''Rain Taxi'' is a

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

-based book review and literary organization. In addition to publishing its quarterly print edition, ''Rain Taxi'' maintains an online edition with distinct content, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts readings, and publishes

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s through its Brainstorm Series. ''Rain Taxi''s mission is “to advance independent literary culture through publications and programs that foster awareness and appreciation of innovative writing.” , the magazine distributes 18,000 copies through 250 bookstores as well as to subscribers. The magazine is free on the newsstand. It is also available through paid subscription. Structurally, ''Rain Taxi'' is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. It sells advertising at below market rates, much of it to literary presses.

History

The magazine was founded in 1996 by Carolyn Kuebler, Randall Heath, and David Caligiuri (who resigned with issue one). Current editor Eric Lorberer joined the staff after issue one. The magazine is art-directed and business-managed by Kelly Everding. ''Rain Taxi'' has been relatively free of controversy and widely lauded for its role in bringing to light books which might not otherwise be reviewed. It has been awarded the 2000 ''Utne Reader'' Alternative Press Award for Best Arts and Literature Coverage and Best Literary Journal in ''City Pages'' (Minneapolis). Editor Eric Lorberer was named to the ''Publishers Weekly'' “The Twin Cities Top 10.” An exception to the lack of controversy was David Foster Wallace’s Summer 2001 review of ''The Best of the Prose Poem: An International Journal'' (White Pine Press). The review, which took the form of a bullet-pointed index that “broke down the anthology into numerical components,” inflamed many of the book’s contributors. See responses in Fall 2001 print edition of the magazine. The magazine publishes relatively few dismissive reviews. Lorberer explained that “the reason the majority of the reviews are positive is that the process of selection itself is an aspect of reviewing–we’re trying to select the best of the best.” And former Board Member and Twin Cities journalist Josie Rawson notes, “There are so few avenues in the reviewing press for praise for books from small presses, independent presses, it’s hardly worth wasting space on books nobody should be reading anyway.”

Rain Taxi Review of Books (Print)

''Rain Taxi'' focuses on literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction with an emphasis on small press and offbeat books. The review features interviews with prominent writers such as

Lydia Davis Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes short (one or two pages long) short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of ...

and

Tao Lin Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment of ...

; reviewers include Sharon Mesmer, Jacob Appel, Spencer Dew,

Noah Eli Gordon Noah Eli Gordon (1975 – July 10, 2022) was an American poet, editor, and publisher. Overview Gordon was the co-publisher of Letter Machine Editions, an editor for ''The Volta'', and an assistant professor in the MFA program in creative writing a ...

and Mark Terrill.

Raintaxi.com

The site includes distinct content not found in the print edition, as well as information about events publications. , it receives approximately 15,000 hits a day.

Brainstorm Series Chapbooks

''Rain Taxi'' publishes limited edition chapbooks, each limited to 300 copies or less. Authors have included

Kees ’t Hart Kees or KEES may refer to: * Kees (given name) * Kees (surname) * KEES Kees or KEES may refer to: * Kees (given name) * Kees (surname) Kees is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Duane Kees (born 1975), American attorney * Freder ...

Alice Notley Alice Notley (born November 8, 1945) is an American poet. Notley came to prominence as a member of the second generation of the New York School of poetry—although she has always denied being involved with the New York School or any specific mo ...

Donald Revell Donald Revell (born 1954 in Bronx, New York) is an American poet, essayist, translator and professor. Revell has won numerous honors and awards for his work, beginning with his first book, ''From the Abandoned Cities'', which was a National Poetr ...

Dara Wier Dara Barrois/Dixon (née Dara Wier) (born 1949) is an American poet and the author of ''Tolstoy Killed Anna Karenina'' (Wave Books, 2022). Other titles include ''In the Still of the Night'' (Wave Books, 2017), ''You Good Thing'' (Wave Books, 2014) ...

Nathaniel Tarn Nathaniel Tarn (born June 30, 1928) is a French-American poet, essayist, anthropologist, and translator. He was born in Paris to a French-Romanian mother and a British- Lithuanian father. He lived in Paris until the age of seven, then in Belg ...

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...

Russell Edson Russell Edson (1935 – April 29, 2014) was an American poet, novelist, writer, and illustrator. He was the son of the cartoonist-screenwriter Gus Edson. He studied art early in life and attended the Art Students League as a teenager. He began pu ...

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

and

Rikki Ducornet Rikki Ducornet (; born Erica DeGre; April 19, 1943) is an American writer, poet, and artist. Her work has been described as “linguistically explosive and socially relevant,” and praised for “deploy ngtactics familiar to the historical avan ...

(collaboration)
Kai Nieminen
James Tate, Stephen Dixon,

Paul Metcalf Paul C. Metcalf (7 November 1917 – 21 January 1999) was an American writer. He wrote in verse and prose. Devoted admirers included Robert Creeley, William Gass, Wendell Berry, Guy Davenport, Howard Zinn, and Bruce Olds. His books include ' ...

, and

Clayton Eshleman Clayton Eshleman (June 1, 1935 – January 29/30, 2021) was an American poet, translator, and editor, noted in particular for his translations of César Vallejo and his studies of cave painting and the Paleolithic imagination. Eshleman's work has ...

Twin Cities Book Festival

''Rain Taxi'' launched the Twin Cities Book Festival in 2001. The festival includes readings, talks, book signings, panel discussions, children’s activities, book arts demonstrations, a used book sale, and a Literary Magazine Fair.

''Rain Taxi Readings''

The ''Rain Taxi'' Reading Series began in 1998 and has hosted more than 200 writers.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official website
Book review magazines

Rain Taxi ''Rain Taxi'' is a Minneapolis-based book review and literary organization. In addition to publishing its quarterly print edition, ''Rain Taxi'' maintains an online edition with distinct content, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts read ...

Magazines established in 1996 Magazines published in Minnesota Quarterly magazines published in the United States Mass media in Minneapolis–Saint Paul