Lantern Review

31/12/2022

As we close the door on 2022 and, with it, LANTERN REVIEW, we're so incredibly proud of the community we've built together. Here's a final note of farewell from cofounders and editors Iris & Mia, looking back at where we've been and expressing just how very grateful we are: for you, and for all you've done to make LR possible. Thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts, for being a part of this vibrant and deeply meaningful community. Wishing you peace and endless light—in 2023 and beyond. ❤️✨ Read our goodbye note here: http://bit.ly/3Q6TJBt

20/12/2022

Yesterday, we featured 13 shorter reflections about LR's legacy from past contributors and staff. Today on the blog, former staff critic and Issue 4 contrib Monica Mody continues the conversation with a longer meditation on what LR has meant to her. Read it here: https://www.lanternreview.com/blog/2022/12/20/guest-post-transfiguration-in-the-aftermath-of-fire-monica-mody-on-identity-community-and-lr/

19/12/2022

As our final season winds down, we'll be taking some time to look back and reflect on what we've accomplished since we opened our doors in 2009. First up: we asked thirteen of our contributors and staff to answer the question, "What has LR meant to you?" Check out some of their answers on the blog (expertly stitched together by contributing writer Rachel Lu): http://bit.ly/3hy2NCt

15/12/2022

Good morning, LR community! Today, we're excited to wrap up our Asian American Poetry Companion blog series with one final roundup featuring books to look forward to in the new year. Head on over to the blog to check out our list of 17 titles by Asian American poets (including 12 by LR contributors and staff!) to keep your eyes peeled for in 2023. May your new year be full of wonderful reads, and thank you for your support and enthusiasm for this series over the past couple of years! Read it here: http://bit.ly/3Wh3P4o

25/11/2022

"It’s pretty inexplicable, isn’t it? That words on a page have so much power to move us. But I’m hungry for more of those moments, where I’m reminded of the transformative, compelling capacity of literature and art in general," contributing writer Rachel Lu remarks in our latest blog post, where we catch up with her in a little staff Q&A. If you've been enjoying Rachel's posts this summer and fall, head on over to read more about her childhood memories of growing up steeped in books, her favorite AsAm literary and scholarly works, her go-to karaoke songs (hint: she has two), and more! http://bit.ly/3U3SpQa

10/11/2022

We promised more content through the end of the year, and we're making good on that today with the return of our Asian American Poetry Companion series! Rachel Lu recommends 3 books by LR contribs as well 5 other new and recent titles to add a little light into these dark November days—check it out on the blog: http://bit.ly/3hnLkw2

07/10/2022

Good morning, and happy release day! We're incredibly excited to introduce our tenth and final issue, "Asian American Appetites," to the world. Featuring twelve exceptionally talented poets and visual artists, this is one of our strongest volumes yet. We couldn't have asked for a higher note on which to end our magazine's run. Though it's our last issue, we'll still be posting to our blog and social media through the end of 2022 So we'd love it if you'd share your favorite moments from Issue 10 with us as you dig into the powerful work within. We hope you'll enjoy savoring (or devouring) it as much as we've delighted in putting it together. More on the blog: https://bit.ly/3RLnkiV | Read the issue here: https://bit.ly/LRIssue10

22/09/2022

Happy First Day of Fall! We're back with the next installment of our Asian American Poetry Companion series. Today on the blog, contributing writer Rachel Lu presents another roundup of eight new and forthcoming titles to cozy up with this autumn. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/3Bt9FXP

25/08/2022

Today on the blog, contributing writer Rachel Lu interviews Issue 9.3 contributor E. J. Koh about her memoir, THE MAGICAL LANGUAGE OF OTHERS, in an expansive conversation that traverses Koh's experiences with writing in different modes and genres, meditates on magnanimity and making friends with strangers through the mail, and illuminates her thoughts on language as a way to invite openness—in writing and in life. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/3AKtwma

28/07/2022

Today on the blog: contributing writer Rachel Lu covers 10 hot new summer titles in the next installment of our Asian American Poetry Companion roundup series. Head on over to see our top recs, including books by Kirsten Shu-ying Chen, Jane Kuo, Sharon Suzuki-Martinez, Sun Yung Shin, and more! Read it here: https://bit.ly/3oD4VZq

09/06/2022

Hey, Facebook! Pranaya, LR’s editorial intern, speaking this morning. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing poet Jane Wong about her latest poetry collection, HOW TO NOT BE AFRAID OF EVERYTHING! I got the chance to talk to her about her writing rituals, using writing to process grief, and turning her written work into visual art. Check out our whole discussion today on the blog: https://bit.ly/3tqOimC

23/05/2022

Happy May! The APA heritage month installment of our Asian American Poetry Companion series, curated by Pranaya S. Ayyala, is live on the blog this morning, featuring twelve (!) noteworthy new and forthcoming titles by Asian American poets, including five LR contributors. Read it here: https://bit.ly/3wGpEzk

18/04/2022

Last day to submit to our finale season, "Asian American Appetites"! Submissions close tonight (4/18) at 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time. We can't wait to see what you'll send us!

