literary magazines – Page 28

Friday Five: Hippocampus Magazine editor Donna Talarico on creative nonfiction

‘Like fiction, good memoir can also allow people to get lost in another world.’

Portrait photograph of Donna Talarico, founder, publisher and managing editor of Hippocampus Magazine — Donna Talarico, Hippocampus Magazine founder, publisher and managing editor

The literary genre known as creative nonfiction (CNF) has grown in popularity in recent years, and one brilliant and consistent source of great CNF is Hippocampus Magazine. The online literary magazine has been going strong since its debut in 2010.

In today’s Friday Five, Donna Talarico, the magazine’s founder, publisher and managing editor, provides her insights on CNF and the magazine she founded.

Recently published: ‘Hypnotist’ (short story)

A few months ago, I reviewed several old writings, short stories and essays I’d written in the late 1990s through early 2000s. I set aside several pieces I decided weren’t worthy of further work at this time, and focused on revising or rewriting a few that I thought might find a home in some literary journal. One of them is a 1,500-word short story called “Hypnotist.” I dusted it off, submitted it to five or six journals, and when a brand new student-run journal called Red String contacted me with a request to publish it, I happily and readily agreed. They published the story here a few weeks ago. I’m posting it below as well so that I have it in my archives and to correct the spelling of “Cobain,” which was misspelled in the published version.

Trigger warning: the story is rather dark. Proceed with caution.