LR Issue 8.2 Is Here!

Cover Image: LANTERN REVIEW Issue 8.2, “Recoveries” (featuring a film still from Cindy Nguyen’s “Tokyo Glances”: blue-tinted photo of a waist-up, silhouetted figure in profile, wearing a white shirt and with short hair against an overcast sky. In the backdrop, a skyscraper with glass windows and another brick skyscraper to the side.)
Lantern Review Issue 8.2, “Recoveries”

It’s our pleasure today to announce that Issue 8.2, our second and final issue of the 2020 season, is live! Titled “Recoveries” after a line from antmen pimentel mendoza’s poem “Ode to the Moon, the Earth’s Only Satellite, with Years of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,” this issue speaks to the notion of survival, enacting creative resistance in the face of trauma and inviting us to consider how the work of the artist may chart new paths through the processes of healing and regeneration.

When we first chose the work that appears in Issue 8.2, we had no idea how 2020 would play out, nor how prescient these pieces would feel in the midst of the present moment. In addition to mendoza’s poem, Issue 8.2 features striking cover art by Cindy Nguyen, as well as powerful poems by MICHAEL CHANG, Tiffany Hsieh, and Heather Nagami. As we put the issue together over the course of the last two months, we were struck anew by these singular pieces and how they seemed to speak with even greater urgency to our current reality, transgressing boundaries of time, form, and geography to insist upon being heard above the fray. Today, we’re excited to finally share them with you.

We hope you’ll enjoy Issue 8.2. And as always, we’d love to know what you think—leave us a comment below or let us know on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter: @LanternReview.

Wishing you peace and light always,
The LR editorial team

Click here to read Lantern Review Issue 8.2: “Recoveries.”

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Cover of WADE IN THE WATER by Tracy K. Smith

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Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf, 2019)

Please consider supporting an independent bookstore with your purchase.

As an APA–focused publication, Lantern Review stands for diversity within the literary world. In solidarity with other communities of color and in an effort to connect our readers with a wider range of voices, we recommend a different book by a non-APA-identified BIPOC poet in each blog post.

LR News: LR on Sundress’s Publishing Roundtable

Sundress Roundtable logo: three cartoon speech bubbles of different shapes—one pale blue, one pale purple, and one pale green—with the words "Sundress Roundtable" overlaid on the foremost (purple) bubble.
Sundress Roundtable: So You Want to Start a Literary Journal (Part 1 | Part 2)

Recently, I [Iris] had the opportunity to participate in a two-part roundtable on Sundress Publications’ blog with a few other literary journal founders. As we just celebrated the tenth anniversary of LR‘s first issue this summer (and are almost at eleven years in existence on the internet—our blog first went live in fall of 2009), it was especially meaningful to get to look back and reflect on our early years. It was also fascinating to hear from the other editors about their publications’ stories and how, like us, many of them began their journals in response to a felt need or representational gap in the literary landscape. For Mia and me, the work of creating and publishing LR has felt as much like a journey of self-discovery (for us as writers, editors, teachers, collaborators, and friends) as it has been an opportunity to serve by carving out a space for our community, and it was lovely to hear and learn from what others have figured out—about themselves, about editing, about running a journal, about literary impact and community—along the way. Our thanks to Sundress Publications and to panel coordinator Marci Calibretta Cancio-Bello (from Print-Oriented Bastards) for the opportunity, as well as to fellow panelists Sarah Clark (from ANMLY, beestung, Bettering American Poetry), Sarah Feng (from COUNTERCLOCK Journal), and Luther Hughes (from Shade Literary Arts) for their insights!

To see our conversation, head on over to these posts on Sundress’s blog:

Sundress Roundtable: So You Want to Start a Literary Journal, Part 1

Sundress Roundtable: So You Want to Start a Literary Journal, Part 2

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If you’ve ever founded a journal yourself, what are some of the things you’ve learned along the way? (Or if you’re thinking of starting a journal, what questions do you have?) We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a note in the comments in the comments or on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram (@LanternReview).

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The Tradition by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon, 2019)
Please consider supporting a Black-owned bookstore with your purchase.

As an Asian American–focused publication, Lantern Review is committed to promoting diverse voices within the literary world. In solidarity with the Black community and in an effort to amplify Black voices in poetry, we’re sharing a different book by a Black poet in each of our blog posts this summer.

