Latest Issue of Conjunctions, Bard College’s Celebrated Literary Magazine, Features New Work by Fred Moten, Can Xue, John Crowley, Nathaniel Mackey, Sofia Samatar, Yxta Maya Murray, Russell Banks, and Many Others

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Conjunctions 79: Onword, the latest issue of the innovative literary magazine published by Bard College which has been in print for more than 40 continuous years, has just been released. “Like many endeavors in the arts,” writes Conjunctions editor Bradford Morrow, “literary journals are quixotic undertakings, and no matter how vigorous are the idealism, resilience, and stubbornness that sustain them, they are fragile enterprises. Fragile and yet crucial constituents in the literary ecosphere.” As its title suggests, Onword celebrates the continuation of the journal’s storied legacy.

Edited by novelist and Bard literature professor Morrow, Conjunctions:79, Onword features new work by Fred Moten, Can Xue, John Crowley, Nathaniel Mackey, Sofia Samatar, Yxta Maya Murray, Deb Olin Unferth, Rae Armantrout, G. C. Waldrep, Bonnie Nadzam, Vi Khi Nao, Carole Maso, Julia Alvarez, Fred D’Aguiar, Peter Gizzi, Shane McCrae, a novella by Russell Banks, as well as three previously unpublished poems by C. D. Wright. In his Editor’s Note, Morrow adds, “If the title was ambidextrous, the theme was nonexistent. Our organizing principle was simply great writing by great writers. Yet commonalities, shared themes, did arise over the course of putting the issue together.” He notes that themes of survival, migration, loss and renewal, evolution of mind and place, reimagining and rebuilding, stillness, how to live with disappointment, and how to move onward through difficult spiritual terrains, thread through the works collected in this issue.

Additional contributors to Onword include Leah Newsom, Alyssa Pelish, Jack Shear and Forrest Gander, Cole Swensen, Barrie Jean Borich, Jai Chakrabarti, Karla Kelsey and Nancy Kuhl, Melissa Pritchard, Peter Orner, Minna Zallman Proctor, Yannick Murphy, John Yau, Martine Bellen, and Andrew Mossin.

The Washington Post says, “Conjunctions offers a showplace for some of the most exciting and demanding writers now at work.”

Edited by Bradford Morrow and published twice yearly by Bard College, Conjunctions publishes innovative fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by emerging voices and contemporary masters. For four decades, Conjunctions has challenged accepted forms and styles, with equal emphasis on groundbreaking experimentation and rigorous execution. Morrow won PEN America’s 2007 Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing and the 2022 Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Lord Nose Award, given in recognition of a lifetime of superlative work in literary publishing. In 2020, Conjunctions received the prestigious Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. The judges noted, “Every issue of Conjunctions is a feat of curatorial invention, continuing the Modernist project of dense, economical writing, formal innovation, and an openness to history and the world.” Named a “Top Literary Magazine” of 2019, 2020, and 2021 by Reedsy, the journal was a finalist for the 2018, 2019, and 2021 ASME Award for Fiction and the 2018 CLMP Firecracker Award for General Excellence. In addition, contributions to recent issues have been selected for The Best American Essays (2018, 2019), The Pushcart Prize XLIV: Best of the Small Presses, Best American Experimental Writing 2020, Best Small Fictions 2019, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2019, and The Best American Short Stories (2021, 2022).

For more information on the latest issue, please visit conjunctions.com/print/archive/conjunctions79. To order a copy, go to bardian.bard.edu/portal/conjunctions, call the Conjunctions office at 845-758-7054, email [email protected], or write to Conjunctions, Bard College, PO Box 5000, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000. Visit the Conjunctions website at conjunctions.com. About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 13 programs; eight early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 162-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

This event was last updated on 11-18-2022

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