Editors: Jill & Philip Gerard

Published annually in June

Chautauqua editors Jill and Philip Gerard actively solicit writing that expresses the values of Chautauqua Institution broadly construed: a sense of inquiry into questions of personal, social, political, spiritual, and aesthetic importance, regardless of genre. Chautauqua considers the work of any writer, whether or not affiliated with Chautauqua Institution, except for members of the Board of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center unless solicited for special issues.

Qualities sought include a mastery of craft, attention to vivid and accurate language, a true lyric “ear,” an original and compelling vision, and strong narrative instinct. Above all, the editors value work that is intensely personal, yet somehow implicitly comments on larger public concerns—work that answers every reader's most urgent question: Why are you telling me this?

The original Chautauqua, founded in New York state, inspired a national movement that included traveling tent shows imitating the programs presented at Chautauqua. These shows brought theater, opera, classical music, art, theological debate, and literature to the hinterlands all across America. Over the years, the literary arts
became a prominent focus, culminating in The Chautauqua Writers’ Center.

Editor-in-Chief: David Gessner

Editor: Ben George
Art Director: Emily Smith

Published biannually

Ecotone is a national literary journal of place that seeks to publish creative work about the environment and the natural world while avoiding the hushed tones and clichés of much of so-called nature writing. In the natural world an ecotone is a landscape where two separate ecosytems overlap, a place of danger and opportunity for animals. As we try to reimagine a new literature of place, our journal embraces literary ecotones, writing that breaks across genres and seeks out edges. These edges—between science and literature, the urban and rural, the personal and biological—are places that are alive and electric, as well as new and dangerous.

Ecotone has come a long way in a short time. In four years we have gone from an idea to a full fledged literary journal ready to publish its fifth issue. Essays and poems have been reprinted and noted in Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, and Best American Science and Nature Writing. Our contributors have included National Book Award Winners and literary luminaries like Mark Doty, Gerald Stern, Ann Zwinger, Peter Matthiessen, Wendell Berry, Rick Moody, Aimee Bender, and Julianna Baggott. Our striking cover art work, which often features unexpected and startling images from the natural world, seeks out new ground just like the writing we publish, and has featured painters like Joan Snyder, our cover artist for our third issue, who won a MacArthur Fellowship in September of 2007.