Friday, September 30, 2016

Six Questions for Sarah Page and Elizabeth Pinborough, Editors, Young Ravens Literary Review

Young Ravens Literary Review publishes fiction and nonfiction (to ten pages), visual art, and poetry of all flavors. Read the complete guidelines here.

SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

Sarah and Elizabeth: We started this magazine because we believe creativity is cyclical, one dream feeding into another. So to nourish our own creativity we celebrate the unique creative visions of others with the hope that all our combined fantasias will flare against each other and exalt us on our common journey through existence.  As we say in our masthead, “We are the hungry ones who cast our souls to the edge of the universe in our never-ending migration for creative nourishment. Our name is inspired by Psalm 147:9: ‘He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.’”


SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

YRLR: 

Specificity: We want work that explores a central idea, main metaphors, or powerful imagery rather than a collection of random ideas and scattered images that barely interconnect.

Newness: No tired clichés. We want work that teaches us to view the world on a new and startling slant of thought.

Cohesive ending: We want works that are not too abrupt in their conclusion, but tie together all the thematic loose threads.


SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

YRLR: Graphic violence, erotic material, and submissions that ignore our issue theme, which is easily viewable on our submission guidelines page.


SQF: Do you provide comments when you reject a submission?

YRLR: Not usually, unless we think there is potential in a revision. In that case we will include our editorial notes and invite the author to revise and resubmit.


SQF: If Young Ravens Literary Review had a theme song, what would it be and why?

YRLR: Definitely Carole King’s song “Wasn’t born to follow!” King’s steady, sure melody takes listeners on a journey into a prismatic wilderness where the singer discovers “colors that no one knows the name of,” and gains a vision of herself unencumbered by the false trappings society has told her she needs to become her truest self.


SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

What would you like to see more of in your submissions?

Raven art!

Thank you, Sarah and Elizabeth. We all appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.

No comments:

Post a Comment