New Lit on the Block :: The Esthetic Apostle
Based out of Chicago, The Esthetic Apostle is a new online monthly of poetry, prose, artwork and photography which also releases print issues quarterly.
“Promoting creative individuals, self-realization/development, and beautiful ideas” are what motivated this start-up, as Founder and Editor-in-Chief Samuel M. Griffin explains. “The wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde was a primary catalyst. As a tribute to our city and Wilde, we named the magazine The Esthetic Apostle after a Chicago Tribune headline describing Wilde’s visit to the windy city.” And if you’re wondering about the spelling…
Based out of Chicago, The Esthetic Apostle is a new online monthly of poetry, prose, artwork and photography which also releases print issues quarterly.
“Promoting creative individuals, self-realization/development, and beautiful ideas” are what motivated this start-up, as Founder and Editor-in-Chief Samuel M. Griffin [pictured] explains. “The wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde was a primary catalyst. As a tribute to our city and Wilde, we named the magazine The Esthetic Apostle after a Chicago Tribune headline describing Wilde’s visit to the windy city.” And if you’re wondering about the spelling, the editors address that here.
Along with Wilde, the editors also draw inspiration, and help set a kind of “guiding philosophy” for both writers and readers with quotes from Walt Whitman (“Don’t write poetry…”), David Deutsch (The Beginning of Infinity ), Jiddu Krishnamurti, and George Carlin.
Along with Griffin, The Esthetic Apostle masthead includes Editor Benjamin Conboy, investigative and political journalist and student at DePaul University, and Flash Fiction Editor Margaret Eleanor, whose motto is: Rules should only be broken on purpose.
For the editorial process, Griffin explains that all poetry is printed, read (at least) twice aloud, editors make notes directly on the poem and scan it back to the poet, whether the work is accepted or not. For flash fiction, the editors give the option for handwritten feedback as an add-on. Response time is generally within one month, and it is this editorial interaction, Griffin notes, that has been one of the positives of starting this publication, “It is an absolute joy communicating with contributors all over the world from many different walks of life.”
As for readers coming to the publication, Griffin says they “should do everything they can to leave their expectations at the door and see where the stories take them.”
The June 2018 issue features Prose by Eli Karlo, Hope Nisly, Charles O’Donnell, Jaime Balboa, M.J. Sutton, Mike Krumboltz, Melanie Haney, Jennifer Springsteen, Lena Crown, Daniel Link; Poetry by Roger Howard, Yvonne Carpenter, Hinnah Mian, Ernest Slyman, Jeanne Milack, Leslie Dianne, Nikolaus Euwer, Sarah HaBa, Austin Lawrence, David Magill, Dorothy Dickinson, Jesse Albatrosov; Artwork / Photography by Stanley Horowitz, Nika Kermani, Knutseltroep, Tara Cronin, Rhett Pritchard, Beth Starger.
The online issues also include an “Inspiration” link where editors share what they are “Reading Now,” “Reading Later,” “And this” (an inclusion of miscellaneous interests) with links to each. A nice “sharing” feature.
The Esthetic Apostle accepts submissions year-round (though there are some ‘closed’ periods; check the site) via Submittable.
