Guernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics is an American digital magazine known for publishing fiction, poetry, essays, reportage, art, and interviews that focus primarily on global perspectives and the intersection between art and politics.[2] The magazine is particularly committed to world literature, platforming marginalized voices and translating work from all continents into English, and it has been a place of first publication for many notable writers.[3]
![]() | |
Editors at Large | Michael Archer, Salar Abdoh[1] |
---|---|
Categories | Literary, art and political |
Frequency | Daily |
Founded | 2004; 21 years ago (2004) |
Company | Guernica Inc. |
Country | United States |
Based in | New York City |
Language | English |
Website | www |
History
editGuernica was founded in 2004 by Joel Whitney, Michael Archer, Josh Jones, and Elizabeth Onusko.[4] Guernica Inc. has been a not-for-profit corporation since 2009.[5][6]National Book Foundation Director Lisa Lucas was the publisher ofGuernica from 2014 until 2016.[7][8] Madhuri Sastry and Jina Moore were co-publishers from 2016 until 2024.[9]
Awards and events
editIn 2008,Okey Ndibe's "My Biafran Eyes" won a Best of the Web prize fromDzanc Books.[10] In 2008, Rebecca Morgan Frank's "Rescue" was chosen for theBest New Poets award.[11]
In 2009, Matthew Derby's short story forGuernica, "January in December", won a Best of the Web prize from Dzanc Books.
In 2009,E. C. Osondu was awarded theCaine Prize for African Writing for hisGuernica short story, "Waiting".[12][13]
In 2010, Mark Dowie's "Food Among the Ruins" was chosen for the Best of the Net anthology.[14] In 2010, Oliver de la Paz's poem "Requiem for the Orchard", F. Daniel Rzicnek's poem "Geomancy" and Elizabeth Crane's short story "The Genius Meetings" won Best of the Web prizes from Dzanc Books.[15]
In 2011, Bridget Potter's essay "Lucky Girl" was chosen forThe Best American Essays, 2011,[16] guest-edited byEdwidge Danticat. In 2011, Jack Shenker's "Dam Dilemma" was part of a portfolio of his work longlisted for theOrwell Prize for Political Writing in the UK.[17]
In 2013,Guernica wonUtne magazine's Media Award for Best Social/Cultural Coverage.[18]
In 2016,Alexander Chee's essay "Girl" was chosen forThe Best American Essays, 2016, edited byJonathan Franzen.
Guernica won the 2016AWP Small Press Publisher Award given by theAssociation of Writers & Writing Programs that "acknowledges the hard work, creativity, and innovation" of small presses and "their contributions to the literary landscape" of the US.[19]
In 2017,Guernica won thePEN American CenterNora Magid Award for Editing.[20]
In 2023,Guernica won a Whiting Award. In their citation, the judges noted: “Perennially curious, eager to reckon with the world head-on, Guernica draws readers into uncharted conversations and traces the complex ligaments connecting culture, politics, art, and ecology. Over twenty years, Guernica has built an impressive record as a place of first publication for important writers and thinkers.”[21]
Contributors and editors
editContributors includeLorraine Adams,Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,Jesse Ball,A. Igoni Barrett,Amit Chaudhuri,Susan Choi,Noam Chomsky,Billy Collins,Susan Daitch,Marguerite Duras,Stephen Elliott,Rivka Galchen,James Galvin,Amitav Ghosh,Mahvish Khan,Alexandra Kleeman,Eric Kraft,Kiese Laymon,Douglas Light,Sarah Lindsay,Dorthe Nors,Okey Ndibe,Meghan O'Rourke,Zachary Mason,Tracy O'Neill, Daniele Pantano,Matthew Rohrer,Deb Olin Unferth,Sergio Ramírez,Amartya Sen,Aurelie Sheehan,Jonathan Steele,Laren Stover,Terese Svoboda,Mitch Swenson,Olufemi Terry,Anthony Tognazzini,Frederic Tuten,Joe WenderothPatrick White, andYaa Gyasi.
Guest fiction and poetry editors have includedAlexander Chee,Roxane Gay,Francisco Goldman,Randa Jarrar,Sam Lipsyte,Ben Marcus,Claire Messud,George Saunders,Tracy K. Smith, andFrederic Tuten.
Interview subjects have included filmmakerJohn Waters, CongressmanJohn Conyers, CongresswomenMarcy Kaptur andCarolyn B. Maloney, Costa Rican PresidentÓscar Arias, Justice Department legal counselJohn Yoo, former member of Dutch ParliamentAyaan Hirsi Ali, former Iraqi cabinet memberAli Allawi, artistChuck Close, singersLila Downs andDavid Byrne, and authorsEtgar Keret,Andrew Bacevich,Don DeLillo,[22]Howard Zinn,Samantha Power,Bernard-Henri Lévy,Nicholas D. Kristof,Joan Didion, playwrightTony Kushner, and actorMia Farrow.
