Welcome to our First Anniversary Issue!
That's right, we made it through our first year online. Oh yeah! And not to boast or anything, but I think we've done one hell of a job. In the past year we've published over 385 artists in 12 genres. We've published a US Poet Laureate, two Pulitzer Prize winners, quite a few Ruth Lilly Prize winners, more than half a dozen US State Laureates, at least one shoe-in for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and more talented artists than I would have thought possible when I came up with the idea for this magazine over a ranting discussion on art with my good friend and off-the-hook web designer John Turi.
In the past year we've had over 82,000 page views with visitors coming from 91 countries around the world. Here is a list, in order of visits received, of the countries where good folks like you read Connotation Press:
United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Norway, France, Germany, India, Greece, Ecuador, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Philippines, Ireland, Japan, Belgium, Peru, Russia, Romania, Turkey, Sweden, Bahamas, Argentina, South Korea, New Zealand, Brazil, Netherlands, Chile, Singapore, Portugal, Thailand, Israel, South Africa, Pakistan, Poland, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Cambodia, Puerto Rico, Finland, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Colombia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Austria, Vietnam, Morocco, Denmark, Armenia, Moldova, Jordan, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Guatemala, Jamaica, Iceland, Oman, Uruguay, Latvia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Uganda, Swaziland, Tunisia, Dominican Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria, Malta, El Salvador, Maldives, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Palestinian Territories, Luxembourg, Guyana, and Northern Mariana Islands!
On average, you, our unbelievably supportive readers, stop by and check out at least three authors each visit and over 56% of you are new visitors to the site, which means we're still growing! These are outstanding stats for a new online company, especially one that focuses on art. And they say the written word is dead outside of Facebook and Twitter. HA! Who are they anyway? I always wondered that...no, really, who are those guys?
So let's get this party started while I break down the September issue!
Our Featured Artist of the Month column is my baby. I freely admit it. I'm a HUGE fan of the arts and artists and I created the column so I'd get a chance to do an interview with some of my favorites. I've been lucky to do just that. This month poet Gray Jacobik graciously agreed to allow us the honor of publishing a bunch of her new poems, provided us with absolutely wonderful audio tracks to accompany the poems, and with grace and patience and infinite kindness tolerated a Q&A session with yours truly. As if being an astonishingly intimate, nationally recognized, award winning poet isn't enough, when I was an undergrad at UC Riverside and was Editor-in-Chief of The Mosaic Art & Literary Journal there, Gray donated the reading fee she received while visiting our campus so that the magazine could purchase a new computer, which we desperately needed. Through her art and her actions I have been taught great things from Ms. Jacobik, and I am eternally grateful. Think about it, how bad can a person who weekends with the Dalai Lama really be? THANK YOU SO MUCH, Gray! The poems are lovely and it was great spending a little time with you, if only through email correspondence.
All year John Hoppenthaler, in his column A Poetry Congeries, has brought in more stellar poets than I can at this point even name--and this month is no different. First, John starts with his preface, compelling as usual, and then leads with Keetje Kuiters. Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Dennis is up next for his first online appearance followed by the gorgeous, rhythmic poetry of Quincy Troupe. Susan Ludvigson, Ching-In Chen, and one of my personal favorites Doug Anderson are up next followed by Mark Bibbins, Lenard D. Moore who dedicates one of his poems to Meg Kearney who follows Mr. Moore! Finally, West Virginia native Ron Houchin joins Hoppenthaler's Congeries followed by the brilliant Lewis Turco. I think I spent most of my undergraduate education buried in Turco's The New Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics. Once again, John provides us with a list of artists that would fill just about any room at AWP if they were on the panel. Yeah, I just dropped that. Look for us in DC! And GREAT JOB, John!
Foodies Unite! Amanda McGuire's column From Plate to Palate is one of our most popular. Her food column draws just about as many viewers as Hoppenthaler's Congeries, and we couldn't be happier. Amanda was one of the very first people I asked to join us on the editorial staff because I knew her food savvy sensibilities and twisted mind would create a food column that would rival any around--especially in an art & literary magazine. How's this for a fun fact, we get about as much fan mail from established writers for Amanda's column than readers. For instance, Gray Jacobik was just telling me how much she loves Amanda's column. This month From Plate to Palate focuses on the tomato. Contributors Bryan Gattozzi, Karen Babine, Melissa Askren Edgehouse, Callista Buchen, and Kristin Abraham bring their tomato narratives and recipes that'll make you laugh, smile, and occasionally say, "Hmmm...I think I can do that!" And I promise, not one tomato was thrown during the making of this issue. Thanks for a great year, Amanda! You ROCK Diva Star!
Drama Editor Josh Fardon, coming off a successful run of his new play Shake at the Theater of Note in Los Angeles (it's in its last week of production and ends this weekend! If you haven't seen Shake, get up on it. This is one thrilling play!) brings us another in the lineup of cutting edge, contemporary playwrights in the person of Lina Patel. Ms. Patel's play, Sankalpan (Desire), a loose adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters, was a semi-finalist for the Sundance Theater Institute. In addition to her writing, Ms. Patel is a working actor with recent appearences on 24, CSI, Numb3rs, and Medium. We are quite fortunate to have Lina's play online this month with a thoughful and compelling interview, as well. Once again, Josh has found us one of the brightest stars on the playwrighting scene and we are, as always, very grateful. Thanks Josh, and Thank you Ms. Patel!