Issue 8.1: Celebrating Ten Years of LR

Cover Image: LANTERN REVIEW Issue 8.1, "Remnants" (featuring Miya Sukune's oil painting "Looking to the Horizon": scene from an artist's workshop with a bass drum pedal, succulent, stone, eraser, paint brushes, and palette on a paint-streaked wood table. On the window and hanging from it are a sand dollar, a small statue, a spherical glass suncatcher, and another potted plant. Out the window, we can see snowcapped mountains and trees in the distance.)
LANTERN REVIEW Issue 8.1: “Remnants“

We’re so very excited this morning to announce the release of our tenth-anniversary issue—Issue 8.1, “Remnants.” Featuring new poems by four of our past contributors (Rajiv Mohabir, Khaty Xiong, Vuong Vu, and Luisa A. Igloria) in addition to artist Miya Sukune’s stunning oil paintings, this slim but powerful volume serves as a celebration of past, present, and future.

Over the past ten years, we’ve had the opportunity to publish the poetry, prose, translations, and artwork of 107 writers and 27 visual artists in the magazine’s pages—as well as countless more curated writing prompts, interviews, reviews, process profiles, reflections, and featured poems (written by a combination of staff and guest contributors) for our blog. We’re incredibly indebted to you, our community—the readers, contributors, staff, partners, family, and friends who’ve read and commented on the blog and magazine, submitted work, subscribed to our newsletter, attended our events, volunteered your time and resources, visited our table at book fairs and literary festivals, and shared our content. 2020 feels, by all accounts, like a strange and difficult year in which to be celebrating anything, but as we reflect back on where we’ve come, we can’t help but feel both immense gratitude and renewed determination for the road ahead. The past ten years have only served to strengthen our deep belief in the necessity of poetry and in the rich, vibrant beacon that is the APA literary landscape. We look forward to continuing the work of highlighting and celebrating APA poetry—in concert with our community and in solidarity with others—in the years to come.

Thank you for your support throughout the years, and cheers to the future of APA poetry! We hope you’ll enjoy Issue 8.1.

Enter Lantern Review 8.1: “Remnants”

With peace, light, and unending gratitude,

Iris & Mia
LR Editors

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Cover Image: CATALOG OF UNABASHED GRATITUDE by Ross Gay

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay (U of Pittsburgh Press, 2015)
Please consider supporting a Black-owned bookstore with your purchase.

As an Asian American–focused publication, Lantern Review is committed to promoting diverse voices within the literary world. In solidarity with the Black community and in an effort to amplify Black voices in poetry, we’ll be sharing a different book by a Black poet in each of our blog posts this summer.

Open Submissions 2020 is Here! [Updated 2/7/20]

Black-and-white photo of graduated steps or balconies leading up to a rectangular skylight. White text advertising LR's open reading period overlays the image. It reads: LR, Lantern Review Open Submissions, lanternreview.submittable.com, Deadline: Jan 31, 2020. Photo credit: Justin Bautista via Unspash.
LR’s 2020 open submissions period is here! Click here to send us your work.

UPDATE (2/7/20): We’re just floored by the outpouring of support you’ve shown during our February extended reading period. In just one week, we’ve managed to hit our monthly submissions limit again! Unfortunately, this means we’ll have to wrap up 2020 submissions a couple of days earlier than anticipated. We are so sorry if you had been intending to send in something in the last push before this Sunday, but please know that we are incredibly grateful for your support and hope we will get to hear from you next time! A million thanks once again, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions. 

UPDATE (1/19/20): Thank you, everyone, for your tremendous response! Much to our surprise, we’ve hit our submissions limit for the month of January much earlier than expected and will have to shut down for a bit until our counter resets in February. To make up for the missed time, we’ll reopen submissions again for a short time from February 1st–9th. (If you tried to submit, and the form was closed, we are sorry; please do try again in February!) We apologize for the inconvenience—but thank you a million times over again for your support and interest. Please check back again on February 1st!

Happy New Year! We hope today finds you refreshed and ready to take on whatever new creative challenges the year brings. This morning, we’re excited to announce some fresh news of our own: open submissions for our 2020 season is finally here!

For our 2020 season, we’re taking submissions of original poetry and visual art (including photography) through January 31, 2020. This June will also mark the tenth anniversary of our first issue’s release, and we’re excited to be celebrating a decade of publishing Asian American poetry on the web. We’ve got some exciting new plans in the works for our anniversary year—so stay tuned for more updates in the weeks and months to come.

We hope you’ll consider sending us something of yours this submissions period. As in years past, it’s free to submit via Submittable (we don’t charge any reading fees), and we’re actively looking for new voices to feature in the year to come. A very happy 2020 to you and yours—and we look forward to reading your work!

Click here to submit to LR’s 2020 season.

Peace and Light,

Iris & Mia

LR Issue 7.3 Is Here!

