In Episode 017, we spoke to Jim Hanas about the value and perhaps impracticality of today’s slush piles. This week, M. Rachel Branwen, editor of Slush Pile Magazine, was happy to talk about her thoughts on what the slush pile is really about, disagreeing with Hanas unapologetically.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to Episode TWENTY of Slush Pile! We thank all of our listeners, writers, and guest speakers for supporting this podcast and its mission.
We first launched Slush Pile at the end of March at the 2016 AWP Conference. We were thrilled with the enthusiastic response, yet confused athow many times people asked if we were related to Slush Pile Magazine, also debuting at 2016 AWP! We had never heard of this publication, so we hunted down their booth and were blown away by the ladder and a very tall stack of papers.
Author Jonathan Weinert at Slush Pile Magazine's AWP booth
We had the pleasure of meeting M. Rachel Branwen, Slush Pile Magazine’s founder and editor, and we invited her back to our booth for some boxed wine and great conversation! Then, we convinced her to come on air.
M.Rachel Branwen is the editor of Slush Pile Magazine, the longtime senior reader of fiction at Harvard Review, and the former fiction editor of DigBoston. Her work has appeared in The Missouri Review, The Adirondack Review, The Millions, and elsewhere. She is fond of: bougainvillea, red wine, mashed potatoes, unexpected conversations with oversharing strangers, long road trips, learning new languages, walking up hills for exercise, the thesaurus, her dog (Nigel, a pug), and the movie "When Harry Met Sally." She dislikes:headaches, mosquitoes, and the sounds people make when they're chewing. Feel free to look her up on Facebook here, here, or on Twitter: @slushpilemag.
In Episode 017, we spoke to Jim Hanas about the value and perhaps impracticality of today’s slush piles. This week, M. Rachel Branwen was happy to talk about her thoughts on what the slush pile is really about, disagreeing with Hanas unapologetically. Branwen tells us about the history of Slush Pile Magazine, “championing” and “curating” works that Branwen believes deserve the world’s attention.
After explaining her magazine’s history, Branwen probed us for the history and executions of Painted Bride Quarterly. Kathy and Marion reminisce about their introduction to a group of people who work on magazines like Painted Bride Quarterly and Slush Pile Magazine simply for the love of literature. Then, we have veteran reader Tim Fitts and brand-new reader Sara Aykit discuss the democratic nature of PBQ’s voting that not only empowers young readers, but keeps the perspectives of older readers fresh.
M. Rachel Branwen embodies the pleasure of reading poetry and short stories like they are the only thing that matters. We had a great time discussing her more optimistic views on slush piles and the “staggeringly interesting” Slush Pile Magazine.
Check out the Issues Marion raves about here and here!
We would love to know how you feel about slush piles: are you Team Hanas or Team Branwen? Let us know on our Facebook page or @PaintedBrideQ with #TeamHanas or #TeamBranwen!
Thank you for listening and read on!
Present at the Editorial Table:
Kathleen Volk Miller
Marion Wrenn
Tim Fitts
Sara Aykit
M. Rachel Branwen
Production Engineer:
Joe Zang
Episode 47: Live with Dorian Paul Rogers
Episode 46: Rooftop Rhythms in the UAE
Episode 45: Lost In Space
Episode 44: Fairy Dust Watches and John Bonham
Episode 43: Family Matters
Episode 42: Love Shack
Episode 41: The Bathrobisode
Episode 40: Contemporary in Context
Episode 39: Punched in the Face, in the Best Way
Episode 38: Of Flossing and Pottery Barn
Episode 37: Father’s Day?
Episode 36: A Giant’s Monologue
Episode 35: Viles, Vitality, and Virgules
Episode 34: Mistakes Were Made
Episode 33: The Lily of the Valley
Episode 32: Art & Politics
Episode 31: Balance
Episode 30: Resonance and Rejection
Episode 29: The Unexamined Fisherman
Episode 28: PBQ Celebrates with One Book, One Philadelphia
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
50 Tastes Of Gray
Dear Alice | Interior Design
Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast
Just So Stories
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Magnus Archives
Fresh Air