Arts & Entertainment

Literary Journal Wants to Represent All Parts of Queens

Queens' literary journal is asking underrepresented writers to submit for the 4th issue.

Newtown Literary, Queens' first literary journal, hopes to showcase more work from the borough’s diverse writing community in its upcoming fourth issue. The editors are calling for writers across the area to submit.

The publication wants to represent more work from often underrepresented voices in the literary world who have their home in Queens. Those include writers who are female, work in a language other than English, or live in the more eastern parts of the borough.

“Most of the submissions we get are from western Queens, which is great, but we want this to represent all of Queens,” said Tim Fredrick, chief editor of Newtown Literary. “If you’re going to have a literary journal in Queens, it can’t just be every single word in English. It seems unrealistic to me.”

Fredrick said that you can hear so many different languages spoken when you walk around Queens and he wants those languages represented in the journal. Ideally, he'd like to publish pieces in a different language and have the English translation next to it.

In addition, he hopes to introduce new emerging writers to the developing Queens literary community.

“I think a literary journal that’s based on a regional area has the opportunity to connect writers to each other and be a central part in building that community,” he said.

A launch reading for the new issue is planned in June at Kew Gardens' Odradeks Coffee House. Writers who are published in the issue are invited to read.

The deadline for submissions is on Feb. 28. They accept poetry, fiction and non-fiction. For more details go to their website.

The fifth issue of Newton Literary will be dedicated to speculative fiction. Fredrick said it will be the first time they are publishing genre work and it is partly to see how vibrant writing community is in the borough.


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