''TriQuarterly'' is a name shared by 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 lett ...

and a series of books, both operating under the aegis of

Northwestern University Press Northwestern University Press is an American publishing house affiliated with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It publishes 70 new titles each year in the areas of continental philosophy, poetry, Slavic and German literary criticism ...

. The journal is published twice a year and features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, literary essays, reviews, a blog, and graphic art.

Founding

''TriQuarterly'' journal was established in 1958 as an undergraduate magazine remembered now for publishing the work of young

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...

. It was reshaped in 1964 by Charles Newman as an innovative national publication aimed at a sophisticated and diverse literary readership.

, the university's scholarly publishing arm, operated the journal. The journal was so named because its original form as a student magazine was published in each of the three quarters of Northwestern's academic year, and not in the fourth quarter, summer.

Book Series

In 1990,

established a series of new works of fiction and poetry under the imprint name TriQuarterly. Writers such as

Nikky Finney Nikky Finney (born Lynn Carol Finney on August 26, 1957, in Conway, South Carolina) is an American poet. She was the Guy Davenport Endowed Professor of English at the University of Kentucky for twenty years. In 2013, she accepted a position at t ...

Christine Schutt Christine Schutt, an American novelist and short story writer, has been a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She received her BA and MA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her MFA from Co ...

A. E. Stallings Alicia Elsbeth Stallings (born July 2, 1968) is an American New Formalist and Philhellene poet and translator. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow (the "Genius Grant"). Background Stalli ...

, Patricia Smith,

Bruce Weigl Bruce Weigl (born January 27, 1949, Lorain, Ohio) is an American contemporary poet whose work engages profoundly with experience of both Americans and Vietnamese during and after the Vietnam war. Biography Weigl enlisted in the United States Arm ...

, and

Angela Jackson Angela Jackson (born July 25, 1951) is an American poet, playwright, and novelist based in Chicago, Illinois. Jackson became the Illinois Poet Laureate in 2020. Biography Angela Jackson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, the fifth of nine c ...

have published titles in the imprint, including works that have won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

Whiting Awards The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and ...

, the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and the

Hurston-Wright Legacy Award The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program honors Black writers in the United States and around the globe for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organizatio ...

Format Change

On September 21, 2009, Northwestern University announced three changes to the journal. First, rather than continue under the aegis of

with paid, professional editors, the journal would become a student-edited publication in 2010. Second, the print edition would cease and the journal would become digital only. Third, the journal would move from the press to the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program (part of Northwestern University's Department of English). The first online edition of ''TriQuarterly Online'', Issue 138, continuing the numbered issue sequence to show continuity from the print edition, launched on July 5, 2010 at the website: Triquarterly.org. Periodicals as varied at the ''

Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to r ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'' expressed the displeasure of the literary world at the change. One writer described the literary community as "surprised, saddened, shocked" by the change as well as "dismayed" that the journal's editor and associate editor would not be included in the move. Jeffrey Lependorf, executive director of the Council of Literary Magazine and Presses, said the change "doesn’t feel like the passing of the torch; it feels like the extinguishing of the flame.” Another wrote that it highlighted "a harrowing trend in publishing and in academia: the replacement of experienced, paid professionals with under- (or un-) paid casual labor—whether bloggers, graduate students, or adjuncts who often receive neither benefits nor job security." After the university reassigned ''TriQuarterly'' journal to the Department of English,

continued to acquire and publish books in the TriQuarterly imprint, which is edited by

Parneshia Jones Parneshia Jones (born 1980) is an American publisher, poet, and editor. Life Hailing from Evanston, Illinois, Parneshia Jones grew up visiting her neighborhood library frequently. When she was in sixth grade, she wrote her first poem, about her ...

Influence

The physical aspect of many literary journals today derives from the creation of the ''TriQuarterly'' design in 1964, credited in ''

'' as "a venerated publication (it is credited with having pioneered the literary-quarterly format)." By publishing a combination of general issues and occasional special issues, such as ''for Vladimir Nabokov on his seventieth birthday''; ''Prose for Borges''; and ''The Little Magazine in America: A Modern Documentary History'', ''TriQuarterly'' quickly became one of the most widely admired and important American literary journals.

Recognition

The ''New York Times'' has called ''TriQuarterly'' "perhaps the preeminent journal for literary fiction" in America.

References

External links

''TriQuarterly'' web site

Administrative Records of the ''TriQuarterly'', Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, Illinois
{{Northwestern, state=collapsed 1958 establishments in Illinois Biannual magazines published in the United States Literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1958 Magazines published in Illinois Northwestern University