Today we have Redivider, a really terrific literary journal out of Emerson College. If you take a look at the authors they publish, you'll find a nice mix of emerging and established. Sherman Alexie's in the new issue, for example, next to names you may not recognize (at least not yet). We sell Redivider in our bookstore, so next time you're here check it out. Here's editor Matthew Salesses:I like to ask what people think of our aesthetic, and what comes up a lot is: eclectic. This is kind of a lazy answer, but it's also true. We publish anything so long as it's good. There's a crazy story by Ron Carlson in our upcoming issue like a comic half-act play that I mostly admire for its pure ballsy act of existence.
It's hard to make an aesthetic out of everything. A lot of it may have to do with the staff turnover each year, but I think it mostly has to do with open-mindedness.
Though this is not to say, "send us anything." It's more: "send us your best anything."
What would you like our readers and members to know about you?
We need your support! Why are people put off when a magazine comes out and says, "ye who claim to like us, please subscribe" (or at least buy an issue)?
Like all "little" magazines, we need subscribers. Spend the price of a movie ticket on a year's worth of literature. If not Redivider, then subscribe to another lit mag. It's worth it!
Can you tell us a little bit about what you like to publish? What you’re looking for?
I mostly covered this above, but here's where the "eclectic" label gets tricky. The writing we publish does have a definite "feel." Whether traditional or experimental, there is something about the way that the work we take compels the reader that is similar. I don't like tricks. Things should be earned.
What advice do you have for anyone submitting a manuscript?
Read and follow the guidelines before submitting. Some magazines don't have guidelines. That's wonderful. But we do. I mean this in a good way.
"Eclectic" is my favorite school of art.
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