Copper Nickel Issue 38 by Wayne Miller

Copper Nickel is the national literary journal housed at the University of Colorado Denver. It is edited by poet, editor, and translator Wayne Miller (author of five collections, including We the Jury and Post-, coeditor of Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century, and co-translator of Moikom Zeqo’s Zodiac) and co-editor Joanna Luloff (author of Remind Me Again What Happened and The Beach at Galle Road)—along with poetry editors Brian Barker (author of Vanishing Acts, The Black Ocean, and The Animal Gospels) and Nicky Beer (author of Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes, The Octopus Game and The Diminishing House), and fiction editors Teague Bohlen (author of The Pull of the Earth), Christopher Merkner (author of The Rise & Fall of the Scandamerican Domestic), and Emily Wortman-Wunder (author of Not a Thing to Comfort You).

Since the journal’s relaunch in 2015, work published in Copper Nickel has been regularly selected for inclusion in Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, Best Small Fictions, Best Literary Translations, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology, and has often been listed as “notable” in the Best American Essays. According to Clifford Garstang’s 2023 literary journal rankings, Copper Nickel is ranked number 10 for poetry and number 34 for fiction, out of more than 700 regularly publishing literary journals.

Contributors to Copper Nickel have received numerous honors for their work, including the Nobel Prize; the National Book Critics Circle Award; the Pulitzer Prize; the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; the Kate Tufts Discovery Award; the Laughlin Award; the American, California, Colorado, Minnesota, and Washington State Book Awards; the Georg Büchner Prize; the Prix Max Jacob; the Griffin Poetry Prize; the Lenore Marshall Prize; the T. S. Eliot and Forward Prizes; the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award; the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award; the Lambda Literary Award; as well as fellowships from the NEA and the MacArthur, Guggenheim, Ingram Merrill, Witter Bynner, Soros, Rona Jaffee, Bush, and Jerome Foundations.

Copper Nickel is published twice a year, on March 15 and October 15, and is distributed nationally to bookstores and other outlets by Publishers Group West (PGW) and Accelerate 360.

Issue 38 Includes:

• A Symposium on the work of poet Reginald Shepherd, featuring seven poems by Shepherd and critical appraisals by National Book Award–winner Robin Coste Lewis, National Book Award–finalist Tommye Blount, Rilke Prize–winner Rick Barot, PEN Open Book Margins Award–winner Timothy Liu, Guggenheim Fellow Paisley Rekdal, Lama Rod Owens, Camille Rankine, and Charles Stephens.

• Translation Folios with work by South Korean poet Kim Hyesoon, translated by Cindy Juyong Ok; Italian poet Vivian Lamarque, translated by Geoffrey Brock; German poet Jan Wagner, translated by David Keplinger; Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef, translated by Khaled Mattawa.

• New Poetry by Hurston/Wright Legacy Award–winner Myronn Hardy, Whiting Award–winner Diannely Antigua, Guggenheim Fellow Geoffrey Brock, Amy Lowell Fellow Rebecca Lindenberg, Rome Fellow Mark Halliday, Eric Gregory Award–winner James Conor Patterson, Alice Fay di Castagnola Award–winner Melissa Kwasny, Ruth Lilly Fellow Matthew Nienow, NEA Fellows Traci Brimhall and Chris Forhan, Iowa Poetry Prize–winner Stephanie Choi, and relative newcomers Mya Mateo Alexice, Katie Condon, Saúl Hernández, Dana Isokawa, James Jabar, Tyler Raso, and Cintia Santana.

• New Fiction by Betty Gabehart Prize–winner Jennifer Militello, Fulbright Scholar Matthew Lawrence Garcia, Anthony M. Abboreno, Rebecca Entel, Xavier Balckwell-Lipkind, Randy F. Nelson, and Allyson Stack.

• A New Essay by Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award–winner Hasanthika Sirisena.

• Cover Art by Oakland-based artist Stephanie Syjuco.

Contributor Locations

Contributors to issue 38 come from all over the country and the world.