Cover image of Lantern Review Issue 7.3: At the top, the words "LANTERN REVIEW" in all caps. Beneath it, a dark gray bar with the text "November 2019" in white. Below that, the cover image: an abstract composition of colorful, angular shards and strips of a verity of patterns. The body of the piece is transected by a grid of white lines that meet at regular intervals and cross at right angles (forming six square shapes). At top right, on top of the image, the number "7.3" appears in large, white, slightly translucent type. The bottom of the number slightly overlaps a translucent, dark gray rectangle onto which the italic word "construction(s)" has been placed.
LANTERN REVIEW Issue 7.3: “Construction(s)”

We’re thrilled to announce that Lantern Review Issue 7.3, our third and final issue of the 2019 season, is now live! This dazzling collection features poems by Karan Madhok, Jane Wong, Annette Wong, Tessie Monique, Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé, and Melody Gee, as well as artwork by Sisavanh Phouthavang-Houghton and Tonya Russell. The issue is curated around the theme “Construction(s),” a title inspired by both Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé’s prose poem “The Beach, and the Important Failure of Utopia Creation” and Melody Gee’s tender lyric “And So More,” two very different pieces that are both invested in questions of world-making, building, and becoming.

There are fewer things more satisfying than curating a conversation between the kinds of diverse and divergent voices that appear in Issue 7.3. We’ve anticipated the release of this issue for months and are delighted to showcase these artists’ rigorous, artful considerations of what it means to construct, to deconstruct, and to perform identity and the body in new, complex ways.

In looking back on this year’s issues, we’re incredibly grateful to our contributors for believing in Lantern Review‘s mission as a journal dedicated to excellence and diversity in Asian American poetry, as well as to all of you, our readers, for your continued support. Thank you so much for joining in the conversation, especially as we’ve taken the leap of relaunching the magazine this year.

We hope you’ll enjoy Issue 7.3—and as always, we’d love to hear what you think! Leave us a comment below or catch us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter: @LanternReview.

Enter Lantern Review 7.3: “construction(s)”

Peace and Light,

Mia & Iris
LR Editors

Announcing Our 2019 Best of the Net Nominees

Happy Friday! As we near the end of one year of our magazine’s being back in (virtual) print, the Lantern Review team is delighted to announce that we have nominated the following two poems for Best of the Net 2019.

Photo of Shamala Gallagher (Portrait of the poet, with shoulder-length, dark-brown, gently windswept hair, dark-rimmed glasses, and a raspberry-colored top with a white floral print, smiling against a background of green leaves.)
Shamala Gallagher (Photo by Madeline Laguaite)

Shamala Gallagher, “Untitled (New Year’s Eve & a Death Tucked Inside)”
LR Issue 7.1 | March 2019

“It scared me when anyone loved anyone’s writing. For who then was left to love mine? And it is hard to write so punctuated by nights.”

Photo of W. Todd Kaneko (Portrait of the poet, wearing black, rectangular glasses, a brown collared shirt with white embroidery on the yoke buttoned over a black tee, and a goatee. Books on white shelves line the wall in the background).
W. Todd Kaneko (Photo by Tyler Steimle)

W. Todd Kaneko, “The Birds Know What They Mean”
LR Issue 7.2 | May 2019

“I say, Minidoka—
what the birds mean is that
there is no such thing
as safety, barely shelter.”

Shamala and Todd’s poems sing in the dark. They whisper quietly in the mind’s ear, masterfully and unflinchingly tuning image and syntax line by line. Their tightly crafted openings and endings deliver a powerful gut punch each time we read them, and we’re so grateful to have gotten the chance to publish these two beautiful pieces this year.

Congratulations, Shamala and Todd, and we wish you the very best of luck in the Best of the Net selection process!

Join Us at the 2019 Smithsonian APA Lit Fest This Weekend!

Text: "2019 Asian American Literature Festival, August 2–4, 2019, Eaton Hotel, 2012 K Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20005." Accompanying image: watercolor illustration of a city with multiple types of buildings arranged on grassy terraces, including several with many glass windows, brick and stuccoed buildings, and several tents in the foreground (including a thatched one, a round, white yurt-like structure, and a blue one with multicolored designs).
Join us in the Literary Lounge of the 2019 Asian American Literature Festival this weekend!

It’s that time again, and we’re headed off to the second Smithsonian APA Literature Festival this weekend in DC! Come visit us in the Literary Lounge on Friday, where we’ll be giving away awesome stickers featuring some of our contributors, as well as (in keeping with this year’s festival’s theme of “Care and Caregiving”) little poetry care kits designed to provide literary inspiration, activities for creative renewal, and prompts for the writer in need of self-care. Whether it’s tenderness, solidarity, or play that you need, we hope you’ll take a kit home this weekend to nourish your own creative practice or to share one with someone dear to you. The activities and writing prompts included can easily be adapted to share with kids, as well—so if you’re a parent or a teacher of a creative young person, we hope you’ll stop by, too! (Iris will be behind the table and would love to have a conversation with you about APA poetry in the classroom or APA books for young readers.) See you in DC!

