Editor's Note

With this note, Good River Review marks its twelfth issue and the end of our sixth year of publication. I’m proud of what we’ve already accomplished. We’ve won major awards, for sure, and have published some of the most interesting writing I’ve read. We have established our commitment to our greater literary community by publishing reviews of books, plays, and films. And we have always enthusiastically agreed with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs that an excellent MFA program provides its graduate creative writing students with opportunities to engage with a literary magazine in meaningful ways.

My experience tells me that sometimes this hallmark is interpreted by program faculty to mean that two lucky MFA students are selected to serve for an academic year in the plum positions of student poetry editor or fiction editor, but in keeping with our teaching philosophy at the Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing, one of our main objectives was, and continues to be, our commitment to providing every student with an understanding of the work that goes into publishing a literary magazine.

We know that graduate students who serve as “first readers” for submissions to lit mags are often derided as being woefully inexperienced to do that screening work, but at Good River, in addition to our grad assistants who help with reading, selection, editorial layout and promotion of an issue, each semester, each Naslund-Mann student meets in a small editorial discussion group to discuss their recommendations for publication for the upcoming issue of Good River. In this way, all students are stakeholders in this necessary work. At the least, after engaging for several semesters as editorial readers, our students graduate as better critics and have a deeper understanding of the editorial and publishing process, taking these valuable skills into the rest of their writing lives, which is to say their lives. Some will love their Good River experience so much it becomes a vocation for them, and a significant number of our MFA graduates have gone on to work at or establish literary magazines or publishing houses.

As a creative writing teacher and school leader, I am committed to continuing these sorts of meaningful opportunities for all Naslund-Mann writers, but I also want to acknowledge that this work would be impossible without our two founding editors on the Good River masthead, Prose Editor Katy Yocom and Poetry Editor and Managing Editor Ellyn Lichvar. Both have provided excellent editorial and publishing leadership, and I am delighted to announce they are stepping into their new roles as Co-editors in Chief. I will now step back to focus on serving as faculty editorial advisor to our students.

Katy Yocom and Ellyn Lichvar are enthusiastic and experienced editors, and, frankly, most of our early success comes from their initiatives, smarts, and dedication. I look forward to the exciting new work they will publish and the continuing innovations they will bring to the magazine. Cheers to Katy and Ellyn! They have my enduring gratitude and appreciation for their many talents. Good River is in great hands.

Kathleen Driskell

Editor in Chief

Good River Review