journals like New England Review. I've said this before and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, or dead, whichever comes first: Literary journals are one of the prime movers on the literary scene. Many young or unestablished authors first get their pub creds here--and in fact that's where many get noticed by agents and publishers. I know I personally have benefitted from a number of great journals supporting my work. It's such a wonderful thing to get that letter or call or email from an editor who says: "We love your work and want to publish it."

If these literary journals are not supported by the very people who submit stories to them, what will happen to them? And what will happen to that very democratic playing field where it is possible for you to get your work out to a broader audience? Journals like New England Review are trusted friends.

Dear Readers of this blog, consider subscribing to New England Review. Trust me, you will not be disappointed! And remember, as members of The Writer's Center you can get a 40% discount.