U.S. cities/regions where contributors are concentrated include:

Denver, CO (home of Copper Nickel and the Copper Nickel staff; contributor Cindy Juyong Ok)

Los Angeles, CA (contributing editors Victoria Chang, Piotr Florczyk, Amaud Jamaul Johnson,

and Chris Santiago)

San Francisco Bay Area, CA (cover artist Stephanie Syjuco; contributing editor Randall Mann)

Atlanta, GA (contributors Lama Rod Owens and Charles Stephens)

Boston/Cambridge, MA (contributor Allison Adair; contributing editors Martha Collins and

Frederick Reiken)

Baltimore, MD (contributors Joseph J. Capista and Carol Quinn)

Detroit, MI (contributors Tommye Blount and Isaac Pickell)

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN (home of Milkweed Editions; contributing editor V. V.

Ganeshananthan)

Missoula, MT (contributor Melissa Kwasny; contributing editor Sean Hill)

Greensboro, NC (contributors James Jabar and Rhett Iseman Trull; contributing editor Emilia

Phillips)

New York, NY (contributors Dana Isokawa and Maja Lukic)

Pittsburgh, PA (contributors Jan Beatty and Camille Rankine; contributing editors Joy Katz and

Kevin Haworth)

Dallas, TX (contributor Katie Condon; contributing editor Tarfia Faizullah)

Seattle, WA (contributors Rick Barot and Matthew Nienow)

US Cities/Regions with single contributors:

West Hartford, CT (contributor Xavier Blackwell-Lipkind)

Washington, DC (contributor David Keplinger)

Boca Raton, FL (contributing editor A. Papatya Bucak)

Davenport, IA (contributor Anthony M. Abboreno)

Iowa City, IA (contributor Rebecca Entel)

Boise, ID (contributing editor Emily Ruskovich)

Chicago, IL (contributing editor Robert Archambeau)

Indianapolis, IN (contributor Chris Forhan)

Richmond, IN (contributor Christen Noel Kauffman)

Bloomington, IN (contributor Tyler Raso)

Manhattan, KS (contributor Traci Brimhall)

Lexington, KY (contributing editor Ada Limón)

Haverhill, MA (contributor Diannely Antigua)

Lewiston, ME (contributor Myronn Hardy)

Ann Arbor, MI (contributor Khaled Matttawa)

Grand Rapids, MI (contributor Andrew Collard)

Kansas City, MO (contributing editor Robert Long Foreman)

Saint Louis, MO (contributing editor Niki Herd)

Davidson, NC (contributor Randy F. Nelson)

Lincoln, NE (contributor James Brunton)

Manchester, NH (contributor Jennifer Millitello)

Jersey City, NJ (contributor Mya Matteo Alexice)

Princeton, NJ (contributing editor James Richardson)

Canton, NY (contributing editor Pedro Ponce)

Woodstock, NY (contributor Timothy Liu)

Athens, OH (contributor Mark Halliday)

Cincinnati, OH (contributor Rebecca Lindenberg)

Tulsa, OK (contributing editor Kaveh Bassiri)

Ashland, OR (contributor Cynthia Boersma)

Selinsgrove, PA (contributor Hasanthika Sirisena)

Philadelphia, PA (contributing editor Adrienne Perry)

Greenville, SC (contributor Emily Cinquemani)

Sewanee, TN (contributor Stephanie Choi)

San Antonio, TX (contributor Saúl Hernández)

St. George, UT (contributor Cindy King)

Salt Lake City, UT (contributor Paisley Rekdal)

Middlebury, VT (contributor Carolyn Orosz)

Houston, TX (contributing editor Kevin Prufer)

Blacksburg, VA (contributing editor Janine Joseph)

International contributors live in:

Düsseldorf, GERMANY (Matthew Lawrence Garcia)

Milan, ITALY (Vivian Lamarque)

Seoul, SOUTH KOREA (Kim Hyesoon)

Edinburgh, UNITED KINGDOM (Allyson Stack)

London, UNITED KINGDOM (James Conor Patterson)

Praise for Copper Nickel:

“Copper Nickel is terrific—of its time without being confined to its time, careful and thoughtful and never predictable, with the kind of internal variety that I want (and rarely get) from a litmag—not a pinlight or a penlight but a light that shines on a whole field. I’m happy to read it.”

