Big Other Anthology 2024

Like the band Scarce Dirt, or whatever they’re called, I just want to celebrate another day of living, celebrate another day of life. That is, rather than being bogged down in despair, fogged up with false hope, I daily endeavor to regard life in all of its fullness, which includes tragedy, suffering, absurdity; to regard the givens of life (e.g., pain, illness, death, etc.) with curiosity, acceptance, and sometimes even humor; moreover, to recognize the vital power I share with my loved ones, friends, community, and society to not only realize another world, realize not only a better world, but the many life- and love-affirming worlds there are that we can together “world” into becoming.

All to say, I am deeply grateful for the many wonderful things that happened in 2024.

For instance, last year saw the publication of Nervosities, my debut collection of experimental short fiction! Ka-pow! Timely, sharp, lyrical, Nervosities (Anti-Oedipus Press) artfully chronicles the disorder of things, the overwhelm of now, of better and worse worlds to come. The collection has received praise from some of the world’s finest writers: Rikki Ducornet, Brian Evenson, Norman Lock, Lance Olsen, Sam Lipsyte, Garielle Lutz, Michael Martone, Kurt Baumeister, among others. Delighted, too, to have seen Nervosities astutely reviewed in Electric Literature, Reactor Magazine, Unbeaten Paths, Rough Ghosts, Heavy Feather Review, Volume 1 Brooklyn, and Through the Dark Labyrinth. Big thanks to powerhouse reviewers Tobias Carroll, Wendy J. Fox, Paul Kincaid, John Schertzer, Joseph Schreiber, and Christopher Vaughan! Big thanks to all of the above and especially to D. Harlan Wilson, publisher of the great Anti-Oedipus Press!

And here are just a few of the Big Other-related things I want to celebrate:

2024 saw the publication of the following 2024 books, all of which feature writing previously published in Big Other:
Rae Armantrout’s Go Figure (Wesleyan University Press)
Raymond de Borja’s facture (Broken Sleep Books)
Daniel Borzutzky’s The Murmuring Grief of the Americas (Coffee House Press)
Jennifer Maritza McCauley’s Kinds of Grace (FlowerSong Press)
Lance Olsen’s Absolute Away (Dzanc Books) and Shrapnel (Anti-Oedipus Press)

Delighted, too, to share that Elaine Equi’s forthcoming Out of the Blank (Coffee House Press) features several poems originally published in Big Other.

Here are ten ways you can help these books (and other off-the-radar books):
1. Buy the book.
2. Read the book.
3. Review the book.
4. Interview the author about the book.
5. Ask your bookstore to order the book.
6. Ask your library to order the book.
7. Attend events related to the book.
8. Give the book to someone else.
9. Talk about the book.
10. Teach the book.

On September 27, 2024, I hosted the 2023 Big Other Book Awards Ceremony. Recognizing excellence in literature published in 2023 and supporting the vital work of innovative writers and adventurous presses, I announced the winners of the 2023 Big Other Awards in each of the following categories: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translation. A Readers’ Choice Award and awards for lifetime achievement and outstanding service to the literary community were also presented.

On October 14, 2024, I celebrated Big Other’s 15th birthday.

Finally, I published superb writing by the following literary artists in Big Other in 2024:
Michael A. Antonucci, Gillian Cummings, Samuel R. Delany, Elaine Equi, Norman Fischer, Andrew Joron, Stephen Joyce, Heller Levinson, Yongbo Ma, Lance Olsen, Elizabeth Robinson, Martha Ronk, Joe Sacksteder, John Schertzer, Steve Tromans, Chris Vaughan, and Marc Vincenz.

See the anthology (Big Other‘s sixth!) of all this exemplary work below!

Excelsior!

John Madera, Editor