''Birkensnake'' was a small press

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

published irregularly in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, USA. The magazine was founded by Brian Conn and Joanna Ruocco when they were MFA students at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. ''Birkensnake'' 1 was released in 2008. ''Birkensnake'' 2, published in 2009, received media attention, garnering mostly positive reviews. "The Children's Factory," a story by Michael Stewart which appeared in ''Birkensnake'' 2, won the 3rd annual

Micro Award Micro may refer to: Measurement * micro- (μ), a metric prefix denoting a factor of 10−6 Places * Micro, North Carolina, town in U.S. People * DJ Micro, (born Michael Marsicano) an American trance DJ and producer *Chii Tomiya (都宮ちい ...

. That issue also contained stories by

Matt Briggs Matt Briggs (born 1970) is an American novelist and short story writer. Biography Matt Briggs was born in Seattle, Washington, which he still calls home. He grew up in the Snoqualmie Valley raised by working-class, counter-culture parents who cu ...

, Caren Gussoff, and

Blake Butler John David Blake Butler (22 October 1924 – 15 April 1981) was an English actor best known for his role as the lecherous chief librarian Mr. Wainwright during the first and third series of ''Last of the Summer Wine'' in 1973 and 1976 res ...

. ''Birkensnake'' 5, released in 2012, was a free issue. The last issue, ''Birkensnake'' 7, was published in 2014. The magazine received positive reviews for content and format (it is available both electronically and in print). The ''New York Times'' called ''Birkensnake'' a "sacred art object." ''Flavorwire'' listed ''Birkensnake'' 6 as "One of the Year's Coolest Literary Magazine Innovations" because it featured seven different versions of the magazine created by seven different pairs of editors.

Staff

* Brian Conn, editor * Joanna Ruocco, editor

References

External links

{{italic title Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Irregularly published magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 2008 Magazines disestablished in 2014 Magazines published in Rhode Island