click to enlarge - Courtesy
- The Black Voices Issue cover
Vermont State University’s literary magazine, Green Mountains Review, is ceasing publication after the university slashed its funding as part of a broad cost-cutting initiative.
The 36-year-old annual literary magazine published poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, literary essays, interviews and book reviews. It was a prestigious journal with an acceptance rate of about 3 percent. Now, VTSU is completely cutting the magazine’s annual budget of around $30,000, according to editor-in-chief Elizabeth Powell.
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- Editor-in-chief Elizabeth Powell
The announcement comes as the financially troubled school makes widespread cuts to its academic programs. In October, the university proposed cutting or consolidating 23 programs and offered voluntary buyouts to as many as 33 full-time faculty positions.
Powell said she decided to take the buyout — leaving her job as a professor of writing and literature at the end of the 2023-24 academic year for a payout of half of her annual salary — in large part because of the cuts to Green Mountains Review. “I just don't feel like I can in good conscience go on there,” she said. “Part of the wonder and joy of the job was working with students on the magazine.”
Editors said the closure, which follows about two years of discussions with the administration about the financial viability of the magazine, did not come as a surprise. But that didn’t make the news any less distressing.
“I'm upset and sad and heartbroken,” Green Mountains Review fiction and web editor Jensen Beach said. “It’s a real loss for not just the institution and our students here but for the larger community here in Vermont.”
Neil Shepard and Tony Whedon, two creative writing professors at what was then Johnson State College, founded Green Mountains Review in 1987 as a biannual print journal. In recent years, the magazine gained an online presence and switched to printing annually.
The journal had already survived one university shake-up: In 2018, Johnson State College merged with Lyndon State College to create Northern Vermont University. Then, in July of this year, Northern Vermont University merged with Castleton University and Vermont Technical College to become Vermont State University.
Powell said the magazine prided itself on having a mix of well-known and up-and-coming authors. She highlighted issues such as the American Poet Laureate Series, featuring the work of state poet laureates from across the country, and the Black Voices Issue, published in response to the murder of George Floyd.
Students also played a large part in reviewing submissions. Powell said the magazine allowed largely low-income, first-generation students “to be part of the literary conversation in Vermont.”
Powell is hopeful Green Mountains Review might be able to continue if a different academic institution or publisher offers to take over the magazine. But in its current form, the last issue of the magazine will be published in March.