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Magazine Stand :: Ruminate – Issue 61

Ruminate literary magazine cover image

After hurdling the pandemic paper shortage and understaffing at the printers, the Winter 2021-2022 issue of Ruminate is in the mail! Themed “Beginnings and Endings,” the issue features poems by Arah Ko (the 2021 poetry-prize winner), Christine Swint (runner-up), Jane Medved (honorable mention), and work from four additional finalists: Brian Holmes, Jed Myers, Bethany Swann, and Margaret Wack, as well as poems from Kim Garcia, Londeka Mdluli, Tyler Smith, Sarah Snyder, and Phillip Watts Brown. Fiction includes works by Catey Miller, Tega Oghenechovwen, and Fei Sun, and nonfiction “Friendship: A Haiku” by Cynthia Gralla. Some content is available to read on the Ruminate website. There’s also still time to make the May 1 deadline for their 2022 annual poetry contest. Maybe it will be your name here next year!

2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize in Issue 60 of Ruminate.

First Place
“The Florist” by Alex Cothren

Second Place
“A Guide to Removal” by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala

Honorable Mention
“Katingo Carried 15,980 Tons and a Gentleman” by George Choundas

Finalists include Nina Gaby, Elizabeth Paley, Lauren Loftis, Skye Anicca, Catherine Miller, Alberto Daniels, and Suphil Lee Park.

Read comments on the winners from Judge Kelli Jo Ford inside the issue as an introduction to the pieces.

Ruminate – Issue 60

The writers and artists whose work makes up Ruminate Issue 60 probe the imagery and metaphor of being at sea. Included are Devon Miller-Duggan’s poem, “Perhaps a Prayer for Surviving the Night” and Peggy Shumaker’s “Gifts We Cannot Keep.” George Choundas’s engrossing story, “Katingo Carried 15,980 Tons and Gentleman,” transports us to the world of those who live and work on cargo ships. And O-Jeremiah Agbaakin’s poem, “landscape with broken ekphrasis,” muses on the image of the last ship that brought enslaved people to the United States. This issue features the winning story from our 2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize.

More info at the Ruminate website.

Ruminate – Fall 2021

The writers and artists whose work makes up Ruminate issue 60 probe the imagery and metaphor of being at sea. Whether it is being at sea in the waiting to find out if a beloved will survive, as in Devon Miller-Duggan’s poem, “Perhaps a Prayer for Surviving the Night. Or as in Peggy Shumaker’s “Gifts We Cannot Keep.” See what else you can find in this issue at the Ruminate website.

Ruminate Announces Inaugural Flash Prose Winners

screenshot of The Waking: Ruminate OnlineIf you didn’t know already, print literary magazine Ruminate has an online component known as The Waking. They recently held their first Flash Prose Contest with the winners being published online.

Nathan Long’s “Summer of Joy” won in the fiction category and Kianna Green’s essay “Sitting Quiet” won the nonfiction prize. Both pieces are available for your reading please on The Waking right now.

Congratulations to the winners! And don’t forget that Ruminate‘s VanderMey Nonfiction Prize is officially open to submissions through October 15 (with a 3-day grace period).

Ruminate Announces New Editor

photo of Jess Jelsma Masterson
Photo from Ruminate‘s July 31 newsletter

If you aren’t subscribed to Ruminate‘s newsletter (you probably should be), they announced in their July 31 edition that Jess Jelsma Masterton is joining their team as Editor. She was unanimously elected to the position due to her “compelling vision for the magazine” and care for the staff, readers, and their mission.

Masterton has previously worked on the Cincinnati Review where she served as an Assistant and Associate Editor. She has also recently completed her PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Cincinnati. Her own fiction, nonfiction, and audio works can be found in recent issues of The Arkansas International, The Southern Review, and The Normal School.

Interim Editor Jen Stewart Fueston will work with Masterton to ensure a smooth transition before returning to her board position later this fall.

The team at Ruminate are committed to being an independent magazine with the freedom to cultivate their authentic selves through nourishing conversations, actions, and art that spiritually sustains and are excited to continue their united journey with Masterton at the helm.

Ruminate’s 2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize Winner

Screenshot of Ruminates 2021 William Van Dyke Prize Winner AnnouncementRuminate has announced the winner, runner up, and honorable mention for their 2021 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize. The final judge of the prize this year was Kelli Jo Ford whose debut novel Crooked Hallelujah made waves last year.

First Place: “The Florist” by Alex Cothren

Second Place: “A Guide to Removal” by Amber Baleser-Wardzala

Honorable Mention: “Kantingo Carried 16,980 Tons and a Gentleman” by George Choundas

These stories will be published in the Fall 2021 issue of Ruminate due out in mid-September. The issue is currently available for pre-order, so don’t forget to reserve your copy today if you aren’t a subscriber already.

Ruminate Poetry Prize Bundle

Ruminate Poetry Prize Bundle coversLiterary magazine Ruminate has curated a Poetry Prize Bundle. These three issues contain past winning poems and finalists from their Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize. Issues included are Issue 53, Issue 49, and Issue 36.

Ruminate poetry editor Kristin George Bagdanov writes:

We need poems that exist in the space between the crumbs of hope that keep us writing and reaching, poems necessitated by gnawing stomachs that tell us there is so much left to devour, that there is so much left we cannot.

The poems gathered in these three issues are reaching toward just that. Plus, you’ll also find art and prose. The bundle saves you 20% off the cover price of each issue. It’s available for only $21.

It’s a great time to grab this bundle for an idea of what they like as their Broadside Poetry Prize is currently open to submissions through August 15 (+3-day grace period).

Ruminate – Summer 2021

Our summer issue includes many examples of lives forged by experience. The characters in these poems and stories are shaped and revealed by what they endure. There is heat and pressure in Alex Pickens’ “Derecho.” Shamarang Silas’s poem “The Weight of Trains,” inquires, “What is worship if not the desire to offer yourself to the fire / & everything you have ever loved?” Find out more at the Ruminate website.

Job Opening :: Ruminate Seeks Editor

Ruminate is currently seeking an editor! Founded in 2006, Ruminate is dedicated to “cultivating authenticity through nourishing conversations while spiritually sustaining life together through action and art.” Besides the award-winning quarterly literary magazine, they also have the online publication The Waking and serve the local and broader community with online and in person events.

They seek an editor who will uphold their mission of supporting their community of artists, seekers, and readers seeking spiritually nourishing conversations as well as one who can expand the range of editorial and contributor voices to “reflect a growing and changing audience” and help them grow beyond their original roots in the Christian community.

Learn more about this opportunity here.

Ruminate – Spring 2021

From the editors: In the face of the immense grief that surrounds us, for this issue Ruminate Magazine editors decided to explore What Remains. “Everything is held together with stories,” writes the acclaimed author Barry Lopez, who died this past year, a few months after the Holiday Farm Fire destroyed his house and archives. “That is all that is holding us together. Stories and compassion.” This issue features the winners of our 2020 Broadside Poetry Prize: Michael Dechane and S. Yarberry.

Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize Winners

Issue 57 of Ruminate features the winners of the Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize. Grab a copy now to check them out.

First Place
“The Difference Between a Year and a Lifetime” by Laura Budofsky Wisniewski

Second Place
“Papier-mâché” by Yvette Siegert

Honorable Mentions
“In Another Dream Where My Father Apologizes” by Hajjar Baban
“The Sparrow in the Banquet Hall” by Betsy Sholl

Finalists include Chaun Ballard, Jennifer Barber, Charley Gibney, Catherine Hodges, Suzanne Lummis, Megan Merchant, Brian Sneeden, Samuel Ugbechie, David Wright, and Haolun Xu.

Ruminate – Issue 57

Runimate Issue 57: Mend investigates what needs to be mended, who does the mending, and how we might mend. As Megan Merchant writes in her poem “Mammography,” “Not all things heal when left alone.” Featuring the Janet B. McCabe prizewinning poems by Laura Budofsky Wisniewski, Yvette Siegert, Hajjar Baban, and Betsy Sholl.

Did You Know? Ruminate’s Online Component The Waking

screenshot of The Waking: Ruminate OnlineRuminate, a reader-supported, contemplative quarterly literary arts magazine, has a regularly updated online component called The Waking. This features short nonfiction, short fiction, ruminations, reviews, interviews, and more.

