So the Virginia Quarterly Review recently nabbed six nominations in the National Magazine Awards and shocked everybody by coming in second behind The Atlantic. The New Yorker immediately started screaming that some intern submitted the wrong material for consideration (oookay), but alot of responses to the VQR have been like this one from gawker:
And, finally: What the fuck is The Virginia Quarterly Review? How did it end up with six finalists? Have any of you ever read it? Have any of you ever heard of it?
If anyone is familiar with this alleged Virgina Review and wants to provide a few grafs of description, we’d be much indebted. And we imagine not a few of our readers would be, too.
Please?
As anyone who reads Bookslut knows, VQR is pretty much the best all around literary magazine out there today. I have been a subscriber for awhile and I'm consistenly impressed with not only the quality of the fiction and nonfiction submissions (not to mention the art and poetry), but also the chances they take with subject matter. The Winter Issue focuses on Aids in Africa, with multiple essays on the politics, economy and social fallout from the disease. A couple of my favorite past issues include Spring 2004 with its multiple essays on the War on Terror and also, among other things, fiction from Michael Chabon, an excellent essay on Sylvia Plath from Kathleen Spivack and great collage art from Nick Bantock. The Summer 2005 issue blew me away with the amazing "book art" of Thomas Allen as well as new fiction from Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's memories of Europe in 1955 and Tom Bissell's look at the Canadian Arctic.
Do you see a pattern here? Other than fascinating topics and good writing, there is nothing to predict what will appear in VQR from one issue to the next. It strives to be timely and interesting and relevant but it doesn't hit you over the head with a message. Even in the Aids in Africa issue (which is a special report-focused issue) there are still essays, short stories, poems and reviews that have nothing to do with the disease or the continent. In other words even when the focus is purposely narrowed, the magazine is still open minded and broad. It's why I look forward to it every month, and why this is one subscription that never expires in this house.
It's not elitist, it's not snarky, it's not filled with its own self importance. It's just good and interesting and well done writing and the fact that they are doing it with such amazing consistency just impresses the hell out of me.
What the fuck is the Virginia Quarterly Review? asks gawker. It's good writing you bunch of idiots. Why am I not surprised that they had never heard of it.