LUMEN No. 7 Is Coming This Friday!

Get ready—the summer 2019 installment of our email newsletter, Lumen, drops on Friday, and it’s one for the books! For Lumen no. 7, we’ve asked some of our Issue 7.2 contributors to share the can’t-miss, APA-authored books that are top of their reading lists this summer. From Ocean Vuong to Seema Reza, this edition of Lumen is packed with fantastic reading recommendations. We can’t wait to dive into the titles they recommend ourselves—and hope you’ll discover a new favorite read or two, as well!

Photograph of a black mug containing milky tea and a copy of Lee Herrick's SCAR AND FLOWER lying open on its front (with the cover up—showing large, red-and-white, sans-serif display type on a dark background). The words "What to Read in Summer 2019" and the Lumen logo (a black circle with a white, hanging line-drawing of a pendant lamp and the word "Lumen" in white script font) take up the right side.
LUMEN 7: What to Read in Summer 2019. Click here to subscribe. 

If you’re already subscribed to Lumen, you can look forward to receiving this season’s letter in your inbox on Friday morning. And if you aren’t yet a subscriber, not to worry; there’s still time to make sure you won’t miss out! Follow the link below or click on the image at the top of this post to sign up:

Subscribe to Lumen

We hope this issue of Lumen provides you with some great inspiration—and would love to hear what’s on your reading list this summer!

Light and peace always,
Iris, Mia, and Irene

LR Issue 7.2 is Here! Celebrate APA Heritage Month 2019 with Us.

Cover of LANTERN REVIEW Issue 7.2

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we’re excited to announce the launch of our second micro-issue this year! For Issue 7.2, we’ve chosen the title “Home/lands,” inspired by the last line of Leslieann Hobayan’s ethereal “Wedding Departure Haibun,” which asks of us to consider oscillations between belonging and flight as we negotiate home and renegotiate history.

Along with Hobayan’s work, we’ve gathered poems by W. Todd Kaneko, Bryan Thao Worra, Kaysone Syonesa, Amy Uyematsu, Eileen R. Tabios, Brandon Shimoda, and Purvi Shah, as well as striking artwork by Kang Yoo A, Camino Santos, and Jenna Le. Finally, to commemorate the varied landscapes explored by the APA poets and visual artists featured in this investigation of “home/lands,” you’ll also find artifacts from some of our contributors’ personal histories hidden throughout the issue. Look closely, and you’ll see faces from the past reveal themselves in unexpected places. To enter the issue, click here or on the image at the top of this post. We’d love to hear what you think, so leave us a comment below or reach out to us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to share your feedback and reactions.

Much gratitude, as always, for your support and readership.

Peace and Light,

The LR editorial team

LUMEN No. 6 is Coming on Friday.

Happy Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month! So much is already in motion this May—from Kundiman’s release of a special poetry folio in honor of the occasion to Penguin Books’s addition of four seminal Asian American literary works to their classics series—and over here at LR, we’re excited to be celebrating in our own way, too.

Writing Into Silence: Four Prompts for APA Heritage Month; Lumen by LANTERN REVIEW (Photo of purple flowers against a yellow wall by Mona Eendra on Unsplash)
LUMEN 6: Writing into Silence—Four Prompts for APA Heritage Month. Click here to subscribe. (Photo by Mona Eendra on Unsplash)

Later this month, we’ve got a brand-new issue focusing on APA history and literary lineage forthcoming, but first, a special APAHM edition of our newsletter, Lumen, featuring four prompts about writing into silence, drops this Friday, May 10th. During APAHM, when we often stop to consider the legacies of injustice and trauma that are written into our histories, it seemed appropriate to address what it means to grapple with silence in our craft, and we hope that the four exercises we’re sharing (each of which is inspired by a different Issue 7.1 contributor’s piece) will inspire and challenge you in your creative practice this May.

If you’re a Lumen subscriber already, you can look forward to seeing the new newsletter in your email inbox first thing on Friday morning. And if you’re not yet subscribed, there’s still time to get on the list to receive this quarter’s letter! Just follow the link below or click on the image at the top of this post to sign up.

Subscribe to Lumen

A very happy May to you. We look forward to hearing how you might use the prompts we’re sharing in Lumen 6 to inspire your writing this APAHM month—and can’t wait to share Issue 7.2 with you in just a couple of weeks’ time!

Light and peace,

Iris & Mia