Subnivean never flees from chilling poems, penetrating stories, words that whip our perspectives around. Housed at the State University of New York at Oswego, where 4x more snow falls on our city than Manhattan, we’ve learned to persist. When winter comes, we reject migration. We use the cold itself as insulation.
Angie Kang. Chaun Ballard. Joan Kwon Glass. Jared Green. Emma Wynn. Kyle Rea. Nicole Lynn Cohen. Canaan Morse. Jane Zwart. Clifford Thompson. Sonia Greenfield. Mercury-Marvin Sunderland. Veronika Kot. Trent Busch. Holly Day. Arisa White, April Sinclair and Daniel Handler in conversation.
ISSUE03
SUBNIVEAN AWARD WINNERS 2021
FICTION
NICOLE LYNN
COHEN
"You should talk to someone” captures the essential strangeness of being human, how the ordinary and even tedious details of daily life are forever linked to the overwhelming mysteries and yearning secrets that shadow us. This is a beautiful, thoughtful, weird little piece. My hat is off.
— Daniel Handler
ANGIE
KANG
"Still Life" depicts a young, Chinese American woman's journey. I enjoyed being allowed into the intimacy of this fictional family's life through its relationship with language and belonging/not belonging. The writer has a fresh, authentic voice which invites the reader to develop a building awareness along with the character.
Joanne is a single mother of a young daughter who works among immigrants, including a frustrated, tyrannical boss who never achieved his artistic dreams. Joanne gains insights into her own awareness and takes us by the hand as she explores her reactions, memories of her life and develops an understanding of the cultural context that informs her experience and the reader gets to absorb it. "Still Life" is an authentic review of a young, Chinese American woman's life experiences and the writer makes us privy to this inquiry. It is an honest and vulnerable exploration that is worthy of attention.
I have a sense that the writer has offered me a gift from her heart and I appreciate that. This is a writer who has demonstrated such potential that I want to keep an eye out to see how she evolves.
— April Sinclair
POETRY
CHAUN
BALLARD
Chaun’s poems were such a pleasure to read! I loved their dexterity, the narrative movement, the polyvocal structures, and the blending and reimagining of poetic forms. Chaun’s work pushes and asks again what a poem can do, what can it be — and what is true through the crafting of these poems is that their poetry makes beautiful and nuanced gardens for us to enter and be floral with ourselves.
— Arisa White
NEWS & EVENTS
2021 Firecracker Awards
— Subnivean announced as a finalist
Monday
May 10, 2021
If you feel the ground shaking beneath you today, that's the result of much barefoot jumping up and down by Subnivean's international community.
Why barefoot? Because this nod from the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) rocks our socks off!
Regardless of which deserving publication earns the top
Magazine: Best Debut prize at the June 23, 7pm EST awards ceremony, Subnivean is honored to be among the Firecracker Awards finalists. We urge you to join us at this free, virtual event and check out the other finalist publications, as well: more good reading for your commute, lunch break or bedtime...
SNICKET, WHITE & SINCLAIR:
Literary Legends in Conversation
"I would recommend, like, a bottle of Jim Beam ... before Googling yourself." — Daniel Handler
What do Lemony Snicket (AKA Daniel Handler), April Sinclair (whose book, Coffee Will Make You Black, will soon be a major motion picture) and luminary poet Arisa White have in common?
Subnivean. Catch these heavyweight authors in conversation, and then prepare to get read to like a baby at bedtime by the Subnivean Awards finalists: poets Chaun Ballard, Joan Kwon Glass, Canaan Morse and Emma Wynn; fiction writers Nicole Lynn Cohen, Jared Green, Angie Kang and Kyle Rea.
Subnivean Awards Finalists Announced
— Eight writers advance in the competition
Wednesday
March 10, 2021
Subnivean is honored to announce eight finalists:
Chaun Ballard — POETRY
Nicole Lynn Cohen — FICTION
Joan Kwon Glass — POETRY
Jared Green — FICTION
Angie Kang — FICTION
Canaan Morse — POETRY
Kyle Rea — FICTION
Emma Wynn — POETRY
We look forward to hosting final judges Arisa White, April Sinclair and Daniel Handler in conversation, followed by a reading of the finalist poems and stories, which will be published in Issue 3.
WHEN? 7pm EST / 4pm PST, April 22
HOW DO I GET IN ON THIS? http://bit.ly/subnivean
COST OF ADMISSION? Whaaat?
We wouldn't do you like that. $0.
Thanks to Our Readers for Putting Us on the Map
— News feature shines a bright spotlight
Monday
February 1, 2021
Thanks to all y'all, we've grown even since providing the numbers for this SUNY Oswego news feature.
Beyond reaching thousands of readers around the globe in our first 4.5 months (on every continent but Antarctica: get with the program, penguins) we've received submissions from writers working in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Zimbabwe, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Australia, Palestine, Japan, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Austria, Portugal, Paraguay, Morocco, Norway, Germany, Nigeria, Ireland, Poland, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Ireland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Paraguay, Palestine, Philippines, Kenya, Netherlands, Finland, Bulgaria, South Korea, Mongolia, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Israel and 46 U.S. states as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Update, 07/19/21: Thanks for joining the party, Myanmar, Belgium, Russia, Tanzania and Turkey. You too, West Virginia, Alaska and Wyoming! We're up to 47 countries and 48 U.S. states now. So, writers from North Dakota, let's do this: our Issue 4 reading period is now open. You too, Antarctica (penguins, get with the program.)