Five Questions for Savannah Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Abraxas Review
1. What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
When I am selecting pieces for Abraxas Review, there are a few qualities that capture my attention right away—candor, intellectual curiosity, and neo-Romantic themes.
Candor: We love to publish work from writers that are unafraid to take an honest look at themselves. This kind of vulnerability creates a sense of intimacy and immediacy that is irresistible. Bonus points for a bit of humor; I love to laugh.
Intellectual curiosity: I like to think of writing as not only an artifact, but as an act of intellectual exploration. I am drawn to pieces that allow you to feel as if you are part of the journey. We look for work that surprises us with moments of insight or levity. These submissions are often organic in form and content.
Neo-Romantic themes: We publish a lot of prose and poetry in which writers connect to the world around them through astute observations and concrete images. There is something powerful about finding meaning and beauty in the mundane.
2. What turns you off to a submission?
I tend to reject submissions that are overly cynical or overly clever. Both qualities stem from an over-confidence in one’s own perspective. It reminds me of a quote from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.” In writing, these reptiles can manifest as things like pretentiousness, cruelty, bitterness, and a lack of compassion for one’s characters or oneself.
Don’t get me wrong, the world is a hard place, but we “crack the egg” to create a new world. This requires courage and optimism. We are interested in what comes after the revolution and the ways we all strive to process, reclaim, and transcend our experiences.
3. Abraxas Review has a particular focus on “work that cracks the egg”—on writing that’s experimental without being pretentious, authentic without being performative. Can you talk about what draws you to that aesthetic? What does that actually look like on the page?
I am very interested in writing as a process of discovery. As I mentioned before, we tend to look for pieces in which the reader gets a sense of the writer’s inner journey. Our issues are full of unique voices—writers telling their own stories in their own styles. But there are some through lines: playfulness with form and language, intellectual curiosity, and work by authors that are unafraid to examine the dark corners of their souls with self-compassion.
4. What is the best part of working on Abraxas Review?
I love my role as Editor-in-Chief at Abraxas Review. I get to work closely with each of our contributors to help prepare their submissions for publication. I enjoy getting to sit in as the first audience and collaborate through the editing process. When we started AR, I knew that it was going to be a blast, but I was surprised by just how humbling and meaningful the work is. Each of our contributors is trusting us with their art, which is a huge honor and responsibility. It has been such a pleasure to get to know so many talented writers, artists, and poets through this process.
5. How did you and Marin come to found Abraxas Review together? What was the spark?
Marin and I met in San Luis Obispo in 2013, English grad students at a polytechnic school. For a brief moment we were able to immerse ourselves in a world of literature, writing, art, and ideas. During the day we worked as tutors and editors, we TA’d undergrad lit classes, and taught writing to baby engineers who reminded us that what we were doing was very impractical. In the evenings we took classes on literature, theory, and pedagogy. It was intense, but also wonderful.
By 2023 we were ready to re-enter that world and we founded Abraxas Review as our unapologetic celebration of the written word, of writing as a creative act, and of those who feel compelled to make art in all its impractical glory.
