”n+1” Magazine: A Discussion with Dayna Tortorici

Dayna Tororici is the co-editor of n + 1 magazine, located in New York City. She’s been on staff for the past 10 years, following her studies at Brown University. She’s also a new mother.

n + 1 positions itself as combining a fine sense for how literature is composed through the use of voice, and an eye for detail and an ear for rhythm, in addition to wanting to address the current political and cultural situation in America and elsewhere. She sees the essay form as giving its authors time to “marinate” on a topic, building up their reflections to a richer outcome. Many of n + 1’s essays offer a mix of the memoir approach combined with reportage and often some historical analysis as context. In this case, we discussed in particular three essays that lean more purely in the memoir vein from three recent editions of the magazine: Jessica Karissa’s “Love and Wizkid” (about Afrobeats and trying to explore one’s sexuality without feeling exploited); Sander Pleij’s voice-driven essay “Cowboy in Sweden” (with travelogue observations that come from traveling as a roadie helping his wife stage her music); and Laura Preston’s “Human Fallback” (about aiding a real estate chatbot without, ideally, beginning to feel too automatic and sterile yourself).

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of ten books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. 

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