Engage With The Work (Aditya Intro) (06/01/2019)

Engage With The Work | The Weekly Atticus

June 01, 2019

This letter is a recap of the week at

Atticus Review

, along with some extras.

Whether you are early in your writing career, a seasoned vet, or somewhere in between, you’ve probably thought about what happens at that amazing moment when you get your book out into the world.Well, first, you celebrate your ass off, (as you should). But then, you need to get the word out right?That’s where book reviews come in, and I love being a part of that process of helping authors get discovered. But it can be challenging in a way unlike the other work that goes up on Atticus Review. Book reviews need to be evaluated through several dimensions: How is this serving the book and the author being reviewed? How is this telling the reader why the book is special and worth seeking out? And finally, how can I make this a productive writing experience for the reviewer?We strive to bring attention to authors and presses that are bringing to the world new and underrepresented voices, and I’m grateful to work with a team of amazing regular reviewers who work hard to do just that, and whose names you’ll see often in our reviews section.They are keen to take on the various titles that come my way, and each brings a different sensibility and style to how they approach a review.While traditional criticism can sometimes focus on a more academic long-view of a book, or its sociological impacts, I like our book reviews to capture what’s new, fresh, and exciting about the literary scene today. I tell new reviewers to think of the reviews as personal essays about the reading experience. Likely no one else will have the exact same subjective takeaways from the book as they did, but if they can narrate and contextualize what it was that hit them the most, then that becomes much more valuable to both the reader and the book’s author.What I love most about editing the Book Reviews section at Atticus Review is that we are engaging with the work. Talking about it. And I feel lucky to be part of a close-knit community of literary magazines and presses working to publish distinctive writing, whether in a print journal or an online magazine.One way we all can participate in the literary community is to read work and tell others why we loved it. Maybe you too would like to be involved in that process. Maybe you’d like to pitch us a review!Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.Aditya DesaiBook Reviews Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

We want to see your CNF!Send it to our 2nd Annual CNF contest...Deadline is July 21st. First prize is $400!Judge: Ira Sukrungruang.

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

Get ready for your ennui to disappear... here's a classicFeral Town by Adam Gustavson...MAURY

MAGAZINE ISSUE REVIEWCAN ANYONE DEFINE A DESI PLEASE?A review of Barrelhouse’s @barrelhouse South Asian Special Issue “Road Trips" by Saadia Faruqi"Kamil Ahsan ... has a different goal with this upcoming South Asian issue: to explore what desi means to both native and diasporic writers."READ ON

FICTIONYELLOW DUMP TRUCKby Mary Crawford"One of us, we’re not saying who, had him by accident in Grade 10 and passed him to our mother who raised him as her own, dressing him in blue velvet like a dandy..." READ ON

POETRYTHEY'LL HAVE TO ORDER THE PARTSby Sue Fagalde Lick"Half deaf, our father hears nothing now,but he feels the cold down in his bonesas he searches for the pilot light."READ ON

NONFICTIONEVERYDAY ATONEMENT, GET ON WITH ITby Patricia Henley"He’s fifteen now. I sometimes wonder what he’ll remember."READ ON

TV REVIEWWILL THEY, WON’T THEY (KILL EACH OTHER)Allyson Larcom, on women's violence in KILLING EVE, with a review of Season Two"Season One was novel for its depiction of a world where patriarchy often didn’t factor into the equation, and Season Two is satisfying—for showing exactly how capable these women are when faced with patriarchal ramifications."READ ON

Congratulations to Atticus Review writers Grace Campbell,Toshiya Kamei (@KameiToshiya), and Robert Savino Oventile! 

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