The Iowa Review is an American literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews.
History and profile
Founded in 1970, Iowa Review is issued three times a year, during the months of April, August, and December. Originally, it was released on a quarterly basis. This frequency of publication lasted until its fourteenth year. It is published at The University of Iowa in Iowa City. According to former editor David Hamilton, The Iowa Review has a circulation of about 3,000, of which 1,000-1,500 are distributed to major bookstore chains.
The reading period for unsolicited submissions occurs between September and November, whereas contest submissions for the Iowa Review Awards are read in January. In addition to space dedicated in the December issue to the Iowa Review Awards winners, the magazine has recently featured work from The University of Iowa's biannual NonfictioNow conference and from writers in The University of Iowa's International Writing Program. Past issues have also been dedicated to topics such as fiction from Israel and Palestine (11.1), contemporary women writers (12.2/3), and an homage to Ezra Pound (15.1). According to the magazine's website, "We select most of our content from the several thousand unsolicited manuscripts that arrive each year from throughout the country and abroad." Several of these pieces are selected each year for awards and anthologies: recent selections include Susan Perabo's short story "Shelter" (39.1) for The Pushcart Prize XXXV: Best of the Small Presses, 2011 edition, Eula Biss's essay "Time and Distance Overcome" (38.1) and Carolyne Wright's poem "This dream the world is having about itself..." (38.2) for The Pushcart Prize XXXIV: Best of the Small Presses, 2010 edition; Patricia Hampl's essay "The Dark Art of Description" (38.1), selected by Mary Oliver for The Best American Essays 2009; and Stephen Dunn's "Where He Found Himself" (36.2), in Best American Poetry 2007.
As of Spring 2016:
Editor: Harilaos Stecopoulos
Managing Editor: Lynne Nugent
Deputy Managing Editor: Jenna Hammerich
Senior Editors: Hugh Ferrer, John D'Agata, Nick Twemlow
Fiction Editor: Heidi Kaloustian
Nonfiction Editor: Gemma de Choisy
Poetry Editor: Anthony Cinquepalmi
Webmaster: Lauren Haldeman
Type Composition: Pocket Knife Press
Interns: Elena Bruess, Kelli Ebensberger, David Freeman
Editorial Board: Loren Glass, Ed Folsom, Adalaide Morris, Horace Porter, Christopher Merrill, Lan Samantha Chang, and John D. Freyer
Contributing Editors: Cole Swensen, Jenny Boully, John Freeman, Robin Hemley, Wayne Koestenbaum, Yiyun Li, Tom Lutz, Dora Malech, Ben Marcus, Khaled Mattawa, Vanessa Place, Russell Scott Valentino, Wendy S. Walters, Jan Weissmiller
Editor Emeritus: David Hamilton
Jacob Appel, 38.3
John Ashbery: 6.1, 12.1
John Barth: 24.2
Jo Ann Beard: 25.2
Samuel Beckett: 4.3
Marvin Bell: 2.3, 6.3/4, 7.4, 11.2/3, 12.1, 14.3, 19.3, 23.3, 26.2, 28.2, 30.2, 34.3, 36.3
Robert Bly: 7.4, 11.2/3
Jorge Louis Borges: 8.3, 22.3
Marianne Boruch: 10.4, 13.3/4, 17.2, 17.3, 20.1, 22.1, 23.2, 25.1, 25.3, 26.2, 29.3, 33.2, 37.3
T. Coraghessan Boyle: 11.4, 14.1
Joseph Brodsky: 9.4
William S. Burroughs: 3.2
Frederick Busch: 9.1, 16.2, 18.2
Italo Calvino: 2.4
Anne Carson: 25.2, 26.2, 27.2
Raymond Carver: 3.2, 3.4, 9.1, 10.3
Jane Cooper: 20.2
Robert Coover: 1.1, 1.4, 6.3/4, 10.3, 24.2, 35.2
