''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'' is an American

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 ...

, founded in 1998, typically containing short stories, reportage, and illustrations. Some issues also include poetry, comic strips, and novellas. ''The Quarterly Concern'' is published by McSweeney's based in San Francisco and it has been edited by Dave Eggers. The journal is notable in that it has no fixed format, and changes its publishing style from issue to issue, unlike more conventional journals and magazines. The first issue featured only works that had been rejected by other publications, but the journal has since begun publishing pieces written with McSweeney's in mind.

History

''McSweeney's'' was founded in 1998 after Dave Eggers left an editing position at ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', during the same time he was working on '' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. ''McSweeney's'' is a sort of successor to Eggers' earlier magazine project ''

Might Might may refer to: * ''might'', one of the English modal verbs * "Might", a song by Modest Mouse from their 1996 album ''This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About'' * ''Might'' magazine, a magazine founded by American author D ...

'', although ''Might'' was focused on editorial content and news, and not literature. Eggers also refers to ''McSweeney's'' as having "less edge" than ''Might''. Although originally reaching only a small audience, ''McSweeney's'' has grown to be a well respected journal, with Ruth Franklin, writing for Slate, referring to the ''Quarterly'' (and company) as "...the first bona fide literary movement in decades". In 2013, NPR wrote about the company's fifteenth anniversary, and referred to the journal as the "flagship literary quarterly" of a "literary empire based in San Francisco".

Authors

Notable authors featured in ''McSweeney's'' include Denis Johnson,

William T. Vollmann William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959) is an American novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist. He won the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction with the novel ''Europe Central''.

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was publishe ...

, Michael Chabon,

Susan Straight Susan Straight (born October 19, 1960) is an American writer. She was a National Book Award finalist for the novel ''Highwire Moon'' in 2001. Biography Susan Straight attended John W. North High School in Riverside, California and took classes ...

, Roddy Doyle,

T. Coraghessan Boyle Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, also known as T. C. Boyle and T. Coraghessan Boyle (born December 2, 1948), is an American novelist and short story writer. Since the mid-1970s, he has published sixteen novels and more than 100 short stories. He won the ...

, Steven Millhauser, Robert Coover,

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, David Foster Wallace and Ann Beattie. The ''Quarterly'' has also helped launch the careers of dozens of emerging writers, including

Philipp Meyer Philipp Meyer is an American fiction writer, and is the author of the novels '' American Rust'' and '' The Son'', as well as short stories published in The New Yorker and other places. Meyer also created and produced the AMC television show ba ...

Wells Tower Wells Tower (born April 14, 1973) is an American writer of short stories, non-fiction, feature films and television. In 2009 he published his first short story collection, ''Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) to ...

, and

Rebecca Curtis Rebecca Curtis (born January 10, 1974) is an American writer. She is the author of ''Twenty Grand and Other Tales of Love & Money'' (HarperCollins, 2007) and has been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's, NOON, N+1, and other mag ...

Awards

In 2007, ''McSweeney's'' received the

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

for Fiction for three stories published in 2006: "Wild Child" by T.C. Boyle (Issue 19); "To Sit, Unmoving" by

Susan Steinberg (author) Susan Steinberg is an American writer. She is the author of the short story collections ''The End of Free Love'' (FC2, 2003), ''Hydroplane'' (University of Alabama Press, 2006) and ''Spectacle'' (Graywolf Press, 2013). Her first novel ''Machine: A ...

(Issue 20); and "The Strange Career of Dr. Raju Gopalarajan" by Rajesh Parameswaran (Issue 21). In 2010, Anthony Doerr,

, and Kevin Moffett won the National Magazine Awards for their stories "Memory Wall", "Raw Water", and "Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events", respectively, all published in Issue 32.

Published issues

McSweeney's publishes each issue in a different format. Past issues have ranged in format from simple hardcovers or softcovers to more unconventional configurations, such as newspapers, a bundle of mail, a box emblazoned with a man's sweaty head, and a deck of playing cards. Some issues feature writing exclusively or mostly from one geographic area, such as Issue 15, which contained half American and half Icelandic writing. In Issue 10, it was claimed that exactly 56 issues of the journal would be published. In Issue 20, this claim was repeated in an advertisement that stated: "There will be roughly thirty-six ssuesto come; then, a five-year retrenchment." With the publication of Issue 56 it was revealed that this had always been a joke and that they would continue to publish until at least issue 156.

Notes

Anthologies

*''Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category'' ( Alfred A. Knopf, 2004) *''The Best of McSweeney's, Volume 1'' (

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...

, 2004) *''The Best of McSweeney's, Volume 2'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2005) *''The Better of McSweeney's: Volume One — Issues 1 – 10, Stories and Letters'' (McSweeney's Books, 2005) *''The Best of McSweeney's'' (McSweeney's Books, 2013)

References

External links

* *Tai Moses
"Mighty Muse"
a 1998 review of the debut issue, from the Silicon Valley online weekly ''Metroactive''. *Matt Goldberg

interview), ''The Village Voice'', March 23, 1999.

a 1999 review from ''Context'', at the Center for Book Culture.org. *Ruth Franklin
"The 98-Pound Gorilla in the Room" by Ruth Franklin
a review of Issue 10 and the "McSweeney's short story", from Slate.com, April 3, 2003. *Mark Holcomb

a review of Issue 10 from ''The Village Voice'', April 8, 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Timothy Mcsweeney's Quarterly Concern McSweeney's periodicals Quarterly magazines published in the United States Literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1998 1998 establishments in California Magazines published in San Francisco