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1985
Moments after the first issue hits the stands, some Seattle avantists begin an interactive computer novel with a simple challenge: “Define ‘zyzziva.’ Have fun.”
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1986
In a December episode of “Cheers,” Diane has her first poem published, in a slightly disguised copy of ZYZZYVA.
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1987
The faculty advisor of ZYZZYVA, a litmag put out by students at Hartford High, in Wisconsin, declares, “I’m sure the country is large enough for both of us.” [Ed. Note: In fact, our Wisconsin sister still flourishes.]
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Barry Chamish, explicating the cabala in The Atlantic, declares: “When one sees two serious Scrabble players at their game, it is not hard to imagine them as cabalist sages in meditation; or to wonder if this will be the time when the word zyzzyva—that rarest of all bingos....makes manifest the presence of the divine.”
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1988
Joyce Carol Oates uses “zyzzyva” in a short story.
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1989
In William Farley’s feature film, Of Men and Angels, the camera pulls back to reveal a battered ZYZZYVA on a cluttered coffee table.
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1990
A rectangular slab of red granite inscribed with the word “zyzzyva” is set into a brick sidewalk along Yamhill St., between 3rd & 4th, in Portland, OR.
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1991
The editor slaps ZYZZYVA plates on his station wagon.
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The first ZYZZYVA anthology, Roots and Branches, essays by West Coast writers, is published by Mercury House.
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1992
Bill Clinton on the receipt of a ZYZZYVA T-shirt: “Thanks so much. Having an extra T-shirt on hand is very important to an avid jogger.” [Ed. note: He really did.]
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1993
Two stories from ZYZZYVA appear in Best American Short Stories, and two in the Pushcart Prize Anthology.
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1994
In May, a ZYZZYVA-organized show of self-portraits by 80 West Coast artists opens at the Edith Caldwell Gallery, San Francisco.
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In the novel L'Ile des Morts, Jean Frémon refers to "le zyzzyva ou beattle yankee."
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Artist Paul Kos installs "Zizi Va," a wooden door with a peephole through which one can see a wine bottle with the eponymous label, at the di Rosa Preserve in Napa.
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1995
Two anthologies taken from our pages are published: The Writer’s Notebook by HarperCollins West, and Strange Attraction by the University of Nevada Press.
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1996
ZYZZYVA puts up a homepage.
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1997
The editor tells Poets & Writers: “I used to want to publish as many famous writers as I could. But a couple of years ago I had an epiphany, that it would be more fun—and more useful—to publish writers I could help more than they could help me.”
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1998
ZYZZYVA is ranked 10th in Writer’s Digest 50 best fiction markets, just ahead of Cricket, but behind Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine.
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1999
The fourth ZYZZYVA anthology, Lucky Break: How I Became a Writer is published by Heinemann.
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Janet Fitch mentions ZYZZYVA in her best-selling novel, White Oleander.
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The Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle (the week's toughest) uses "zyzzyva" for 18 Across.
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Joan Chen directs Richard Gere and Winona Ryder in Autumn in New York with a copy of ZYZZYVA being used as "basic background set dressing."
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2000
Two issues are shown in a “tilt basket” in the holdeverything catalog.
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ZYZZYVA's first annual Imitation Workshop focuses on the work of certain masters, not on student manuscripts.
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2001
ZYZZYVA publishes four first novels and three first collections of poetry under our imprint ZYZZYVA Books at Creative Arts Book Company.
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The editor’s letter to the NY Times, after the anthrax scare, declares that “the slush pile is a most democratic institution, the literary equivalent of equal opportunity. We discard it at our peril.”
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2002
Paperback rights for ZYZZYVA First Book Boonville are bought by HarperCollins.
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Lucille Lang Day uses "zyzzyva" in the poem "Although."
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ZYZZYVA receives a Shinola Award from a local naming-and-branding company, as the ninth worst-named magazine (in the world?).
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Interview with editor appears in The Paris Review’s 50th anniversary issue.
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2003
An exhibition of ZYZZYVA covers and related art works and ephemera at 871 Fine Arts gallery, San Francisco.
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ZYZZYVA & Green Apple Books clobber McSweeney’s in softball.
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Wall St. Journal runs editor’s letter lamenting Poetry magazine’s benighted use of its $100-plus-million gift from Ruth Lilly.
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2004
Our first annual Robert Frost birthday dinner read-a-long.
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Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby opens in theaters based on the stories of F.X. Toole, whose first time in print was in ZYZZYVA Spring 1999.
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In Karen Joy Fowler’s The Jane Austen Book Club, a ZYZZYVA rejection letter is found “torn into tiny, despairing bits” in a writer’s wastepaper basket.
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2005
We celebrate our 20th anniversary at the Commonwealth Club of California.
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The fifth anthology from our pages, AutoBioDiversity: True Stories from ZYZZYVA, is published by HeyDay Books, Berkeley.
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2006
The editor and managing editor eat BBQ and attend the annual conference of the Associated Writing Programs in Austin, Texas.
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Interview with the editor appears in Transfer, a literary magazine at SF State.
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The following poem by Red Slider appears on http://realpoetik.blogspot.com/
Train your ear
to the sadness
leaving behind
a crumpled napkin
at the station, its
kisses in mustard
the precise
description
of everything unrhymed
in ZYZZYVA, its perfect
binding, blank smile
at the going price of
11:50. Your lips and the train
pulling away.
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Gina Pearlin, zzzyzzzz, 2006, oil on paper, courtesy: Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco |
2007
The editor continues his blog. |
2008
New York Times crossword, 39 Down: "Zyzzyva, for example." |
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