New Lit on the Block :: Beecher’s Magazine

Beecher’s Magazine is the graduate student-run literary journal at the University of Kansas (KU) MFA program. The print annual has an editorial board, which for 2011-2012 includes Iris Moulton and Ben Pfeiffer (co-editors); Mark Petterson (fiction); Amy Ash (poetry); and Stefanie Torres (nonfiction).

The impetus for Beecher‘s served to expand the options and offerings in the KU MFA program. Pfeiffer writes, “Our program was geared almost exclusively to teaching, not to publishing or to editing; in order to give the students a chance to try out this vocation, we thought having some kind of graduate student-run literary journal was important. So a bunch of students rolled up their sleeves and set to work. The administration supported us with money, but all the heavy lifting was done by students. Beecher’s One is the result.”

The publication features stories, poems, essays, and interviews. The inaugural issue includes works by Alec Niedenthal, Rebecca Wadlinger, Joshua Cohen, Rhoads Stevens, John Dermot Woods, Phil Estes, Creed J. Shepard, Lincoln Michel, Adam Robinson, Stephen Elliott, Yelena Akhtiorskaya, John Coletti, Colin Winnette, Dana Ward & Stephanie Young, James Yeh, Alexis Orgera, Rozalia Jovanovic, Ricky Garni, and Justin Runge.

Beecher’s Magazine has just selected the winners of their first contest, and editors and staff are preparing for AWP 2012 in Chicago. Issue #1 of Beecher’s Magazine was a limited run and has sold out, but the second issue is underway.

Beecher‘s accepts poetry, fiction, and nonfiction via Submishmash for both print and online (forthcoming) consideration.