Our first home page, in 2001
Fifteen years ago, we were deep into our preparations for the first issue of Wild Violet, an online magazine blending high art (poetry, literary fiction) with pop culture (humor, reviews, interviews). Taking advice from a poetry professor who said it was our responsibility to make a place for poetry in the world, we wanted to make a place for the arts.
Now, as Wild Violet comes back from hiatus — me having spent much of the past ten months dealing with my mom’s estate after her sudden death just before Thanksgiving — it’s a good time to celebrate the aspects that make this magazine unique.
We start with a humor piece. “Barbarian Soiree” by Douglas Ogurek takes a close look at the differences that divide us. And meat.
The first few issues of Wild Violet were almost entirely made up of work by writers and artists who had a connection to myself and my co-founder, Amanda Cornwell, who is also the former art editor. In honor of the magazine’s beginning, I present two talented sisters I first met at a Halloween party more than a decade ago. The Flash Fiction Project by Natalie Okupniak and Genevieve Leonard gives voice and imagery to the unconscious.
And finally, Ruth Dornan reviews “Cooking with the Muse” by Myra Kornfeld and Stephen Massimilla, a book that blends the literary with the culinary.
About Alyce Wilson
