The ''Yale Literary Magazine'', founded in 1836, is the oldest student

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 ...

in the United States and publishes

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, and visual art by

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

s twice per

academic year An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study. School holiday School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which sch ...

. Notable alumni featured in the magazine while students include

Susan Choi Susan Choi (born 1969) is an American novelist. Early life and education Choi was born in South Bend, Indiana to a Korean father and a Jewish mother. She attended public schools. When she was nine years old, her parents divorced. She and her m ...

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

Meghan O'Rourke Meghan O'Rourke (born 1976 in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York) is an American nonfiction writer, poet and critic. Background and education O'Rourke was born January 26, 1976, in Brooklyn, New York. The eldest of three children born to Pa ...

ZZ Packer Zuwena "ZZ" Packer (b. January 12, 1973) is an American writer. She is primarily known for her works of short fiction. Early life and education Born in Chicago, Illinois, Packer grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky. "ZZ" was a ...

Max Ritvo Max Ritvo (December 19, 1990 – August 23, 2016) was an American poet. Milkweed Editions posthumously published a full-length collection of his poems, ''Four Reincarnations'', to positive critical reviews. Milkweed published ''Letters from Max ...

Sarah Sze Sarah Sze (; born 1969) is an American artist widely recognized for challenging the boundaries of painting, installation, and architecture. Sze's sculptural practice ranges from slight gestures discovered in hidden spaces to expansive installati ...

, and

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

. The magazine's editor-in-chief is currently Bryce Morales. In 1936, the magazine published a centennial issue featuring several alumni authors, including

Stephen Vincent Benét Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, ''John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he receive ...

William Lyon Phelps William Lyon Phelps (January 2, 1865 New Haven, Connecticut – August 21, 1943 New Haven, Connecticut) was an American author, critic and scholar. He taught the first American university course on the modern novel. He had a radio show, wrote ...

, and

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

. In 1978, the then-bankrupt magazine was purchased by alumnus

Andrei Navrozov Andrei Navrozov is a British poet and writer, was born in Moscow in 1956, grandson of the playwright Andrei Navrozov (1899–1941) and son of the essayist and translator Lev Navrozov (1928–2017). Life and work Early life Navrozov was educ ...

, but it was returned to student control in 1985 after

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

won a lawsuit and ordered Navrozov to cease using the Yale name. The magazine publishes one issue per semester, and awards the annual Francis Bergen Memorial prize to a student author."Prizes by Department or Subject"
''Yale Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life'', September 29, 2022 The spring 2020 issue was released online to accommodate the results of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. In recent years, the magazine has conducted and published interviews with high-profile twentieth and twenty-first-century literary figures such as

Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname *Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer *Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st Duke of Abrantès (1771 ...

, who won the

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...

, who won a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for his graphic novel memoir ''

Maus ''Maus'' is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work employs postmodern technique ...

'', and

Paul Muldoon Paul Muldoon (born 20 June 1951) is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he is currently both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Pr ...

, the poetry editor for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

,'' who won a

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

Editors

, circa 1820 *

Albert Mathews Paul Siegvolk (real name Albert Mathews) (September 8, 1820 – September 9, 1903) was an American author, lawyer and editor. He was also the step-father of Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt. Life Mathews was born in New York City on September 8, 1820 ...

(better known as Paul Siogvolk), circa 1842 *

Homer Sprague Homer Baxter Sprague (October 19, 1829 – March 23, 1918) was an American author, educator, abolitionist, and Lieutenant Colonel of the Union Army. A native of Sutton, Massachusetts, Sprague was a Captain of the 13th Connecticut Infantry Regimen ...

, circa 1848

References

External links

Opinion piece in the ''New York Times''
Biannual magazines published in the United States Poetry magazines published in the United States Student magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1836 Magazines published in Connecticut Mass media in New Haven, Connecticut Yale University publications {{US-lit-mag-stub