We begin reading for our fifth issue of Duende today, and I am very excited that our journal has reached this milestone. In fact, Duende now reaches over 10,000 people monthly, which is great news for us and even better news for our wonderful contributors. Our mission of publishing a majority of writers who are underrepresented means ensuring that their work reaches a national audience and offering quality exposure for them. I’m hopeful that we will continue to grow our audience by constantly publishing challenging work from a diverse group of writers.
I cannot stress enough the generous commitment that our editors make to the journal each semester. They continue to challenge me and keep me excited about our important work. Without our student editors, the journal would not exist. I’d like to thank all of the past editors for the work they’ve done, including reading for our upcoming feature issue: EXODUS. Look for that issue this spring. I would like to particularly thank Catherine Chambers for her dedication to Duende during her time at Goddard College.
I want to welcome back our returning editors. Katherine Michalak is now our senior editor, and has already proven herself to be invaluable in this position. Odin Halvorson, web designer extraordinaire, and Christina Gerard, who came up with the idea for our next feature issue, are now Duende’s managing editors. Lacey Pruitt-Thomas returns to her position as fiction editor. We have two new members of our editorial team, as well. Anita Olivia Koester, an accomplished poet in her own right, steps in as our poetry editor. Brittany Long, who understands more about social media than I could hope to, is Duende’s nonfiction/hybrid and social media editor.
We have some new developments that I’d like to announce. Starting in November, we will replace our typical monthly blog series with a book review series. We hope to highlight a diverse range of books that our editors admire. Anita Olivia Koester will be editing this series for Duende. Be sure to check back with us monthly for those book reviews.
In addition to releasing our EXODUS feature, this spring we will be begin reading for our third feature issue. The next feature issue that we will read for will feature writers who have struggled with mental illness, either presently or in the past. We will have more details on this in the future.
Lastly, look for team Duende at this year’s AWP conference in Washington, D.C. I will be attending, as usual. This year, however, I hope to have other members of the editorial staff with me! If you are a past contributor, recent contributor, or just like us, stop by and say hello. We’ll have goodies for our past contributors.
And, yes, do submit your work for our fifth issue! We look forward to reading it.
—MA