Luna Luna Magazine

31/08/2022

29/08/2022

We talked to the super brilliant Candice Wuehle () all about her new book MONARCH, genre shifting & rejecting craft conventions, ritual, and so much more.

She shares her inspirations + the fascinating impetus behind her new book. Honestly, this is a delicious and insightful interview that readers and writers alike will love.

Head over to lunalunamagazine.com

24/08/2022

In our interview with , she discusses writing as a magical practice. We love the idea that as writing feeds the occult, the occult pours into the writing.

Do you employ any sort of divinatory or occult practices in your writing, or do you see writing as inherently magical or mystical—perhaps channeled from some divine well?

Comment below 👇🏽

16/08/2022

Over at Luna Luna, we have another interview up.

We discovered Jonny Black’s poetry in an issue of Ghost Bible — a gorgeous literary journal — and was immediately struck by her lush language and her bio’s mention of poltergeists (yes, please, always poltergeists). I was lured in!

Jonny Black is currently working on a novel (I secretly think poets make the best novelists, shh), and can be found at .

So, in this chat, we discuss her influences, inspirations, and writing the kind of work that truly matters to you, despite what might be popular or expected of you.

12/08/2022

We chatted with Gustavo Barahona-López (Gustavo Adolfo Barahona-Lopez]) is a writer and educator from Richmond, California over at Luna Luna.

He is the author of the poetry chapbook, "Loss and Other Rivers That Devour,” and in 2023 his debut full-length collection will be published by FlowerSong Press.

“My chapbook, “Loss and Other Rivers that Devour” centers on my mourning my father’s death and how my identity and sense of self shifted along with the process of grieving. I wanted to write about the complexity of our relationship and my grief. Just as there is love so too is there hurt and actively pulling away from my father’s example.

I never felt that I fit my father’s narrow view of masculinity and part of my journey of grieving included forging my own sense of manhood,” he says.

Read over at the site! Link in bio.

📷 via Gustavo Adolfo Barahona-Lopez]

12/08/2022

We chatted with Gustavo Barahona-López is a writer and educator from Richmond, California over at the site!

He is the author of the poetry chapbook, "Loss and Other Rivers That Devour,” and in 2023 his debut full-length collection will be published by FlowerSong Press.

“My chapbook, “Loss and Other Rivers that Devour” centers on my mourning my father’s death and how my identity and sense of self shifted along with the process of grieving. I wanted to write about the complexity of our relationship and my grief. Just as there is love so too is there hurt and actively pulling away from my father’s example.

I never felt that I fit my father’s narrow view of masculinity and part of my journey of grieving included forging my own sense of manhood,” he says.

Read over at the site! Link in bio.

12/08/2022

🌹 We first discovered brilliance years ago, when stumbling onto their radiantly macabre, meticulously curated blog, Unquiet Things — a space that I () consider a sort of post-graduate education in darkness.

The author of two books, The Art of Darkness: A Treasury of the Morbid, Melancholic and Macabre and The Art of the Occult: A Visual Sourcebook for the Modern Mystic, I wanted to ask S. Elizabeth about their influences and inspirations — and this interview WAS ALL THAT AND MORE.

I hope you’ll enjoy this delightfully detailed, magical, and delicious conversation. I have to say, this is one of my favorite interviews ever done.

Sit by the window, grab a cup of berry-flavored tea or an elderberry spritz and dive in.

Link in bio. 🌹

12/08/2022

"The Art of Darkness: A Treasury of the Morbid, Melancholic and Macabre is a beautiful book densely packed with visual arts of the haunting, harrowing, and horrifying variety, and which asks the question "what comfort can be found in facing these demons?" It is inspired by a lifetime's worth of obsession with the dark and what can be found seething in the shadows when we stop being too frightened to peek. Or when we embrace these fears and anxieties, and we peer into the void, anyway!" — Sarah Elizabeth

An interview with S. Elizabeth by Lisa Marie Basile This interview is part of our new Creator Series, a series of Q&Aa designed to help you get to know people who are writing, making, and doing beautiful things. I first discovered S. Elizabeth’s brilliance years ago, when stumbling onto

11/08/2022

"My chapbook, “Loss and Other Rivers that Devour” centers on my mourning my father’s death and how my identity and sense of self shifted along with the process of grieving. I wanted to write about the complexity of our relationship and my grief. Just as there is love so too is there hurt and actively pulling away from my father’s example."

https://www.lunalunamagazine.com/blog/creator-interview-gustavo-barahona-lopez

An interview with Gustavo Barahona-Lopez by Lisa Marie Basile This interview is part of our new Creator Series, a series of Q&As designed to help you get to know people who are writing, making, and doing beautiful things. Gustavo Barahona-López is a writer and educator from Richmond, Ca

10/08/2022

✨ new read on the site ✨

interviewed about her magic and writing, and her new August 11 full moon workshop at in Brooklyn (which you can sign up for on her Instagram!)

