March 2007 / Editing Versal / 1 of 3

We’ve spent the past 5 months reading for Versal number 5, and chosen the work to include. We’ve also selected the order of the work, the layout, and the art.
Galley proofs have been sent to the writers. Next week it will go to the printers here in the Netherlands. We’ll have a Versal magazine launch in May, 2007.

What’s interesting about this past year is that we are developing our approach to editing. In terms of poetry, we have an editorial team of 5 poets; kate foley, prue duggan, anna arov, megan garr, and myself. The challenge for us is to coordinate the reading of a high volume of poetry. This year we received upwards of 2500 poems, that’s approx 400-500 poets. Given that we will include fiction, art, and essay, we will have space to select between 30 – 40 poems.

Our strategy is to keep on top of things by meeting regularly to talk discuss poems. We have the luxury of living in the same city. When possible, we meet at least once a week to discuss poems.

Initially poems are assigned to individual editors who determine the need for a second read by a different editor. After the second reads, the first two editors determine if the work should be discussed further, etc.

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