Reader Meet Author: Artifice

What is it about a literary magazine or journal that will set it apart from the others? We would like to think it is the content, and that is a part of it, but I think the design and promotion are just as important. One of the newer journals here in Chicago, Artifice, has all three elements working for them. Run by James Tadd Adcox and Rebekah Silverman, their first issue was packed with great writing, but also presented a clean, minimalistic design that allowed you to enjoy the writing even more.

Artifice will be published every six months with the next issue due in September. They hosted a successful release party here this month and the buzz surrounding the journal has continued to build. I felt it was a perfect time to ask them a few questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Are the two of you in any way surprised at by all love that Artifice has received since its release? Did you think it would take longer to build a following?
James Tadd Adcox (JTA): We've been really surprised and gratified by the response Artifice has gotten so far.
Rebekah Silverman (RS): Yeah, we've been thrilled by the following we created. We really launched Artifice in May 2009, about 9 months before Issue 1 came out, and it seemed to work out. It's humbling, I'll be honest. Tadd and I had some friends who flew in from other parts of the country to come to our release party, and I'll admit I cried when I found out they'd
be coming.
JTA: Part of it is that we're pretty specific about what sorts of work we publish. Crazy formal work? Check. Conventional realism? Nope.

OA: As Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor for a publication like Artifice, how are the duties divided? What does each position handle?
JTA: It's a pretty typical breakdown. I am primarily responsible for submissions and content, and Rebekah is primarily responsible for turning the gears.
RS: And Paul Albano, our web editor, is responsible for this. As well as the rest of the blog content.
JTA: But a lot of the things we do together. All the big decisions, interviews, plans for general deviousness, etc.

OA: How was the decision made to publish every six month as opposed to monthly?
RS: Both Tadd and I have day jobs. We couldn't run a monthly print journal in our free time!

OA: How did Artifice become a non-profit magazine and why?
RS: My day job is working in development at a nonprofit in Chicago called Growing Home. I'm responsible for grantwriting, primarily. So I had a background in nonprofit, and in grantwriting, and making the
journal a nonprofit, with the potential to fund itself at least partially through grants, seemed like a good idea.
JTA: As to how, by filling out the 20 page nonprofit application. And paying the fee. And a bunch of other hoops to jump through.
RS: A lot of hoops. But none of them fiery - it's not hard, just time consuming.
JTA: Also, I ended up spending a day in Springfield sorting things out. And I got to go to Abraham Lincoln's law offices while I was there. Score!
RS: I messed up something on the application to the IRS, something to do with our Articles of Incorporation, and it would have cost as much to have the change "expedited" as it did to drive to Springfield. Plus, Tadd likes road trips.

OA: The first issue has such a clean, almost minimal design. Will that continue to the next issue?
RS: Definitely. We actually saw the design as more of a "non-design." Meaning, we wanted to do as little fancy footwork as possible, to leave room for authors to use the space as they need to.
JTA: 'Minimal' is definitely the right word. We kept paring down the design. Rebekah has more of a design background than me, and there were times when we were doing preliminary layouts, that she'd bring something really great looking, but highly designed, to our meetings.
RS: It's true. I kept wanting to make it look cool.
JTA: It does look cool.
RS: It does. But you know what I mean. It doesn't look like "Ninth Letter." In a way it's the ur-design for a literary journal: nothing extraneous or unnecessary, a set of rules we won't have to break in order to fit unusually-formatted pieces into the issue. We want to give authors as much freedom as possible to format things strangely, and part of that is keeping our design unobtrusive.

OA: Do you feel like it is a great time to be a writer in Chicago? Do you feel that Chicago writers are getting enough national attention?
JTA: I'm convinced that Chicago is going to be the new hub of literary writing, like, tomorrow. Possibly sometime later on today. What time is it right now? Anyway, soon. Small-presses, in general, are really
blowing away the bigger publishers in terms of putting out interesting, risky, beautiful work, and the small press scene in Chicago is huge. So my answers would be yes, and maybe not but probably soon enough.

OA: What's next for Artifice?
RS: AWP, where we're looking forward to meeting many friends from the internet in real life. And then, Issue #2 in September!

BONUS QUESTIONS!

OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?

JTA: Dostoevsky or Donald Barthelme.
RS: Lady Gaga and William Gibson. Together.

OA: What kind of music do you like and who are a few of your favorites?
RS: Alt-folk, hip-hop, pop. Deb Talan, Ludacris, Ke$ha.
JTA: Hip hop mainly. Anti-Pop Consortium, Kool Keith, Black Milk. And from Chicago: Rhymefest, Kanye, Kid Sister. The video for "Pro Nails" is ridiculous and wonderful. Watch it Here!
RS: Also Lady Gaga.
JTA: Lady Gaga goes without saying.

For more on Artifice please visit their website.

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