The ''American Literary Review'' is an American national biannual

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

, and

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

. Since its Fall 2013 issue, ''ALR'' has been an online digital publication. Print publications are cataloged under .

History

''ALR'' was founded years ago, in 1990, by the creative writing faculty of the Department of English of the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

and the now bygone Center for Texas Studies at the

. The Center for Texas Studies, at that time, was led by James Ward Lee, PhD (born 1931), longtime professor of English at

UNT The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

, Department Chair, and a prolific writer, and A.C. Greene, an author and former newspaper editor, notably of the ''

Dallas Times Herald The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the ''Dallas Times'' and the ''Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas (USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and t ...

.'' ''ALR'' published the first issue in the spring of 1990. Lee edited the first two issues in the spring and fall of 1990. In the first issue, he wrote an editorial expressing hope that the name and tagline, "''American Literary Review: A National Journal of Poems and Stories'', will prove to be neither pretentious nor presumptuous." The founding objective was to showcase a range of genres and styles from emerging and veteran writers. To encourage freedom of expression, risk-taking, and experimentation, Lee said that ''ALR'' would not publish scholarly articles. That sentiment is not too dissimilar from that of the late Theodore Weiss, founding editor of the former and influential ''

Quarterly Review of Literature The ''Quarterly Review of Literature'' (''QRL'') was an American literary magazine founded in 1943 by the poet Theodore (Ted) Weiss (1916–2003) and then Spanish teacher Warren Pendleton Carrier (1918–2009). In 1944, Weiss's wife — Renée K ...

,'' who also felt that scholarly articles and criticism might stifle writers. ''ALR's'' third issue (spring 1991, vol. 2, issue 1) was edited by poet and faculty member

Scott Cairns Scott Clifford Cairns (born 1954 in Tacoma, Washington) is an American poet, memoirist, librettist, and essayist. Formal education Cairns earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University (1977), a Master of Arts degree from H ...

. The first issue received more that 160 submissions. The printed issues, prior to 2013, were typically 120 pages,

digest size Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately , but can also be and , similar to the size of a DVD case. These sizes have evolved from the printin ...

, perfect-bound with color card cover featuring a photo submission. In 2004, ''NewPages'' characterized ''ALR'' as having roughly a 2:1 poetry to fiction ratio, with a casual touch of both traditional and experimental forms. In 2020, ''ALR'' announced that "due to institutional budget cuts as a result of grappling with the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are forced to go on a temporary hiatus."

Prize winners

The ''ALR'' awards three annual prizes, for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Uncategorized * Joshua Poteat Nonfiction * Maureen Stanton * 2008: Karin Forfota Poklen * 2009: Julie Marie Wade * 2010: Sabine Heinlein * 2011: Barbara Cameron * 2011: Starre Vartan (runner-up) * 2012: Robert Long Foreman * 2012: Vernita Hall (runner-up) Fiction * Mary L. Tabor (spring 1999) * Melissa Jeanne Miller (1956–1991) * 2008: Michael Isaac Shokrian * 2009: Marylee MacDonald * 2010: Karen Heuler * 2010: Nora Khan (runner-up) * 2010: Emily McLaughlin (runner-up) * 2011: Marc Dickinson * 2011: Sean Madigan Hoen (runner-up) * 2012: Lydia Kann (runner-up) * 2012: Dustin Parsons Poetry * 1990:

Sheryl St. Germain Sheryl St. Germain (born 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American poet, essayist, and professor. She is of Cajun and Creole descent. Her father was Jules St. Francois St. Germain and her mother Myrl Marie Frank. Born and raised in south L ...

* 1997:

Renée Ashley Renée Ashley is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and educator. Presently on the faculty of Fairleigh Dickinson University and an editor of ''The Literary Review'', Ashley is the author of five collections of poetry, two chapbooks and a ...

* 1998: Debora L. Innocenti * 2001:

Sam Witt Sam Witt (born 1970) is an American poet and tenured English professor who currently lives in Brookline, Massachusetts. Life Born in 1970 in Wimbledon, England. He studied as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia and went on to receive ...

* 2007: Jeffrey Levine * 2008: Roy Bentley * 2009: Arthur Brown * 2010: Jude Nutter * 2011: Joseph Duemer * 2012: Eileen G'Sell * 2012: Allan Peterson (runner-up)

Editors

''ALR'' is largely student-run with

creative writing faculty editorial oversight. Editor-in-chief : unknown–present: Jehanne Dubrow † Fiction co-editors : 2009–present: Miro Penkov : 2009–present: Barbara Rodman, PhD Creative nonfiction editor : 2008-present: Bonnie Friedman Poetry co-editors : 1995–present: Bruce Bond, PhD † : 2000–present: Corey Marks, PhD Former editors-in-chief : James Ward Lee, PhD † (founding editor) :

, PhD : Barbara Rodman, PhD : William J. Cobb, PhD : Corey Marks, PhD : John Tait, PhD : Miro Penkov Former Poetry editor :

Nancy Eimers Nancy Eimers (born 1954 Chicago) is an American poet. Life She graduated from Indiana University with an M.A., from the University of Arizona with an M.F.A., and from the University of Houston with a Ph.D. She teaches at Western Michigan Universi ...

Former advisory board members : 1990–1997: John Henry Irsfeld † ;Notes: † Member,

Texas Institute of Letters The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit Honor Society founded by William Harvey Vann in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most respe ...

Submissions

''ALR'' seeks literary mainstream, creative nonfiction, and poetry. , it was receiving 150 to 200 unsolicited manuscripts a month and accepts 12 to 16 per issue. Submissions are reviewed from October 1 to May 1 and published within two years of acceptance. In round one of the referee process, judges, which include graduate students, read all submissions and make preliminary selections. Faculty editors for each category review make final selections for official recognition and publishing. Separate judges for prizes in each category then make their selection. At all stages of the process, the identity of writers is not known by

referees A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

Bygone publications of the same name

* ''The American Literary Review'' of

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

, was a privately owned quarterly literary magazine. It was edited by Lee Bates Hatfield (born 1953). The publication ran from 1973 to 1983. Its

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

code is . Its holding company was a Massachusetts non-profit corporation of the same name, "The American Literary Review, Inc." * ''The American Literary Review'' of New York City never existed. Rather, it was proposed in 1931 as a review of books. A prospectus for investors was copyrighted and is stored, along with other information, at the

Widener Library The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, housing some 3.5million books in its "vast and cavernous" stacks (library architecture), stacks, is the centerpiece of the Harvard College Libraries (the libraries of Harvard's Harvard Faculty of Arts an ...

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

. * ''American Literary Review'' of

Augusta, Maine Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County. The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Maine, and third-least populous state capital in the Un ...

, was a weekly literary and scientific newspaper founded in 1870 by LaForest Almond Shattuck, M.D. (1846–1930). By May 1871, circulation had reached 75,000 and covered every state and territory. Shattuck stepped down as editor 1871 due to poor health.

References

;Notes ;Inline citations

External links

*
Article: "A Portrait of Three UNT journals Illustrates Rewards, Challenges of Publishing," by Amelia Jaycen, UNT Office of Research and Economic Development
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Literary Review 1990 establishments in Texas 2013 disestablishments in Texas Biannual magazines published in the United States Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1990 Magazines disestablished in 2013 Magazines published in Texas Online literary magazines published in the United States Online magazines with defunct print editions Poetry magazines published in the United States Poetry publishers University of North Texas Mass media in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex