NewPages Guide to Literary Magazines

The Bitter Oleander

A Magazine of Contemporary International

Poetry & Short Fiction

Publisher’s Description: The Bitter Oleander is a biannually published journal of contemporary poetry and short fiction. Although it publishes mostly domestic poetry, its primary focus continues to be on poetry in translation with a particular concentration on the imaginative creation of language from a very individualized perception. It has had work represented in the Best American Poetry (1999) and recognized as Best Literary Journal (2005) through Public Radio’s "Excellence in Print" award 

SPECIALTY: Each issue contains a featured poet which includes a large selection of his or her poetry as well as an in-depth interview with editor Paul B. Roth. Since a great deal of emphasis is on contemporary poetry written outside the U.S., TBO has interviewed such poets as Marjorie Agosín (Chile), Ruxandra Cesereanu (Romania), Alberto Blanco (Mexico), Nicomedes Suaréz-Araúz (Bolivia), Ye Chun (Chinese), Aase Berg (Swedish), Martín Camps (Mexico). It has also published the work of such award winning American poets as W.S. Merwin, Robert Bly, Charles Wright, Duane Locke, Colette Inez, Alan Britt, Silvia Scheibli, Ray Gonzalez, Christine Boyka Kluge, and Anthony Seidman.

“The Bitter Oleander is the epitome representation, and the vividly idealized lodestone of the heights a periodical can achieve within the alternative small press. The thought clarity is brilliant... excellence is the noticeable reoccurring rhythm woven throughout the tapestry of this work.” — Joyce Metzger (Small Press Review)

Recent issues:

Volume 15 Number 2, Fall 2009 - Our feature for this issue is the Oregon poet Elizabeth McLagan whose vigorous sense of life exuded from her interview makes the inclusion of her nineteen poems that much more fascinating. Along with this feature is an international feature on the poetry and life of the over-looked 20th Century poet Pierre-Albert Jourdan who passed on in 1981. An introduction by John Taylor, who translates Jourdan's work, offers the reader a glimpse into one of France's more gifted minds.

Volume 15 No 1, Spring 2009 features the poetry and language of Patrick Lawler (Liverpool, NY). Also, poetry by Alan Catlin, Rob Cook, Shawn Fawson, Melody S. Gee, Duane Locke, Martina Nicholson and Anthony Seidman. Along with new short fiction by Mike Craig, Ryan Habermeyer, Charles Lowe, Robert I. Mann, and Duncan Murray Quinn are translations from the poetry of Martín Camps (Mexico), Ana Minga (Ecuador), Jesús Munárriz (Spain), Antonio Preciado (Ecuador) and the short fiction of Luis Fayad (Colombia).

Volume 14 No 2, Fall 2008 features an interview with and the poetry of Robert Pesich. Translations from the poetry of Blanca Castellón (Nicaragua), Siomara España (Ecuador),  Mario Quintana (Brazil), and Cemal Süreya (Turkey) are also included along with the short fiction of Simon Fruelund (Denmark), Patrick Lawler, Alexei Kalinchuk, Mark Joseph Kiewlak, Gay Leonhardt as well as original poetry from Alan Britt, Rob Cook, Anne Coray, James Fowler, Christine Boyka Kluge, Samantha Stiers, Ray Gonzalez, Carol Dine and Rafael Jesús González.