And Th.: this reminded me of my commitment to submit something to the journal. So, Angela, in response to your desire for more unsolicited criticism/reviews and for more poetry, I submitted a review essay yesterday and a set of poems this morning. I hope they’re up to snuff.

As for this—

I do wish Irreantum saw more poetry. I suspect that if we had a poetry contest, we’d see the same uptick in submissions (both quantity and quality) that we’ve had with fiction and the essay. I’m looking into that. But the poetry that we do eventually decide to publish is very good–we just don’t publish as much of it as I’d like to.

—I think a poetry contest would be excellent, but I also think your decision to nominate work for the Pushcart Prize is a major step forward, in at least three ways: 1) it shows that the quality of recent Mormon poetry—and fiction, of course—as published in Mormon venues is good enough to stand beside that published in broader American venues; 2) I’m convinced it may bring greater validation to Irreantum as a literary journal in general, not simply as a Mormon literary journal, though its Mormonness is, of course, what makes it unique (hope that makes sense; if not, I can clarify—I think); and 3) it may just motivate more poets to contribute (I know I consider it a bonus—beyond just getting copies of the book, hey, if my work’s good enough, maybe I’ll get a Pushcart nomination, too).

Anyway, thanks for this interview. It’s good to catch a glimpse of the vision and passion that compels the AML to support quality literature through Irreantum.

I find it interesting that you point to Prof. Madden’s course as a catalyst for creative nonfiction. I remember that in the early days of the AML-List it seemed like a large majority of the participants had taken the Mormon literature class at BYU. As disappointing as BYU’s support of Mormon Studies is (and I do think it is on the whole disappointing), it’s good to hear about bright pockets of development.

I will also echo your thoughts on contests — the Irreantum Fiction Contest has definitely been a prime motivator for me. There’s something very appealing about being judged (and perhaps even winning some money). Ultimately, I think the scene needs more. In particular, I sure wish we could do more with novellas and novels — Zarahemla and Parables can only publish so many titles. And I also think that it’s a bit criminal that the short story anthologies are so few and far between. Kudos to you and Chris for pulling this together.