''Natural Bridge'' is an American

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 ...

, based at

University of Missouri-St. Louis A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. It was established in 1999 and the first issue was published in Spring 1999. The magazine is published biannually and features articles on

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 ...

essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

, and

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 ...

. The

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

is John Dalton. Molly Harris is managing editor. In 2020, ''Natural Bridge'' ceased print publication. Its last physical edition was issue number 43. It is now published online as a subdivision of fellow St Louis–based

literary journal 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 letters ...

''Boulevard''. The magazine's reading series—previously an in-person event—also moved online May 2020.

Other anthologies

Work that has appeared in ''Natural Bridge'' has been short-listed on numerous occasions for the

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in con ...

, the

O. Henry Award The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry. The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...

, and the

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

Notable contributors

* Jacob M. Appel *Dwight Bitikofer *Todd Davis *Mary Ruth Donnelly *

Rodger Kamenetz Rodger Kamenetz (born 1950) is an American poet and author best known for ''The Jew in the Lotus'' (1994), an account of the historic dialogue between rabbis and the XIV Dalai Lama. His poetry explores the Jewish experience and in recent years, ...

*Kirsti Sandy *Erin Wilson

Honors and awards

*Andao Tian's story, "The Death of My Mad Uncle," which appeared in issue no. 16, was short-listed for the

O. Henry Prize The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry. The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty bes ...

in 2008. * Kent Annan's essay "A Drop of Water," which appeared in issue no. 14, honored with "Special Mention" by ''The Best American Essays'' in 2006. *Roger Hart's story, "Lubing," which appeared in issue no. 5, was short-listed for the Pushcart Prize in 2003. *Leslie Pietrzyk's story, "This Day with You," which appeared in issue no. 1, was short-listed for The Pushcart Prize 2001. *Brian Doyle's essay, "Notes on the Poem 'Ggfddfg' by Joseph Doyle," which appeared in issue no. 06, cited as "Notable Essay of 2001 in

The Best American Essays ''The Best American Essays'' is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States.Robert Atwan (ed.), Adam Gopnick (guest ed.). ''The Best American Essays 2008'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. It was started in 1986 and is ...

. *Lela Nargi, "Into the Thar" and Kathlene Postma, "Becoming Foreign" were both honored as "Notable Travel Writing" in the Best American Travel Writing of 2001.

References

External links

* 1999 establishments in Missouri Biannual magazines published in the United States Literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1999 Magazines published in St. Louis University of Missouri–St. Louis {{US-lit-mag-stub

Other anthologies

Notable contributors

Honors and awards

See also

References

External links