Category: News

ZYZZYVA news.

The Winter Issue, Now Available

by ZYZZYVA

Posted on by Zack Ravas

Order your copy of Issue 124 today!* Fiction Presenting Matthew McIntosh’s novella-as-screenplay, “The Christmas Party.” Evoking a bygone era of Hollywood, this cinematic holiday story follows a set of misfits and dreamers on a romantic quest from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Featuring “Cannon,” debut fiction by Allan Martín Nava Sosa. Brittany Bronson’s “The Behavior Chart”: a kindergarten teacher and her severely ill student try to make their way back into each others’ good graces. Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry’s “The Kyiv Symphony”: “Aeroflot planes have stopped flying overseas, and he suspects that before long the borders will be closed, the Iron Curtain […]

Continue Reading

Deadline Approaching for our next Workshop: Writing Across Cultures with Vanessa Hua

by ZYZZYVA

Posted on by Zack Ravas

Our next remote Writers’ Workshop is Writing Across Cultures with Vanessa Hua on September 17th, 2022. (11am to 2pm PST via ZOOM). The deadline to purchase a ticket is September 15th. “Can I write about that?” The question of cultural appropriation is a complicated one, and so too its answers. In this discussion-based Writers’ Workshop, students will examine strategies for researching and portraying lives unlike our own, that reflect social and historical context and the fullness of a character’s humanity. Students will work on writing exercises and discuss texts by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Toni Morrison, Elaine Castillo, among others, along with […]

Continue Reading

‘Blithedale Canyon’ by Michael Bourne: On the Ragged Edge of Hope

by Emma Tavangari

Posted on by Zack Ravas

Michael Bourne’s first novel, Blithedale Canyon (292 pages; Regal House Publishing), is in many ways a story about California. It is a treatise on the nature of class in one of Marin County’s wealthiest cities, the psychological costs of gentrification, and the harrowing trials of a young man in the throes of addiction. Bourne finds an unlikely hometown hero in Trent Wolfer, an alcoholic and ex-convict who returns home to Mill Valley following a stint in jail. Trent is twenty-nine years old, flipping hamburgers, and spending his work breaks downing miniature bottles of vodka and gin in his car. Thoughts […]

Continue Reading

Watch Our Booksmith Event for Issue 123: The Poetry Issue

by ZYZZYVA Staff

Posted on by Zack Ravas

In case you missed it: you can now watch our recorded live event with The Booksmith from last week! This event celebrated the launch of Issue 123, the Poetry Issue. Enjoy readings by contributors Colin Winnette, Heather Altfeld, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Troy Jollimore, and Victoria Chang. The event was emceed by Zyzzyva’s Managing Editor, Oscar Villalon. You can watch it via the embedded video below. […]

Continue Reading

The Whiting Literary Magazine Prize

by ZYZZYVA Staff

Posted on by Zack Ravas

Dear Readers, We are elated to announce that ZYZZYVA has received the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. The Prize is a major validation of the journal’s decades-long work to showcase the most exciting poets, writers, and artists from our home region, as well as from across the country and beyond. “ZYZZYVA has for years been a shepherd to a capacious community of West Coast writers,” the judges’s citation states. “Masterfully edited and sharply cerebral, this place-based journal dazzles readers with formal innovation and an appetite for adventure, diving deeply into its regionality while ushering the world onto its pages. As a […]

Continue Reading

Catch up on two of our most recent events, including an interview with Vanessa Hua

by ZYZZYVA Staff

Posted on by Zack Ravas

In case you missed it: we’ve got handy Youtube links for two of our most recent ZYZZYVA-related events, including our Q&A with Vanessa Hua about her latest novel Forbidden City that happened at San Francisco’s The Booksmith on May 18th; as well as our May 19th Q&A with Ecuadorian author Gabriela Alemán about her new collection, titled Family Album: Stories, that occurred at City Lights Bookstore. What could be better than free literary-world entertainment, no? (And if you’re interested in reading more work from Alemán, do secure a copy of our latest issue, Issue 122, to read her story “School […]

Continue Reading

ZYZZYVA Holiday Gift Guide

by ZYZZYVA

Posted on by Zack Ravas

Dear Friend,  Every December presents the same dilemma: how do we avoid the crass commercialization of the season, yet enjoy the spirit of spreading a little cheer, and showing those we love how much we appreciate them? And how do we do that and still shop small, shop local, and shop mindfully? You’re in luck, because we have a helpful list of gift suggestions to fit the bill.  Best of all, each item will be announced with a personalized email, so there’s no need to worry about a shipping delay keeping friends and family from knowing you’re thinking of them during these holidays. […]

Continue Reading

Watch our Booksmith Virtual Event for Issue 120: The Technology Issue

by ZYZZYVA Staff

Posted on by Zack Ravas

In case you missed it: you can now watch our Virtual Reading event with The Booksmith from last week! This event celebrated the launch of Issue 120, the Technology Issue. Enjoy readings by contributors Juhea Kim, Troy Jollimore, Lee Conell, and William Brewer, and a reading by Alex Torres of Anthony Veasna So’s story “Generational Differences,” which also appears in the issue. The event was emceed by Zyzzyva’s Managing Editor, Oscar Villalon. You can watch it via the embedded video below. […]

Continue Reading

The Golden State Bundle, Now Available

by ZYZZYVA

Posted on by Zack Ravas
ZYZZYVA Golden State Bundle: No. 117 & No. 119

Within the realm of literature, there is no need to choose one region over the other. Get the Bay Area Issue and the Los Angeles Issue in our Golden State Bundle and enjoy the work of some of the best poets and writers that California has to offer. Together, the issues in the Golden State Bundle boast many of the West Coast’s finest writers, with fiction by Charlie Jane Anders, Jonathan Escoffery, Rita Bullwinkel, Michelle Latiolais, Chia-Chia Lin, Perry Janes, Ingrid Rojas Contreras; essays by Tom Bissell, Lydia Kiesling, and Wendy C. Ortiz; poetry by sam sax, Victoria Chang, Meg […]

Continue Reading