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Fire!! - 1926

A look through the first and only issue of Fire!!

This literary magazine was edited by leading young artists of the Harlem Renaissance, including Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston. Aaron Douglas created the distinctive line art that complemented the magazine’s writings.

Fire!! embraced an ethos of uncompromising Black pride and creativity, partly in response to the racist attitudes of mainstream white society, and partly in reaction to the ideals of respectability promoted by older leaders in the Black community.

A basement fire destroyed many of the original copies of this magazine shortly after its publication. The copy held by the Little Magazine Collection is therefore a rare treasure from American history.

#fire!! #harlem renaissance #harlem #wallace thurman #langston hughes #zora neale hurston #aaron douglas #black art #black writers #black creatives #black history #writing #drawing #design #art #magazine #little magazine #uwlittlemags

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Lesbian Short Fiction

1998 readers of Lesbian Short Fiction, or “LSF”, opened each new issue to find a host of original lesbian stories. In case readers were overwhelmed by the dizzying array of options, editors used an icon system that would help readers quickly locate a science fiction story, a gothic tale, or a work of erotica.

UW Madison’s Little Magazine Collection holds five issues of LSF.

#fiction #short fiction #short story #lesbian #lesbian fiction #lgbtq writing #writing #science fiction #queer scifi #literary magazine #little magazine #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections

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Ulysses' Beginnings

In honor of Bloomsday, take a look at the first appearance of Ulysses in the March 1918 issue of the Little Review. The obscenity charges lodged against James Joyce's groundbreaking work led the United States Post office to seize and burn several copies of the Little Review, foreshadowing the later legal battle over the complete novel.

Learn more about UW-Madison's Little Magazine Collection here.

#ulysses #james joyce #bloomsday #censorship #ireland #irish literature #little review #little magazines #literary magazine #uwlittlemags

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Pages from the fourth issue of VVV, a New York-based surrealist magazine.

More information on UW-Madison's Little Magazine Collection here.

#vvv #surrealism #surrealist art #art #writing #poetry #literary magazine #little magazine #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections

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The cover may sparkle with stars, but the comics artists of Mineshaft never shy away from diving into the dark side of contemporary American life. Mineshaft #39, newly arrived to the Little Magazine Collection, includes work from R. Crumb, David Collier, Rika Deryckere, and many more.

#stargazing #comics #indie comics #drawing #magazine #literature #literary magazines #literary magazine #lit mag #art #r crumb #american art #little magazine #little magazines collection #the little magazine #special collections #uw madison #uwlittlemags

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Tree: Kabbalah and Poetry

A look through the Winter 1974 issue of Tree, a little magazine rooted in the spiritual tradition of Kabbalah. Editor David Meltzer wrote of Tree: “I was trying to put in dialogue the classical kabbalistic texts w/ modernist & postmodernist poets, writers, artists, as a demonstration of continuity, not division or fracture.”

Quote from Christine A. Meilicke’s history of the magazine.

#tree #kabbalah #kabbalism #judaism #jewish art #jewish writing #poetry #mysticism #art #literary magazine #little magazines #uwlittlemags #libraries #special collections

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"Live for Art": a challenge from the June 1991 issue of Nashville's Poetry Newsletter.

#art #poetry #writing #newsletter #little magazine #little magazines #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections #diy

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Laomedon Review

The cover and pages of Laomedon Review, a literary journal that was published at Erindale College (now the University of Toronto Mississauga) from 1975 to 1978.

#poetry #writing #photography #drawing #university of toronto #toronto #design #canadian writers #magazine #literary magazine #little magazine #little magazines #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections

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Mississippi Mud: Advertisements as Art

A look inside the pages of Mississippi Mud, an independent magazine of literature and art which was published in Portland, Oregon from 1973 until 1995. “The Mud”, as the publication was nicknamed, was the brainchild of editor, publisher, and distributor Joel Weinstein.

Part of the magazine’s attraction came from the inventive advertisements section (see final image). Local businesses would pay to have their names appear in the magazine, but it was Weinstein himself who would craft the “ads”, pairing each advertiser’s name with vintage illustrations and absurdist slogans. This inclusion of “advertisement as art” helped provide funds to keep the Mud up and running, while preserving the magazine’s exuberant creativity on every page.

