New Lit on the Block :: Ithica Lit
Ithaca Lit: Lit with Art is an end-of-summer print annual with quarterly online issues. Editors include Michele Lesko, founding editor; Sherry O’Keefe, poetry editor; and Madeleine Beckman, nonfiction editor.
Lesko comments on the start-up and focus of the magazine: “Living in Ithaca, I noticed a void in the lit/arts journal world for writers & artists from around the world and in Ithaca. The journals already in place are connected with the colleges. We also intended to represent visual art more vividly within the field of poetry and non-fiction essays that deal with writing and art process. The visual and poetic join together to bring a more stimulating experience to our readers.”
Given the intent of the publication, readers can expect to “enjoy discovering a new visual artist featured in each issue with a gallery of images, an interview and a biographic/personal page that gives readers a real sense of the artist in his/her studio. With the same treatment, we feature a well-established poet: a writer with two or more books published and a career in place. The poet contributes new poems, an interview, and a bio page. We publish new poetry from emerging and established poets in each issue and feature interviews with writers and/or artists as well as craft/process non-fiction pieces.” [Pictured: Featured Artist Colleen McCall]
Contributors in the first issue include Poets: Renee Ashley, Alex Grant, Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde, Uchi Ogbuji, Diane Lockward, Susan Johnson, Rose Hunter, Kathryn Howd Machan, Kathleen Kirk, Risa Denenberg, and Artist: Lin Price.
As for the future of Ithaca Lit, Lesko says, “We want to nurture the journal’s longevity by expanding slowly. The important aspect for us is presenting good writing and visual art to readers. We will eventually establish a poetry contest, where the winner will be featured in the annual print edition. We plan to extend to the local community poetry & short fiction writing workshops along with local readings. We will highlight ‘best of’ images from the artists in the annual print edition and may include artist interviews.” Future formats for the publication may also include Kindle/Nook.
Ithaca Lit accepts poetry and non-fiction re: craft process of writing and visual art as well as interviews with writers or artists. Submission is through Submittable.