Robert Dana: 26.1, 26.2, 28.2, 32.2, 34.3, 37.1, 38.1
Guy Davenport: 6.1
Mark Doty: 14.3
Norman Dubie: 4.4
James Galvin: 9.1, 10.2, 15.1, 24.1
William Gass: 7.1, 24.2, 38.1
Reginald Gibbons: 8.4, 15.1
Louise Glück: 2.4, 4.4, 7.4
Albert Goldbarth: 22.3, 24.1, 25.2, 27.2, 29.1, 30.3, 34.2, 39.1
Jorie Graham: 10.2, 11.2/3, 12.2/3, 26.2
Donald Hall: 3.3, 7.4, 13.3/4, 16.2, 18.1, 20.1, 22.3, 26.1, 30.2, 34.2
Robert Hass: 8.3, 21.3
Seamus Heaney: 26.3
Bob Hicok: 26.3, 38.2, 32.1, 33.3, 35.3, 37.3
Edward Hirsch: 9.3
Denis Johnson: 1.2, 2.2, 2.3, 5.4, 6.3/4, 8.3, 13.2
Donald Justice: 1.1, 2.1, 13.3/4, 15.2
Stanley Kunitz: 5.2
Li-Young Lee: 15.1
Philip Levine: 1.1, 1.2, 2.2, 4.3, 6.1, 7.1, 9.2, 15.1
Yiyun Li: 34.2
Ben Marcus: 24.2
Ian McEwan: 8.4
James Alan McPherson: 6.2, 23.3, 27.2
Jane Mead: 21.3, 29.1, 33.3
W.S. Merwin: 1.2, 1.4, 2.2, 6.1, 7.1, 13.1, 14.3, 15.2, 17.1
Nami Mun: 34.2
Joyce Carol Oates: 2.2, 6.1, 9.3, 13.2, 14.3, 17.1
Chris Offutt: 33.1, 41.3
Eric Pankey: 17.3, 19.2, 21.3, 25.3, 27.2, 29.2, 32.3, 34.1, 36.2, 38.1
Ann Patchett: 18.2
Raymond R. Patterson: 6.2
Stanley Plumly: 8.1, 11.2/3, 20.3
Ishmael Reed: 6.2
Marilynne Robinson: 22.1
Pattiann Rogers: 14.3, 17.2, 23.1, 25.1, 26.2, 29.1, 39.1
Matthew Rohrer: 25.1, 26.2, 27.2, 28.3, 32.1, 34.2, 37.3
Mary Ruefle: 18.3, 38.1
Tomaž Šalamun: 34.1, 38.2
David Shapiro: 10.1
Charles Simic: 1.4, 5.4, 9.2, 15.1, 32.2
Floyd Skloot: 29.1
Gary Soto: 25.1, 25.2
Gerald Stern: 9.2, 11.2/3, 11.4, 15.1, 19.2, 26.2, 35.2
Cole Swensen: 32.1, 42.3
James Tate: 1.4, 4.4, 13.3/4, 20.2, 24.3, 26.2, 30.3
Kurt Vonnegut: 35.3
Alice Walker: 6.2
David Foster Wallace: 24.2, 24.3
William Carlos Williams: 9.3
Charles Wright: 1.3, 3.2, 7.1, 8.1, 11.2/3, 26.2, 34.3
Al Young: 6.2
Dean Young: 17.2, 29.2
Each year, beginning with 2003 (33.3), the magazine presents the Iowa Review Award to contest winners in fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction. Outside judges name the winners, who each receive $1,500 and are published, along with some finalists, in the magazine's December issue. Recent winners include Katherine E. Standefer (Nonfiction, 2015), Christopher Kondrich (Poetry, 2015), and Terrance Manning, Jr. (Fiction, 2015).
Past judges:
2003- T. Coraghessan Boyle, fiction; Albert Goldbarth, nonfiction; Marilyn Chin, poetry
2004- Mary Helen Stefaniak, fiction; Lewis Hyde, nonfiction; Marianne Boruch, poetry
2005- Chris Offutt, fiction; Patricia Foster, nonfiction; Robert Hass, poetry
2006- James Alan McPherson, fiction; Lia Purpura, nonfiction; Cole Swensen, poetry
2007- Yiyun Li, fiction; Phillip Lopate, nonfiction; Bob Hicok, poetry
2008- Ethan Canin, fiction; Abigail Thomas, nonfiction; Heather McHugh, poetry
2009- Ann Patchett, fiction; John D'Agata, nonfiction; Li-Young Lee, poetry
2010- Michael Cunningham, fiction; Jo Ann Beard, nonfiction; Brenda Hillman, poetry
2011- Allan Gurganus, fiction; Patricia Hampl, nonfiction; Claudia Rankine, poetry
2012- Ron Currie, Jr., fiction; Meghan Daum, nonfiction; Timothy Donnelly, poetry
2013- ZZ Packer, fiction; Susan Orlean, nonfiction; Mary Jo Bang, poetry
2014- Rachel Kushner, fiction; David Shields, nonfiction; Robyn Schiff, poetry
2015- Kevin Brockmeier, fiction; Wayne Koestenbaum, nonfiction; Srikanth Reddy, poetry
2016- Kelly Link, fiction; Eula Biss, nonfiction; Brenda Shaughnessy, poetry
