Maintaining the beauty and quality of The Southern Review, a product of LSU Press for more than 80 years, isn’t an easy task, but co-editors Emily Nemens and Jessica Faust welcome the challenge.
Nemens and Faust released the Review’s autumn issue this month.
Based out of Johnston Hall, the quarterly literary journal features poetry, fiction and nonfiction prose. New and renowned local and international authors send work during the submission period. Nemens and Faust are the primary producers of the journal, with Nemens as the prose and art editor and Faust as the poetry editor. Their positions serve as full-time jobs for both.
“There’s not many journals like this left in the country, in terms of professional quarterlies that are publishing really top-notch fiction,” Nemens said.
The journal selects roughly one percent of work submitted, she said.
The co-editors strive to incorporate a mix of work, from emerging literary talents to more established sources and even solicit older writers.
“We like to have a combination of new voices, but we also want very established voices that we admire,” Faust said.
As they make their selections, Faust and Nemens begin the editing process, which can range from slight alterations to rewriting a character’s history.
Faust said they have no desire to move away from the printed version of the Review — the way it’s been done since 1935.
While they want to retain the integrity of their print product, the Review offers online content to accompany the work published in the journal, including audio readings and blogs featuring writers.
The Review is consistently recognized as one of the top literary journals in the country, earning several awards annually.
“It really speaks to the quality of the writers that we’re able to get in the journal, and I think that’s because of the longstanding reputation of this journal,” Faust said.
While they like to do a “hat tip” to southern letters, the issues usually don’t center around a certain theme.
Staying relevant remains an obstacle the journal faces with each issue. While upholding the standards of the journal’s reputation is intimidating, Faust and Nemens love rising to the occasion.
They have a range of previous contributors whose relationship with the journal goes back longer than she’s been alive, Nemens said. Understanding if and how their work still fits into the journal is a great part of what makes the Review so definitive.
“For every moment of continuity, you have to balance it with something new,” Nemens said.