New Letters, the name it has been published under since 1970, is one of the oldest literary magazines in the United States and continues to publish award-winning poems and fiction.

History & Editors

The University Review was founded in 1934 at the University of Kansas City, a small, private school that later became part of the University of Missouri

University of Missouri

The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

 system. In its first two years, the periodical published a discussion on "Art and Social Struggle", including contributions from Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton (painter)

Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States...

 and Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...

, a story by Vance Randolph

Vance Randolph

Vance Randolph was a famous folklorist who studied the folklore of the Ozarks in particular. He wrote a number of books on topics including the Ozarks, Little Blue Books, and juvenile fiction....

, a poem by Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist...

, and a personal note from Pearl S. Buck

Pearl S. Buck

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu , was an American writer who spent most of her time until 1934 in China. Her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the U.S. in 1931 and 1932, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932...

.

Starting with the Spring 1938 issue, Alexander P. Cappon became editor and remained in that post for the next 33 years. In 1944 the magazine's name was changed to The University of Kansas City Review. In that time the magazine published work by May Sarton

May Sarton

May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton , an American poet, novelist, and memoirist.-Biography:...

, J.D. Salinger, E.E. Cummings, Marianne Moore

Marianne Moore

Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit.- Life :Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of mechanical engineer and inventor...

, May Swenson

May Swenson

Anna Thilda May "May" Swenson was an American poet and playwright...

, James T. Farrell

James T. Farrell

James Thomas Farrell was an American novelist. One of his most famous works was the Studs Lonigan trilogy, which was made into a film in 1960 and into a television miniseries in 1979...

, Kenneth Rexroth

Kenneth Rexroth

Kenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement...

.

In 1971, David Ray took over as editor and the magazine's name was changed again, this time to New Letters. Ray published work by Robert Bly

Robert Bly

Robert Bly is an American poet, author, activist and leader of the Mythopoetic Men's Movement.-Life:Bly was born in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, to Jacob and Alice Bly, who were of Norwegian ancestry. Following graduation from high school in 1944, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving...

, Cyrus Colter, Anselm Hollo

Anselm Hollo

Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo is a Finnish poet and translator. He has lived in the United States since 1967.-Life and work:...

, Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...

, Richard Hugo

Richard Hugo

Richard Hugo , born Richard Hogan, was an American poet. Primarily a regionalist, Hugo's work reflects the economic depression of the Northwest, particularly Montana. Born in White Center, Washington, he was raised by his mother's parents after his father left the family...

, Robert Peters

Robert Peters

Robert Louis Peters is a poet, critic, scholar, playwright, editor, and actor born in an impoverished rural area of northern Wisconsin in 1924. He holds a Ph.D in Victorian literature. His poetry career began in 1967 when his young son Richard died unexpectedly of spinal meningitis...

 and Josephine Jacobsen.

In 1986, James McKinley became editor, and under his editorship the magazine published new work by Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...

, Thomas Berger

Thomas Berger

Thomas Berger may refer to:* Thomas Berger , American author* Thomas R. Berger , Canadian politician...

, former President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard is an American author, best known for her narrative prose in both fiction and non-fiction. She has published works of poetry, essays, prose, and literary criticism, as well as two novels and one memoir. Her 1974 work Pilgrim at Tinker Creek won the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for General...

, Tess Gallagher

Tess Gallagher

Tess Gallagher is an American poet, essayist, author and playwright. She attended the University of Washington, where she studied creative writing with Theodore Roethke and later Nelson Bentley as well as David Wagoner and Mark Strand...

, William Gass, Charles Simic

Charles Simic

Dušan "Charles" Simić is a Serbian-American poet, and was co-Poetry Editor of the Paris Review. He was appointed the fifteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2007.-Early years:...

, John Updike

John Updike

John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....

, and Miller Williams

Miller Williams

Miller Williams is an American contemporary poet, as well as a translator and editor. He has authored over twenty-five books and won several awards for his poetry. His accomplishments have been chronicled in Arkansas Biography. He is perhaps best known for reading a poem at President Clinton's...

.

Robert Stewart took over the post of editor-in-chief for New Letters, New Letters on the Air, and their affiliate, BkMk Press

BkMk Press

BkMk Press is an award-winning literary press at the University of Missouri-Kansas City that publishes full-length collections of poetry, fiction, and essays. Founded in 1971, it has been a part of UMKC's College of Arts and Sciences since 1983...

 in September 2002. Since becoming editor, the magazine has published such writers as Brian Doyle

Brian Doyle

Brian Doyle may refer to:*Brian J. Doyle , former press secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security*Brian Doyle , former Major League Baseball infielder*Brian Doyle , Canadian writer...

, Quincy Troupe

Quincy Troupe

Quincy Thomas Troupe, Jr., , is a poet, editor, journalist-Early life:The son of Negro League baseball catcher Quincy Trouppe , Troupe Jr. attended Grambling State University on a baseball scholarship...

, Daniel Woodrell

Daniel Woodrell

Daniel Woodrell is an American writer of fiction. He has written eight novels, most of them set in the Missouri Ozarks. Woodrell coined the phrase "country noir" to describe his 1996 novel Give Us a Kiss...

, Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie

Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. is a writer, poet, filmmaker, and occasional comedian. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a Native American. Two of Alexie's best known works are The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , a book of short stories and Smoke Signals, a film...

, Marilyn Hacker

Marilyn Hacker

Marilyn Hacker is an American poet, translator and critic. She is Professor of English at the City College of New York....

, Maxine Kumin

Maxine Kumin

Maxine Kumin is an American poet and author. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1981-1982.-Early years:...

 and Charlotte Holmes.

New Letters won the National Magazine Award

National Magazine Award

The National Magazine Awards are a series of US awards that honor excellence in the magazine industry. They are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City...

for the essay on May 1, 2008 at Lincoln Center in New York. The essay "I Am Joe's Prostate" by Thomas E. Kennedy appears in Volume 73, Issue 4.

New Letters on the Air

In 1977, editor David Ray and his wife, Judy, began the audio literature program New Letters on the Air, a half-hour radio program featuring writers reading from their work and talking about it.

Rebekah Presson produced and hosted the show for many years until 1996 when Angela Elam took over. The program is now the longest continuously-running national literary radio series, having broadcast more than 1,200 programs. The show is now heard on radio stations worldwide, and is available to even more listeners as a podcast.

New Letters Literary Awards

The New Letters Literary Awards program was begun in 1986. It consists of prizes for poetry, essays and short stories:

• New Letters Poetry Prize — $1,500 for the best group of three to six poems
• Dorothy Churchill Cappon Essay Prize — $1,500 for the best essay
• Alexander Patterson Cappon Fiction Prize — $1,500 for the best short story

External links

• New Letters website
• New Letters literary awards web page
• New Letters On the Air website