Information from the Seattle Times and the Oregonian.

More information about the Little Magazine Collection here.

#magazine #little magazine #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections #literary magazine #design #portland

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The art of illustrator Ash Weaver graces the cover of the Potomac Review. Inside, Weaver’s illustrations intersperse fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Besides providing a key forum for literary experimentation, little magazines have also historically featured visual art from groundbreaking artists, such as Marius de Zayas, Amy Goldin, and Andy Warhol.

#literature #art #illustration #little magazine #literary journal #little magazines #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections

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April 17th is International Haiku Poetry Day! Pictured above are four literary journals devoted to the art of haiku, all found in UW-Madison's Little Magazines Collection.

To learn more about this international celebration of haiku poetry, visit https://thehaikufoundation.org/events/international-haiku-poetry-day/.

#haiku #haiku poetry #poetry #national poetry month #poetry magazine #literary magazine #literature #literary journal #contemporary poetry #little magazines #the little magazine #uw madison #uwlittlemags #libraries #library #special collections

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Queer happenings are unfolding within the 62nd issue of McSweeney’s, newly arrived to the Little Magazine Collection. This issue boasts “a collection of absurd, bold, bleak, humorous, and astonishing works of fiction and art by queer writers of all orientations”.

More information on our collections here.

#comics #comics art #queer comics #lgbtq art #fiction #queer fiction #lgbtq fiction #lgbtq writing #surrealism #surrealist art #lgbtq #magazine #magazines #little magazines #UW Special Collections #uw madison #library #libraries #special collections #uwlittlemags #literary magazine #literary journal #mcsweeney's

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The Tasmanian Review

A look through the third issue of The Tasmanian Review.

#tasmania #tasmanian review #tasmanian writing #writing #poetry #art #photography #literary magazine #little magazine #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections

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A look through the Winter 1948 issue of the Welsh Review.

Like many little magazines, the Welsh Review served both as a connector for and an expression of a particular literary community--in this case, Anglophone Welsh writers. The writers and editors of the Welsh Review had to struggle with the problem of expressing Welsh literary culture using the language of Wales’ colonizers. In his editorial for the first issue, editor Gwyn Jones defended his decision to publish the work of these writers:

“If they have lost their language they have not lost their nationality, and fiercely resent any suggestion that they have … I have been told the greater the success of the WELSH REVIEW the worse it will be for Wales … the opposite is true. Can any work be more useful to Wales, as things are, than to keep the English-speaking Welshman bound to their homeland? And can it be done better than by fostering and encouraging in what we expect to be a large following an awareness of their Welshness?”

Information and editorial quote from The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines. More information about the Little Magazine Collection here.

#wales #welsh writers #literary magazine #little magazines #little magazine #writing #poetry #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections

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The 20th issue of Quarter After Eight features artwork by Carrie Guss, and writing by R. J. Taylor, Maureen Seaton, and Sarah Trudgeon, among others.

From the Quarter After Eight website: “Quarter After Eight is an annual literary journal devoted to the exploration of innovative writing. We celebrate work that directly challenges the conventions of language, style, voice, or idea in literary forms.”

#quarter after eight #literary magazine #literary journal #writing #poetry #fiction #art #illustration #little magazine #uwlittlemags #uw madison #special collections #libraries

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The Lark and the Cow

The famous nonsense poem “The Purple Cow” first appeared in the pages of little magazine The Lark. Gelett Burgess, the humorist and illustrator who wrote “The Purple Cow”, founded the The Lark in San Francisco in 1895.

Burgess’ talents as a writer and designer can be glimpsed throughout the pages of The Lark, along with the contributions of other California creatives of the time. However, the notoriety of “The Purple Cow” far eclipsed any other recognition of Burgess’ work, and so he contributed a sarcastic sequel to the last edition of The Lark, warning readers not to remind him of the original poem.

For more information about the Little Magazine Collection at UW Madison, click here.

#purple cow #nonsense #poetry #humor #nonsense poetry #literary magazine #little magazine #uwlittlemags #uw madison #libraries #special collections