Suspend Your Disbelief

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Class project: Adopt a lit mag


Curious Little Kitten (Portrait)

Kittens get adopted because they’re cute and fuzzy, with big eyes and adorable faces. (And those wee paws! Those little whiskers! Those tiny noses! Ahem.) But what about lit mags? No big eyes, no fuzzy paws—but they, too, deserve to be adopted.

Enter the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses’ Lit Mag Adoption Program, which offers discounted subscriptions to literary journals in exchange for insider access for the students. Says the program’s website:

Most poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction by emerging writers first finds its way into print through literary magazines, yet few student writers actively engage with the spectrum of magazines published today. By integrating literary magazines into course curricula and providing opportunities for one-on-one interaction between literary magazine publishers and creative writing students (a key component of the program), the Lit Mag Adoption Program promotes a generation of new writers that are also active readers and productive members of the larger literary community. […]

Each participating class will receive at least two issues of the magazine during the semester. In addition, classes will have direct interaction with the magazine publisher/editor through a virtual (or in-person where local) “One-on-One” chat session.

Participating journals include Ploughshares, Electric Lit, A Public Space, TinHouse, ZYZZVA, and many others. Longtime FWR readers may remember that we blogged about this program when it launched in 2010, but since we’re focusing on teaching and writing this month, we wanted to draw your attention to it again as a great resource for teachers and students alike.

Check back here at Fiction Writers Review for more teaching-related essays and interviews, as well as teaching-focused content on the blog every day in September!


Literary Partners