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Poetry: Writing: Better Than Peeing Under the Piano 03/01/2010

By Issue 6 contributor Rachel Mehl

My boyfriend used to have a Boston terrier named Bubba who would pee under the piano when his family would clean the house. After my mother got into a cleaning mood I would go through the trash and take out possibly useful things: stubs of crayons, paper clips. (more…)

Reviews: A Word from LAR’s New Book Reviews Editor 02/23/2010

These are exciting times in publishing—and I’m not even talking about the digitalization of the industry and the future of printed books. Criticism of novels, poetry and non-fiction is exploring several avenues, challenging mainstream and traditional attitudes towards writing, and seeking new connections between the written word and human perception and understanding. As the new Book Reviews Editor for The Los Angeles Review, working with a team of editors who are open to new forms and critical responses, it’s fun and fulfilling to be part of this time in publishing. (more…)

Nonfiction: Sailing the literary citizenship 02/17/2010

“Be a literary citizen.” This is one of the tenets by which we live at LAR. What does it mean? It means we write and read and write and read and write and read some more. In other words, we are writers sustaining writers. As LAR’s nonfictionista, I love reading published memoirs and creative nonfiction pieces and seeking out their authors to let them know their words mean something to me. It’s like sending literary Valentines, (more…)

Editor Blog: You Like Us. You Really Like Us 02/09/2010

It’s funny what you don’t think about when you start a new enterprise. As the first reading period for the Los Angeles Review got under way, the new editorial board thought a lot about creating a good product and pleasing our publishers, Kate Gale and Mark Cull. Whenever we received an unexpected submission from a “big name writer” or one of us came across a piece that we “absolutely, positively, have to accept before anyone else takes it,” we danced around our virtual editorial office (more…)

Fiction: The Short Review 02/01/2010

It’s a happy new year of short stories over at The Short Review, edited by Los Angeles Review contributor Tania Hershman (author of The White Road–Salt Publishing). Check it out!

Read Tania’s story “Dangerous Shoes” in LAR Issue 6.

Translation: An Editor’s Pride 12/03/2009

Jumping into the Translations Editor seat for the Los Angeles Review gave me a lot to think about straight off the bat. First, I really had no idea how to tackle all of the rights and permissions involved with printing work translated by someone other than the original author. Thankfully, I had many mentors in the field with whom I could converse about such tricky matters, and was able to navigate my way through my first reading period. (more…)