—Stephanie Burt, author of Close Calls with Nonsense: Reading New Poetry;

Professor of English, Harvard University

“Through its combination of editorial acuity, serious belief in contemporary writing, and sheer handsomeness, Copper Nickel has established itself as the best new evidence of defiant vitality in the realm of literary journals.”

—Mark Halliday, author of six poetry collections, most recently Thresherphobe;

Distinguished Professor of English, Ohio University

“Copper Nickel is THE literary magazine to read now. Since it’s rebirth/relaunch every issue has had, inside its stunning cover, the fiction, poetry, nonfiction and works in translation any writer or lover of contemporary writing has to read. I confess: other magazines, even the New Yorker, often sit in my house unread. But Copper Nickel gets opened as quickly as a Christmas present!”

—Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of five books of fiction, most recently the novel

My Life as a Silent Movie, and seven poetry collections; Professor of English,

University of Wisconsin

“Long regarded as one of the best literary magazines in the country, the relaunched Copper Nickel has only improved, publishing a diverse range of award-winning poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in its first year. With each new issue Copper Nickel proves itself to be a wellspring of new American writing.”

—Nathan Oates, author of The Empty House; Associate Professor

of English, Seton Hall University

“In the great spirit of the late Jake Adam York, Copper Nickel is back and more relevant than ever. Where else to turn for such a dynamic combination of contemporary writing? Brilliantly curated, the diversity of voices, new and established, not only spans aesthetic divides but includes translation portfolios, art and essays that address pressing concerns of writers working today.”

—Sally Keith, author of four poetry collections, most recently River House;

Associate Professor of Creative Writing, George Mason University

“Copper Nickel is one of the most diverse, daring, and visually beautiful literary journals I’ve ever read. The fact that its relaunch has gained national recognition is no surprise—now more than ever, Copper Nickel is a goldmine for readers of contemporary poetry and prose.”

—Allison Benis White, author of three poetry collections, most recently Please Bury Me in This;

Associate Professor of Creative Writing, University of California Riverside

“Copper Nickel is more than a literary journal—it’s an event. A celebration. An embrace. And it is also essential reading for anyone who cares about contemporary writing these days, in America and beyond.”

—Whitney Terrell, author of The Good Lieutenant; Assistant Professor

of Creative Writing, University of Missouri Kansas City

“Copper Nickel has been a great magazine for quite awhile, and it continues to get better. Aesthetically diverse, welcoming of both established and emerging writers, it’s always worth a cover-to-cover read.”

—Martha Collins, author of ten poetry collections, most recently Admit One:

An American Scrapbook; Professor Emerita, Oberlin College

“When I first encountered Copper Nickel, I was a hopeful graduate student looking for poems written by my peers to both resonate with me and challenge me. I found so many new heroes in the pages of Copper Nickel, and it also allowed me to encounter the work of its brilliant editors as well, including Jake Adam York. When Jake passed, I mourned both him and his vision. It’s been thrilling to see Copper Nickel come back to life, and in its new alchemical form, it is as much if not more wide-seeing and enlivening as ever. I recommend it frequently to my students, colleagues, and lovers of engaging literature and art.”

—Tarfia Faizullah, author of the poetry collection Seam; Visiting Professor

of Creative Writing, University of Michigan

“The newly relaunched Copper Nickel is certainly one of the most exciting literary magazines being published in the country today. The poems, stories, and essays are of the very highest quality and the editors’ passion for a truly international vision of literature as well as for the discovery of new work by emerging authors shows in every issue. It’s no surprise that this year’s work from Copper Nickel has been selected for inclusion in three of the most prestigious annual anthologies in print: Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology.”

—Kevin Prufer, author of six poetry collections, most recently The Fears;

Professor of Creative Writing, University of Houston

“I admire the careful curation of the issues of the rebooted Copper Nickel, its diversity of aesthetics and cultural voices, in particular its commitment to emerging writers: in the current issue, two of my favorite pieces are by Sequoia Nagamatsu and Cathy Linh Che, fierce writers (each the author of one book) who are new to me. And what’s consistent in the magazine—line by line; sentence by sentence—is the caliber of the work.”

—Randall Mann, author of three poetry collections, most recently Deal: New & Selected Poems

Copper Nickel Issue 38 Wayne Miller

Copper Nickel Issue 38 by Wayne Miller

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