Editor's Letter

by Katie Strine

The Terminal Tour is wine and gold, LakeView Cemetery’s daffodil hill has bloomed and wilted, and Cleveland’s pollen count and spring storms are in full effect. With everything Cleveland has to offer, here is Issue 15.  

We have five local writers to share! Writing on topics from race to death to far-out galaxies, Northeast Ohio writers captured our imaginations and extended our thinking. Writing is a vulnerable space that demands brave voices, such as Dreama J. Mason’s poem that asks, “What is a good death?” or Tom Roth’s narrator who is, “...trying anything that year to make myself stand out in the circle, to be the guy who was ahead.” The fall Inkubator (Literary Cleveland’s free writing conference) challenged people to create dangerously, and Shannise Jackson-Ndiaye says of Edwidge Danticat, the keynote speaker at that event, “I have been inspired by her work for some time and it has fueled my desire to learn more about my family ancestry and to write about the stories my grandmother shared with me as a child.” Her creative non-fiction piece and many other well-crafted writing can be found in this issue.

Though the staff is new, editors, Jeanette Beebe (poetry) and Isaiah Hunt (fiction), brought their expertise and empathy into the decision process as they carefully considered every submission. Jeanette has a sharp eye for tightly controlled, clever line-level poetry: poetry that brings readers to a variety of settings and memorable images. Isaiah, meanwhile, has a passion for quality writing that embraces the strange and unsettling, yet writing that characterizes the human condition in all its varied states. 

I am thankful to Matt Weinkem, Director at Literary Cleveland, and Jason Harris, the former editor-in-chief, who entrusted me with this position. Growing a creative craft outside of an MFA is possible with Literary Cleveland, and I cannot advocate enough for others to join this established and thriving community. Three years ago I applied as a volunteer reader and worked with Nardine Taleb, former fiction editor, and Laura Maylene Walter, former editor-in-chief. Both women unknowingly inspired me to embrace Cleveland as a literary city more than ever; that experience set forth others that brought me to this moment, writing this letter, excitedly sharing the work of 17 talented writers.

Additionally, special thanks to Orlando Caraballo, the artist whose work is featured on the cover. Created in spring of 2020, “Almost May” has eerie echoes of pandemic mentality, but I was drawn to the abstract nature of this image. The layered construct of character feels similar to the voices in this issue and the breadth of ideas they share.

Ultimately, Issue 15 is packed with voice-driven language that captures art at the line level and exposes humanity at its core. Writing that enthralls while placing readers in a world of possibility. Literature that is careful with people, in handling their concerns and outlooks: a gentle home for their concerns, appetites and needs.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy our May edition of Gordon Square Review.

Katie Strine
Editor-in-Chief

Katie Strine

Katie Strine is a fiction writer and educator. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine, Necessary Fiction, Barely South Review and others. Once nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Katie has also been supported by The Kenyon Review. While new to the Editor-in-Chief role, she has formerly supported GSR as a reader and has volunteered with Electric Literature and Typehouse Literary Journal. Nothing compares, however, to working within the community that Literary Cleveland and GSR support and inspire.