As July nears its end, we are half way through the summer season and another round of Magazine Production & Publishing has almost come to an end. I’ve had the opportunity and great pleasure to teach this course a second time this summer with an enthusiastic group of students who, commendably, manage to focus on school work even given the pull of the summer sun.
In this course, we’ve had three more wonderful guests speak to our class and I wanted to capture these conversations here in a second Magazine Miniseries. The three main modules in the course (the business of magazines, magazine design and magazine production) help steer each of the three conversations.
In this first episode, we hear from L’Amour Lisik, Managing Editor of The Malahat Review and Associate Prose Editor of Plentitude Magazine. Both of these publications are literary magazines, a genre focused on creative writing. Literary magazines showcase authors who may not have an audience through traditional commercial publishing. New and emergent writers (some of whom later become household names) submit to, and are featured in, literary magazines. Typically funded by granting organizations that promote the arts and sometimes affiliated with universities, these publications are often produced by a small staff with contributions from independent writers. L’Amour provides us insight into the world of literary magazines and the role she plays in the publishing process.
L’Amour is based in Victoria, British Columbia and in this conversation we discuss the responsibilities of a managing editor, the role of an editor and editorial board in fostering equity, diversity and inclusion, insight into submissions including the acceptance and rejection process and the importance of empathy in the process. Finally, L’Amour offers tips for getting started in the magazine industry. Let’s listen in…
About Our Guest:
L'Amour is a queer writer and artist of Mauritian-Chinese/Scottish settler descent who lives and works on the unceded traditional territories of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples. She's the Managing Editor for The Malahat Review and an Associate Prose Editor for Plenitude Magazine. She holds a BFA in Writing from the University of Victoria, where she focused on poetry and creative nonfiction. Aside from writing, she enjoys clogs, dogs, and graphic novels.
Music (public domain via freesound.org): Podington Bear - Love Song #1
Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle
Episode Cover Art: Canva (remixed by Diana Varma)