Previous longtime senior editors include Meakin Armstrong (senior editor, fiction 2006-2022) and Erica Wright (senior editor, poetry 2007-2022).[23] The current masthead is composed of nonfiction editors Shze-Hui Tjoa andMolara Wood, fiction editor William Pei Shih, poetry editorNathalie Handal, managing editor Aybike Ahmedi, and editor-in-chief Youmna Melhem Chamieh.[24]
In March of 2024, a disagreement over the publication of Israeli writer and translator Joanna Chen’s essay “From the Edges of a Broken World”[25] led to the resignation of some Guernica editors, as well as of co-publishers Madhuri Sastry and Jina Moore.[26][27] At the author’s invitation, the magazine retracted the piece, with co-founder Michael Archer writing: “the essay was ultimately removed from Guernica’s pages for the same reason I assumed the author invited its retraction—it was further wounding a historically silenced community already under siege.”[28] Chen’s essay was re-published in theWashington Monthly on March 18th.[29]
In 2025,Guernica relaunched with two winter issues guest-edited byValeria Luiselli, Heather Cleary,Kamila Shamsie, Nimmi Gowrinathan,Maaza Mengiste,Mirza Waheed,Jacqueline Woodson,Jamal Mahjoub,Salar Abdoh, andNathalie Handal.[30][31]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Masthead",Guernica. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^"About Guernica".Guernica. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2025.
- ^"Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes".Whiting Foundation. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2025.
- ^van Hensbergen, Gijs (December 20, 2004)."Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon".Publishers Weekly. RetrievedJanuary 3, 2015.
- ^"Guernica Inc", TaxExemptWorld. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^"Guernica Inc", 501c3lookup; retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (June 30, 2014)."Guernica Magazine Names Lisa Lucas Publisher".New York Observer. RetrievedJanuary 3, 2015.
- ^Dwyer, Colin (February 10, 2016)."Lisa Lucas Takes The Reins At The National Book Foundation". NPR. RetrievedJanuary 27, 2017.
- ^Archer, Michael (April 12, 2024)."Moving Forward".Guernica. RetrievedApril 15, 2024.
- ^"Best of the Web 2008", Dzanc Books, July 9, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^Mark Strand, Jeb Livingood,"Best new poets 2008", Samovar Press, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^"2009 winner: EC Osondu", The Caine Prize for African Writing, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2015.Archived January 8, 2016, at theWayback Machine.
- ^Flood, Alison (July 7, 2009)."EC Osondu takes £10,000 'African Booker'".The Guardian.
- ^" 2010 Best of the Net Anthology: 2010 Nonfiction Winner", Sundress Publications. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^"Best of the Web 2010", Dzanc Books, April 5, 2010. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^Dykstra, Katherine (May 6, 2011)."Guernica Essay Lucky Girl Chosen forBest American Essays 2011".Guernica. RetrievedJanuary 3, 2015.
- ^"The Orwell Prize Long Lists 2011", The Orwell Prize, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2015.Archived January 3, 2016, at theWayback Machine.
- ^"2013 Utne Media Awards: The Winners".Utne Reader. June 3, 2013. RetrievedSeptember 28, 2015.
- ^"AWP Small Press Publisher Award Winners".Association of Writers & Writing Programs. RetrievedOctober 14, 2020.
- ^"2017 PEN America Literary Awards Winners". PEN America. March 27, 2017. RetrievedAugust 2, 2017.
- ^"Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes".Whiting Literary Magazine. RetrievedApril 8, 2024.
- ^Binelli, Mark (July 17, 2007)."Intensity of a plot: an interview with Don Delillo".Guernica. RetrievedJanuary 3, 2015.
- ^"About Guernica".Guernica. RetrievedJanuary 27, 2017.
- ^"Guernica Masthead".Guernica. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2025.
- ^Chen, Joanna (March 5, 2024)."From the Edges of a Broken World".Guernica. Archived from the original on March 5, 2024. RetrievedMarch 18, 2024.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^Archer, Michael (April 12, 2024)."Moving Forward".Guernica. RetrievedApril 15, 2024.
- ^"My resignation from Guernica". Jina Moore. RetrievedApril 15, 2024.
- ^"The Cofounder of Guernica on Free Speech and the Retraction of the Israel-Gaza Essay". LitHub. July 22, 2024.
- ^Chen, Joanna (March 18, 2024)."From the Edges of a Broken World".Washington Monthly. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2025.
- ^"The January Issue".Guernica. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2025.
- ^"The February Issue".Guernica. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2025.
External links
edit- Guernica magazine current issue
- Rachel Deahl,"Guernica: Lit Mag Beats the Odds",Publishers Weekly, October 19, 2007.
- From the Edges of a Broken World (the retracted essay at the center of the 2024 controversy, preserved at theWayback Machine)