👁

She says, “I think we’re in a really interesting time in history as far as witchcraft and ritual are concerned and I find a lot of inspiration from the people sort of heading up that public discourse. The work of comes to mind, as does , the astrological writings of and . I deeply appreciate the life work and educational offerings from at , .cura and / .”

10/08/2022

✨ new read on the site ✨

interviewed about her magic and writing, and her new August 11 full moon workshop at in Brooklyn (which you can sign up for on her Instagram!)

👁

She says, “I think we’re in a really interesting time in history as far as witchcraft and ritual are concerned and I find a lot of inspiration from the people sort of heading up that public discourse. The work of comes to mind, as does , the astrological writings of and . I deeply appreciate the life work and educational offerings from at , .cura and / .”

08/08/2022

“I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.” ~ Jorge Luis Borges

What have you been reading? We want to know. Bonus points if you tag the author!

26/07/2022

Hi, everyone!

It’s the creator of , here.

As many of you know, we’ve been on a mighty hiatus — for a variety of much-needed reasons (burnout, work, mental health, physical health — and simply living through covid, healing, etc). I am sure you get it.

And as al you editors likely know, you want to show up to your creations with love and fire and luscious zest, not half-assed exhaustion.

So I’m *slowly* coming back to the table, but will be starting with a few interviews & conversations with writers.

Submissions will remain closed for the time being because it’s a job in itself and I am not ready for it. I say this because I’d rather be honest than to make promises I can keep.

I’m sorry to those who submitted before we had to go on hiatus. I hope you work found a home.

And I’m so grateful to everyone who has contributed work and love and effort and time and editing to the site! I know that work, family, babies, health as all taken precedent - especially since the pandemic.

Luna Luna has always been my child, my little love, my passion project. It’s never been about money or skyrocketing growth.

We have an amazing readership, and I want to honor that and you by at least nourishing the site-space in ways I can.

And so, I’m approaching this with a slow and loving mindset.

I hope you’ll be looking forward to the new pieces — I’ll be sure to share them here when they’re live.

24/10/2021

Our dear (creator of ) wrote a Berry Lip Stain ritual and it’s up at Luna Luna — head over if you’d like to live deliciously 🍒

“May this color stain my desires as it stains my lips.

May these berries bring me the power to consume my fears.

May I find confidence in my actions as I paint my mark.

Then lick it all off and delight in the taste of your power.”

07/10/2021

💀👻 Spooky friends, we’ve got something special for you: An interview with of HOMESPUN HAINTS ()….a podcast all about GHOST STORIES! 👻

Thanks to the talented for conducting this in-depth, spooky, thoughtful interview:

“Becky Kilimnik is the co-host and producer of the podcast Homespun Haints, an interview-style and storytelling podcast that celebrates the oral tradition of storytelling as an art form—with ghosts. Throughout its inception, Becky has also pulled from her other expertise as an artist and musician; she composes and plays all of the original music on the podcast and creates original artwork to accompany each episode. Now in their third season and with over 25,000 downloads, Becky and her co-host Diana Doty have cultivated a space where people can feel comfortable sharing and processing the paranormal experiences they have had.”

Link in bio👻

07/10/2021

Over at the site, we offer up a beautiful interview with 𝕸𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝕭𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖘] & Kelly Grace Thomas] about Kelly Grace Thomas’ book, BOAT BURNED (). Link in bio!

“Thomas’ poetry invites us back to the sea, and its stillness invites us to reflect on tensions that cast shadows over our lives: chaos and order, self-punishment and worth, violence and liberation, trauma and recovery. The speaker desires “to divorce the earth,” and studies leaving “like a chart.”

For Thomas, family is a synonym for “horizon.” In the speaker’s family, three women privately struggle with eating disorders but never talk about it—she longs to leave, but struggles to find the exit ramp. It is critical for her to go beyond the horizon, and through interrogations and deconstructions, she attempts to recover. She endures the mangling effects of self-surveillance; secrecy is a lack of oxygen,” writes 𝕸𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝕭𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖘].

📷 This photo courtesy of Kelly Grace Thomas]

📖

09/06/2021

A Playlist for Spring & Summer

BY JOANNA C. VALENTE Since it’s starting to get warmer here in New York, I decided to make a chill and calm playlist for the late spring and summer months. From Poly Styrene to Hania Rani, there’s something for everyone.

02/06/2021

The EVERMORE song according to your zodiac sign

When evermore came out, it built on a shared language that folklore offered us in a time when we deeply needed permission to grieve, to go inward, to bond over the blanket of soft sorrow that covered us all in 2020. Evermore remains a favorite to me — not only because of what it meant culturally b...

