Hey Instigators! Our one year anniversary is coming up in February! I know that seems so long from now, but it’s really just two issues away! I’d like to take the opportunity to preemptively honor the magazine and send a request out to those who contributed to it.
We releaed the first issue of Instigatorzine in February of 2010. I had gotten the idea from reading through my writer’s market book and finding only three magazines published out of New Jersey, none of which publish non-fiction. Having just taken a memoir class, I thought this was horrible. Non-fiction can be an incredibly crafty and skillful sort of literature that should be recognized and displayed proudly. I thought literature was dying, especially in New Jersey. However, after publishing the magazine, I found that New Jersey is very much alive and rich with wonderful authors who are just waiting to be published. It makes me feel incredibly proud to have published over 80 new authors in such a short amount of time, and even prouder to have published authors who went on to publish poetry collections and books as well, such as Peycho Kanev and Brian Nailer.
I am also very proud to have had the opportunity to work with such great artists as well. I have to thank Narciso for introducing me to them and making them a part of our time, further enriching the quality of Instigatorzine.I never knew it would come this far in such a short amount of time.
So, as I said earlier, our anniversary is coming up. We first released the zine in February of 2010. It was all black and white, featuring the following cover by Narciso Espiritu Jr (co-founder). As you can see, we were originally called The Instigator, but to avoid legal conflicts with another magazine called Instigator, we changed it to Instigatorzine.
In this issue, we featured literary works by Craig Wynne, Ashleigh Matkowski, Elizabeth Vosk, Angel Eduardo, Robert Jason Clark, Nicole Contreras, and artwork by Madelynne Dela Rama and Pablo Naranjo.
I would like to send an invitation to each of these authors to submit a work for our one year anniversary to be released in February. I make this announcement so early because our production process is two months. Thus, we are currently working on the January issue, and in December we will be working on the February issue.
Here’s to an amazing magazine made amazing only by the authors and artists who contribute toward it!
