Late autumn is upon us, and with it, the release of many Fall issues of literary journals. In the last week, I’ve received contributor’s copies for two journals that contain essays of mine.
One is the wonderful Gulf Coast, published out of the University of Houston (and whose faculty editor, Nick Flynn, is one of my literary heroes). They were kind enough to include in this issue an essay of mine titled “Monsters,” which reflects on my time volunteering with a prison creative writing workshop, and also includes mentions of Nine Inch Nails and Jeremy Benthem’s Panopticon. This issue has a stellar lineup, including fiction by contemporary firecrackers Alan Heathcock and Melanie Rae Thon, as well as nonfiction by two outstanding women, Patricia Hampl and Pam Houston.
You can see an excerpt of my essay here, but you should definitely buy this issue.
I also have a collage essay titled “What I Left,” in the 2014 issue of South Loop Review, from Columbia College Chicago, another one worth picking up if only for its interview with the fabulous Dinty W. Moore! I’m especially proud to have this essay published as I wrote it in my first semester of graduate school — five full years ago. A lesson in revision and perseverance that I will carry with me for a good long while.
I’d love to hear recommendations from other writer and editor friends out there for great fall issues I should check out. I want to share the love!
MARISSA LANDRIGAN 