02/06/2021

We Love Witch Craft Magazine's Seventh Issue

BY MONIQUE QUINTANA Founded in 2015 by Catch Business and Elle Nash, the seventh issue of Witch Craft Magazine is filled with nerve-wracking fun and the lush grotesque, all while reflecting on the social complexities of the current pandemic. Colleen Barnett's wrap-around cover art is a cool-tone

31/05/2021

3 Poems to Read This Spring

BY JOANNA C. VALENTE As we’re in the middle of spring, with all the flowers in bloom in New York City, I often wake to the sounds of birds and find myself generally in awe at what the world is capable of. Spring here is an experience I grow fonder of as I get older (I’m still a summer child ); I...

28/05/2021

Poetry by Enikő Vághy

By Enikő Vághy Helping My Lover Prune Thyme He says it is necessary, and soon I am on my knees beside him. Outside, only the trees stand against the sky. Flocks of crows head for their branches. I watch those hunched bodies settle. They swathe, almost robe. Each bird I take as another w

28/05/2021

Poetry by Massoud Hayoun

BY MASSOUD HAYOUN On Caring The truth is I could give a flying f**k about the pharaohs unholy likenesses senseless violence, gratuitous s*xuality, contorted faces bent in one direction shoulders and pelvises smashed into another, beautiful, little graven human forms Look away! yo

20/05/2021

Poetry by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

now that you’ve dissolved into the most holy and beautiful of spirits, where can my anxiety go?

14/05/2021

How To Get Published With Luna Luna

BY LISA MARIE BASILE Luna Luna has been around for about eight years now, so I thought I’d share some tips on how to get published with us. I’ve also had countless conversations with writers who feel unwelcome in the literary world, or who aren’t sure how to break into a lit magazine. Here are...

11/05/2021

Poetry by Jennifer Martelli

Jennifer Martelli is the author of My Tarantella ( Bordighera Press), awarded an Honorable Mention from the Italian-American Studies Association, selected as a 2019 “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and named as a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. Her chapbook, After B

10/05/2021

Slow Alchemy: 6 Ways To Live Magically

Welcome to SLOW ALCHEMY — a column dedicated to the pleasurable, soft, & intentional things we slowly digest and meditate upon. This is a space of joy. A space of pause. This is a space for process over urgency.

22/04/2021

A Playlist for Cups

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body), : A Photo Series (forthcoming), and A Love Story (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021). They are the editor of

13/04/2021

Sarah Burgoyne In Conversation With Vi Khi Nao

BY VI KHI NAO & SARAH BURGOYNE There’s beauty in the things that ultimately do not “amount” or become a mount, be it a mountain to gaze at or a horse to ride off on, because they connect us to each other if we let them.   VI KHI NAO : You are in Montreal and I am in I

12/04/2021

A Playlist for Pentacles

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body), : A Photo Series (forthcoming), and A Love Story (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021). They are the editor of

07/04/2021

Fiction by Blake Z. Rong

Blake Z. Rong is a writer and journalist in Brooklyn, New York. He recently received an MFA in Writing & Publishing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. As an editor in the automotive industry, his longform journalism has been previously published in Autoweek Magazine , Jalopnik , and

26/03/2021

Poetry by Blake Z. Rong

Blake Z. Rong is a writer and journalist in Brooklyn, New York. He recently received an MFA in Writing & Publishing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. As an editor in the automotive industry, his longform journalism has been previously published in Autoweek Magazine , Jalopnik , and

25/03/2021

A Playlist for Swords

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body), : A Photo Series (forthcoming), and A Love Story (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021). They are the editor of

10/03/2021

A Playlist for Wands

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body), : A Photo Series (forthcoming), and A Love Story (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021). They are the editor of

05/03/2021

Rebel Women Lit & Luna Luna are coming together to present the first installment of WOMEN SPEAK, a new monthly reading series geared towards creating a stage for BIPOC women-identified poets and prose writers of all stages of their career.

This reading series was created by Khalisa Rae and Gaia Rajan
Its mission is to counter poetic gatekeeping and bring together powerful writers with new and forthcoming work.

The event is free and open to the public!

FEATURED READERS
Ada Limón
Patricia Smith

Including
Janel Pineda
Sumita Chakraborty

Special Guest:
Natasha Oladokun

Emcees: Khalisa Rae & Gaia Rajan.

This event starts at 7:30pm EST!

RSVP: Poetry Reading: Limón, Smith, Rae, Chakraborty, Pineda, Oladokun, Rajan

03/03/2021

A Playlist for The World

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Sexting Ghosts, Xenos, No(body), : A Photo Series (forthcoming), and A Love Story (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2021). They are the editor of