“Whatever exists, there is always something vital that has to be added or we wouldn’t feel anything lacking in this world,” says Chad Harbach, one of the n+1 eds, talking about the origins of n+1 magazine.
Authonomy is a HarperCollins experiment in crowdsourcing the act of unearthing literature’s ‘Next Big Thing’. Anybody can upload their manuscripts to the site, and users can vote for their favourite submissions. Each month, the highest-rated manuscripts are read by editors at HarperCollins for possible print publication. So much about this seems like a great idea.
“Part of the fear and challenge of being a writer is confronting the very real risk that not many people will appreciate what we do […] the dream of celebrity is one way of combating that: ‘When I become famous, my work will be validated. Everyone will appreciate—or at least respect—what I do. No one will question my doing it!’,” writes A.D. Jameson on alternative values in small-press culture.
The New Yorker’s picks for the top 20 writers under 40 ruffles the feathers of lesser-celebrated writers over at HTMLGIANT. The breakdown of the writers in the list in terms of MFA programs is particularly interesting. Six of the New Yorker’s favourite young writers attended the University of Iowa.