Read our Submissions FAQ: https://bit.ly/LRSubsFAQ2022
Submit to LR: http://bit.ly/LRSubmissions

14/04/2022

We love a poem with a stunning closer—like these unflinching final lines from Shebati Sengupta's poem in . Just a few more days to get your submissions in for our final season, . We'd love to see lots more visual art in our inbox — as well as more poems by South Asian American writers. Subs close this coming Monday, 4/18!
Read our Submissions FAQ: https://bit.ly/LRSubsFAQ2022
Submit to LR: http://bit.ly/LRSubmissions

11/04/2022

One more week to submit your work for our finale season, with its theme of "Asian American Appetites"! Send us your ghosts, your hungers, your dreams, your impossible desires. Submissions close 11:59 PM PDT on April 18th. Still looking for more work by Southeast Asian American poets in particular — and also on the hunt for a wide variety of stunning visual art to showcase on our cover and in the interior. (Quote from Cathy Linh Che's "Becoming Ghost," Issue 9.1)
Read our Submissions FAQ: https://bit.ly/LRSubsFAQ2022
Submit to LR: http://bit.ly/LRSubmissions

06/04/2022

We love work that dares—like this excerpt of Franny Choi's "Prayer for the Untranslated Testimony" from Issue 9.3! We're still looking for poetry and art for our finale season ("Asian American Appetites") and would especially love to see more work by q***r, trans, and nonbinary folx; by South Asian and Southeast Asian American poets; and lots more visual art (help us find our next cover image). Just under two more weeks in the submission period—please send us your bravest and best.

Read our Submissions FAQ: https://bit.ly/LRSubsFAQ2022
Submit to LR: http://bit.ly/LRSubmissions

18/03/2022

Good morning, LR community! Our March Asian American Poetry Companion, written by our fantastic intern Pranaya S. Ayyala, is up, featuring upcoming titles by LR contribs Jireh Deng, Joan Kwon Glass, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, and Matthew Olzmann, along with work by Jennifer Huang, Sharif Solmaz, Paul Tran, Natalie Wee, and Yanyi. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/3CFDpRk

16/03/2022

Submissions for LANTERN REVIEW's finale season are now open! Take a minute to check out our Submissions FAQ on the blog, then head on over to Submittable to read our guidelines and this season's call for work on the theme of "Asian American Appetites"—we can't wait to see what you'll send us!
Read our Submissions FAQ: https://bit.ly/LRSubsFAQ2022
Submit to LR: http://bit.ly/LRSubmissions

04/03/2022

We've got a big announcement to make this Friday morning. 2022 is going to be our final season here at LR—but we're hoping to go out with a flourish! So please save the dates for our upcoming open submissions period for the magazine—March 15th through April 18th (or until we hit our Submittable limit; whichever is sooner). This year's theme is "Asian American Appetites"—head on over the blog to learn more: https://bit.ly/3HTUMit

27/01/2022

Good morning, and happy new year! We're excited to kick off our 2022 season by introducing a new member of the LR team. Please give a warm welcome to our spring editorial intern, Pranaya S. Ayyala. Click on over to the blog to read about some of Pranaya's favorite poetry collections of the moment, the superpower she wishes she had, the advice she wishes she could give her younger self, and more! Read here: https://bit.ly/3AJdeZ6

16/12/2021

Happy Thursday! We're pleased as punch to announce that Issue 9.3: Asian American Futures, "Reclamation," featuring poems by Franny Choi, Đỗ Nguyên Mai, Seelai Karzai, Megan Kim, E. J. Koh, Rita Mookerjee, and Cat Wei, as well as cover art by Sophia Zhao, is here! Click on over to check out this powerhouse finale to our 2021 season on , co-curated by guest editor Eugenia Leigh.

