Speakeasy, The Premiere Issue

We’re pleased as punch that our friends over at The Loft and Utne Reader are in cahoots to produce this glossy new lit magazine, which premieres on the national newsstand at the end of the month. Actually, this nifty project secretly triangulates with Ruminator; Editor Bart Schneider was the man who put the Hungry Mind Review on the mental screen of anyone who cares about good books and fine reading, and it’s great news that he’s at the top of another winning masthead. Can a literary magazine that caters unapologetically to “readers and writers” survive in the shark-infested waters of glossy monthlies that look more and more like Sharper Image catalogs? It’s a question we ask ourselves all the time. And we look to the Utne as proof positive that there is still hope for the printed word, at home right here in the Twin Cities and abroad. Look for fine writing and razor-sharp wit from the likes of Nick Tosches, Sven Birkerts, Emily Carter, and many other masters of this ignoble art.