Editor’s Note by Kristina Marie Darling


It is truly an honor to introduce TQ10. This issue, the first in which I’ve had the privilege of serving as Editor-in-Chief, marks the beginning of several exciting additions to Tupelo Quarterly’s already accomplished offerings in prose, poetry, visual art, and reviews.

But first, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the editors who have joined Tupelo Quarterly’s staff since our last issue. We are thrilled to have Whiting Award Winner Shane McCrae and Levis Prize Winner Allison Benis White as Senior Poetry Editors. Elizabeth Gentry, author of the innovative novel Housebound, and accomplished poet and memoirist Alex Lemon have joined our staff as Senior Prose Editors. We are also lucky to have Emma Bolden, author of two poetry collections and former staff reviewer for The Southern Humanities Review, overseeing our Reviews Page. Additionally, 2016 NEA Translation Fellow Jesse Lee Kercheval has joined Ming Di and Nancy Naomi Carlson in curating our translation offerings.

As Associate Editors, we are absolutely delighted to welcome Andy Frazee, author of The Body, The Rooms; award winning poet and Rescue Press prose editor Zach Savich; rising star Virignia Konchan; 2015 Essay Press Prize Winner Lisa Olstein; gifted poet and educator Brigitte Byrd; novelist, editor, and cross-genre innovator Chris Campanioni; Okla Elliott, whose several collection of poetry, prose and translation have received terrific reviews; Rochelle Hurt, author of author of In Which I Play the Runaway, just released by Barrow Street Press; poet and screenwriter Lily Ladewig; and recent Leslie Scalapino Award Winner Khadijah Queen.

Our editors’ open-mindedness, immense creativity, and commitment to craft in all of its myriad possible incarnations is reflected in our poetry offerings, which range from hybrid texts to more familiar couplets, wild experiments in narrative, and stunning, singing lyric fragments. We are thrilled to feature translations that are equally deft and wide-ranging in the historical moments, political concerns and aesthetics represented, ultimately striking sparks against one another. Similarly, our prose texts range from suspenseful narratives to poetic projections, each piece a fully realized manifestation of its particular form and genre.

In addition to our usual offerings in poetry, prose, and translation, we are delighted to introduce two new sections: Editors’ Selections and Collaborative and Cross-Disciplinary Texts. The Editors’ Selections, which will house work solicited by our team of editors, is an especially exciting development. This new section, of course, affords a space for our editors to shed light on the interests, concerns, and fascinations shaping the magazine, much like our Editorial Features. But even more importantly, it has allowed our editors the honor and delight of framing work that is important to them, offering critical prose introductions that are each a wonderful doorway into that particular writer’s body of work.

Additionally, I’m thrilled to introduce our new “Collaborative and Cross-Disciplinary Texts” offerings, which are intended to initiate dialogue between textual components of the journal and our exciting visual arts section. To this end, we have chosen to focus on work that utilizes both text and image. In curating this new section, it’s been illuminating and heartening to see the infinite ways in which this relationship between text and image can unfold.

In the coming months, there is much to look forward to. We will be launching a themed contest, judged by Darcie Dennigan, open to submissions of poetry, collaborative projects, text/image projects, and hybrids of all kinds. We very much look forward to seeing your work. As always look for more reviews, critical essays, and small press features. Happy autumn, and enjoy!