Read the issue: https://bit.ly/LRIssue9_3
More on the blog: https://bit.ly/3DUDXSt

18/11/2021

The fourth installment of our 2021 Asian American Poetry Companion series is live on our blog! Click on over to explore new and forthcoming releases by Jane Wong, Truong Tran, Natasha Rao, Kaveh Akbar, Joshua Nguyen, Cynthia Dewi Oka, John Yau, and Jenny Qi—and let us know what's on your reading list as we round out the year. Read here: https://bit.ly/3Hlytmq

13/10/2021

This morning, we’re excited to announce that our youth folio, Issue 9.2, Asian American Futures: “Arrivals” is here! This moving volume, which curates together the work of Asian American poets and visual artists who were all aged 14–24 at the time of submission, holds a special place in our hearts. Make note of these names—because we’re certain the world will see more of their powerful work to come: Julian Parayno-Stoll, Syd Westley, Sloan Asakura, Alicia Kwok, Shebati Sengupta, Diana, Jireh Deng, Rachael Lin Wheeler, Esther Sun, Lourdes Ramos, Elwing Gao, Michael Khuth, cairo mo, and our cover artist Mendy Kong.

As we say in our editorial note, these emerging young artists’ vital work “celebrate[s] how far our community has come—and look[s] ahead to imagine where it might yet go. [It represents] the ways in which the next generation of Asian American voices is arriving—no, has already arrived—to write their chapter in our community’s story.”

Read the issue here: https://bit.ly/LRIssue9_2
More on the blog here: https://bit.ly/2YNZJst

09/10/2021

What a pleasure it was to talk shop about all things LR on Lit Mag News Roundup's editor interview series this week—from our origin story (rooted in our cofounders Iris & Mia 's long friendship) to reflecting on how our mission has shifted over the years as the literary landscape has changed and we've watched (with so much joy!) Asian American poetry begin to flourish in ways we could never have imagined eleven years ago. Many thanks to Becky Tuch for a thoughtful and enjoyable conversation. Check out her writeup (and watch the YouTube video) below! https://litmagnews.substack.com/p/clearing-a-little-space-at-the-table?justPublished=true

Yes, yes, I promised fewer emails. But don’t you want to hear about the latest editor interview that has wrapped? Of course you do. Today I spoke with Iris Law and Mia Malhotra, Editors of Lantern Review. This magazine is dedicated to publishing poetry by Asian Americans. While there are specifica...

05/10/2021

Catch us in conversation with Becky Tuch of Lit Mag News Roundup this Thursday morning! Interview goes live at 8:30 PT / 10:30 CT/ 11:30 ET and will be available on YouTube afterward. https://litmagnews.substack.com/p/save-the-dates

Mark your calendars for this bounty of October events

08/09/2021

Our September Asian American Poetry Companion is live—and it's a star-studded list! Head on over to the blog to check out our top new and forthcoming reads for early fall—including new releases by contributors Mai Der Vang, Monica Mody, and Rajiv Mohabir. https://bit.ly/3n08XLM

11/08/2021

We're thrilled this morning to debut Thad Higa's visual poem, "From the Mountain," on our blog. Inspired by Kenji C. Liu's frankenpo form, Higa's digital broadside was composed in response to our 2021 theme of "Asian American Futures" and mixes concrete wordplay and typography with striking visual collage. We've enjoyed working with Higa to showcase this unique piece on the web, and we've come up with two different ways for you to experience it: mouse slowly over the poem as you scroll down its length to zoom in on the text, or link out to Higa's text "translation" to focus just on the words (with accompanying image descriptions). We hope you'll enjoy exploring this innovative hybrid piece—we're beyond excited to share it with you! Read it here: https://bit.ly/2VMoWlp

16/07/2021

Happy Friday! This morning, we're thrilled to announce the release of our first issue of the season, Issue 9.1: Asian American Futures, "Horizons." From Tanzila Taz Ahmed's fantastic cover piece, "Aunties with a Deadly Stare No. 17," to the poems inside by Cathy Linh Che, Chen Chen, Kirsten Shu-ying Chen, Joan Kwon Glass, Geramee Hensley, Eddie Kim, and Bethany Swann, this issue is one you definitely won't want to miss! We hope you'll join us in celebrating this first chapter of our exploration into the theme "Asian American Futures" this season. As Eugenia Leigh writes in her editorial note, what a privilege it has been to "bear witness to numerous Asian American voices doing our ancestors’ work, reclaiming their stories, while marching resolutely away from the confines of that past toward a new world we’re forging together."

Read the issue here: https://bit.ly/LRIssue9_1
More on the blog here: https://bit.ly/2VCZYEH