Although our Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry columns actually come out on the 15th of the month (that's right, we publish twice a month! Try that if you want to never sleep or see your kids again...ever...ever!), we have a new interview & fiction piece by Joan Connor who is so brilliant it scares me, and a lovely new Creative Nonfiction piece by Suzanne Farrell Smith. Please come back on the 15th as Natalie Seabolt Dobson, our Fiction editor, and Robert Clark Young, our Creative Nonfiction editor, will have a lot more great artists for you to enjoy. Also, Poetry Editor Kaite Hillenbrand will be back with another US State Laureate and about ten more poets that'll knock your socks off. Warning: Connotation Press is in no way responsible for any sock flying accidents related to the reading of our magazine. Thank you.
I mentioned earlier that Carl Dennis is in Hoppenthaler's Congeries this month, and he was also kind enough to provide us with a galley copy of his new book, Callings. Connotation Press editorial staff favorite and new member of our crew, Nicelle Davis provides us with a wonderful review of Mr. Dennis' new book, and we hope you stop by and check it out. Then, head on over to Amazon.com and buy it! The folks over at Penguin Books will certainly be grateful. I believe we're the first to review Callings, and although she was a bit nervous, Nicelle did a great job with the review. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Thanks Nicelle, and a special thank you to our dear friend Joshua Hardina. Josh has been our Book Review Editor for nearly the entire run of the magazine, and we're sad (and glad!) to say he's leaving us to finish his newest novel (which will be brilliant, of course...I just hope he lets us review it first!). All love, Josh. You totally rock, kid. THANK YOU for all the support and the great work you've done. We'll miss you around here, to be sure.
Nicholas Baker, our intrepid Travel column editor, takes us to Stockholm, Sweden this month in his Discovered column. In the seven months since Nick joined us he's taken us to Scotland, Bangkok, Phuket, York, Dubai, Cairo, and now Stockholm. I've said it many times, HOW DO I GET THIS JOB!?! Nick & Freddy have a lovely time in Stockholm and have brought back some great stories and beautiful pictures of this enchanting land where he was greeted by "a socially conscious society with financial security for all". Sweden is one of the places to visit on my bucket list and if I'm lucky I'll have two travelers like Nick & Freddy with me when I do. Come on, wouldn't you want to travel with a guide that speaks of the people he finds as follows: "With those blue within blue eyes, they are taller than us, smarter than us, and have their own secret way of communicating with each other. It's called Swedish." Outstanding column, as always Nick. Thank you, sir!
In my other life, I teach at Waynesburg University in Waynesburg, PA. Last year the buzz in the writing department was centered on a promising young writer named Sarah Hulyk. Martin Cockroft, Waynesburg's own resident genius (one of many, I might add), nominated Sarah for the Featured Undergrad column and I was thrilled. Her work is precise while still being rhythmic, dynamic, and is penned by a writer with a great ear. We know we'll hear more about Sarah in the future. And to all you teachers out there please nominate your most promising student for our Featured Undergrad column. What other magazine in the country features an undergrad along side artists of the caliber we do here at Connotation Press? Want to encourage your especially brilliant student? Here's how! Thank you Martin for your generosity, kindness, and dedication to teaching, and WAY TO GO SARAH!! WOOHOO!!
Man, this is one long blog this month, huh?! I guess it's time to wrap it up.
As the Founding Editor-in-Chief and all around "guy in charge" it has been my honor and privilege to work for and along side of our award winning, talented, editorial staff. My gratitude and love go out to John, Amanda, Josh F, Nick, Josh H, Kaite, Nicelle, Monica, Kelly, Natalie, and Bob. You guys are my heroes. And THANK YOU to every single contributor to our labor of love. From the most applauded to the emerging, the artists we've published here remind me on a daily basis of just how fortunate I am to do what I do for a living. This project continues to be the most gratifying and exciting artistic endeavor of my life and it's because of these people and you, our readers, that all this works. Now let's head off into that next crazy venture beneath the skies. Here's to another great year!
Connotation Press: Once More With Gusto!
All best,
~k
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This issue of Connotation Press: An Online Artifact is dedicated to our contributor and friend Allen Hoey. We lost Allen in June and it was devastating. Allen was one of our very first contributors to come in through the submission page, and he then came back when Steven Huff guest edited a poetry column in February. Allen published five full-length collections of poetry and three novels in his lifetime. A great accomplishment for a man that was only with us for 58 years. As many of you know, Allen was also the Publisher, Editor, and Printer of Tamarak Editions during the '80s and did some lovely work with fine, handset limited editions by artists Hayden Carruth, Jack Gilbert and others. Allen was encouraging to me when I first started this project, and we became friends as Allen and I shared a love of cemeteries. I still visit the pictures of Ezra Pound's grave that he sent me. And I love this picture of Allen. He sent it with his first set of poems. His smile is contagious. Rest In Peace, sir. It was a pleasure to know you. ---------
Photo of Ken Robidoux by Monica Mankin