Finalist, CLMP Firecracker Award
“The CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature are given annually to celebrate books and magazines that make a significant contribution to our literary culture and the publishers that strive to introduce important voices to readers far and wide. Prizes are awarded in the categories of Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Magazines/General Excellence, and Magazines/Best Debut. Each year, CLMP also awards the Lord Nose Award, given to a publisher or editor in recognition of a lifetime of work in literary publishing.” — CLMP, The Seventh Wave, finalist for Magazine/General Excellence
The Politics of Gatekeeping: On Reconsidering the Ethics of Blind Submissions
“Blind submissions are a part of what must be left behind. But it’s not enough to simply discard the practice without pushing for all the other changes that need to happen in order to make the literary realm more sustainably equitable. Narrow-minded editors are not going to automatically read with more openness, humility, and generosity if they stop reading blind. And tokenization has become a major problem across all industries precisely because those in charge haven’t taken the time to do the hard, necessary work of interrogating how these changes need to happen. It is unhelpful to immediately swing the pendulum toward diversity without understanding the actual importance of inclusivity and accessibility, which is how tokenization happens in the first place. What this means, then, is that it’s worthwhile to look at not only what sort of gatekeeping is happening, but who is doing the gatekeeping in the first place.” — Poets & Writers, Special Section, by TSW Executive Director, Joyce Chen
Unite Our Disparate Voices
“These frank, wide-ranging conversations among classmates would eventually spark the genesis of The Seventh Wave, an online publication and arts organization that invites thinkers, artists, athletes, and others to take part in conversations on a single social issue. With their intense discussions acting as a template for future issues, the co-founders wanted The Seventh Wave to function as an amplified think tank of disparate voices.” — The New School
The Importance of Coming Undone
“In the creation of our publication, then, everything from aesthetics to social media voice to communication with our contributors became an offshoot of who we were as individuals, and we hoped the transparency with which we operated would help keep our own work intentional and honest too. We insisted on handwritten thank-you notes and a writer/artist-centric presentation of the works we promoted. We allowed for the contents of each issue to dictate the format of our launch event. We engaged. By making these small gestures, we assumed that we were doing things differently enough from the rest of the literary world that we were making a bold, new statement.” — Joyce Chen, Draft Journal
On Creating an Inclusive Literary Journal
“We are, by virtue of our life experiences, diverse in our thoughts and opinions and therefore a representation of the kind of inclusivity that we hope to create for our publication. It’s a testament to the idea that those who stand at the helm of these publications are just as important as those who keep the ship afloat; that is to say, we hold ourselves accountable to be what we want the publication to be: open, engaged, curious.” — Joyce Chen, LitHub
10 Must Read Magazines
“Since the inception of the MFA in Creative Writing program at The New School, alumni from each graduating class have gone on to create influential websites, magazines, and presses. Here is a representative — though far from comprehensive — look at some of those projects.” — New School Writing
Interview with Creators of The Seventh Wave
“Today, I present to you the first exclusive interview with the creators of the newest internet craze that is actually going to make us think deeper about who we are, why we are, where we are, and why we do the things that we do.” — Jade Hajj
New Publication, New Opportunities
“For any of you who are interested in getting your writing (or other forms of artistic expression) out there, this is an excellent opportunity to be a part of a new publication that has a strong vision and dedicated people working behind the scenes!” — Allison Bucknell