Recent pieces includes “If Party Wolf Jumps,” short fiction by Ryan Rickrode; “Mourning Together: An Interview with Colombian Artist Erika Diettes”; “Wait for Me,” short nonfiction by Adriana Añon; and “‘Holding a Stuffed Raccoon Up to the Sky’: A Review of Erin Carlyle’s Magnolia Canopy Otherworld” by Sarah Bates.

The Waking: Ruminate Online is currently open to submissions of short prose, book reviews, and interviews. There is no fee to submit.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Ruminate‘s quarterly issues to support them.

Ruminate :: Subscription Drive

If you’ve wanted to check out issues of Ruminate, now is the perfect time to do it. Right now, they’re running their Holiday Drive with the goal of reaching 125 new and renewed subscribers going into the new year. Renew your subscription, gift one to a family member or friend this holiday season, or write a donation in someone’s name as a gift.

You can grab a gift subscription here, where you can also check out their progress. At the time of writing this blog post, they’ve reached about 40% of their goal.

Enjoy high quality, quarterly issues with your own subscription.

2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize Winners

Ruminate - Spring 2020The latest issue of Ruminate features the writers who placed in the 2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize.

First Place
“Destiny of Cumin” by Jasmine V. Bailey

Second Place
“A True Prayer is One That You Do Not Understand” by Kelly J. Beard

Honorable Mention
“How To Ruin a Persian Wedding” by Atash Yaghmaian

Finalists include Avra Aron, Kaimana Farris, Dorothy Neagle, Alexandra Loeb, Sally Pearson, Arielle Schussler, Jamie Smith, Shannon Tsonis, and Shannon Yarbrough.

Selections were made by Ruminate’s founder, Brianna Van Dyke and says of her first-place selection: “Jasmine V. Bailey’s ‘Destiny of Cumin’ offers a wide-searching exploration of food and slavery and motherhood and becomes an essay about power and love and what it means to live among the contradictions of our own hearts.”

Ruminate – Issue 54

Ruminate - Spring 2020

“The Everyday” issue celebrates Ruminate‘s focus on finding the sacred within everyday moments and routines. This issue features work from our 2019 Broadside winner Meredith Stricker, as well as the winning pieces from our 2020 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize written by Jasmine V. Bailey, Kelly J. Beard, and Atash Yaghmaian chosen by judge Brianna Van Dyke. Also in this issue: Erin Malone, Chelsea Dingman, Sneha Subramanian Kanta, Nick Yingling, Alyse Bensel, Daniel Seth Kraus, Andrew Huot, Stacy Trautwein Burns, and more.

Ruminate – Winter 2019/20

Ruminate - Winter 2019/2020Magazine Review by Katy Haas

Each issue of Ruminate opens with “Readers’ Notes,” a response from a variety of readers/writers on the issue’s theme. This is one of my favorite parts of the issue—the little snippets of connection. The Winter 2019/20 theme is “Shelter,” and thirteen readers write in with their thoughts on the subject.

It’s interesting to see the variety of approaches writers take as they cover this topic. A few speak of physical structures that offer shelter. Benjamin Malay writes of an abandoned farmhouse found while hitchhiking; Duane L. Herrmann’s shelter is a screened-in porch during childhood; and Sharon Esterly writes of a DIY Cold War bomb shelter. Moving away from man-made structures, Rebecca Martin observes a child’s own body being their shelter; Liz Degregorio’s shelter is “the kindest lie” her father could tell her as a child; and Sarah Swandell’s shelter is a womb.

Each of these pieces is short and succinct. All grab attention and hold fast as readers unfold the layers that reveal the shelter within. The Readers’ Notes section serves as a great opener for Ruminate, both as a warm-up for the rest of the issue, and as a way to jog one’s own creativity, prompting consideration on how we too might briefly write on the given topic.

McCabe Poetry Prize Winner

Issue 21 (Autumn 2011) of Ruminate Magazine features the winners and honorable mentions of the Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize, sponsored by Steve and Kim Franchini with finalist judge Naomi Shihab Nye.

First: Adrianne Smith, “In Bridgewater, my room”
Second: Kendra Langdon Juskus, “Suspension”

Honorable Mentions
Mathhew Burns
Michelle Tooker
Christopher Martin

It appears that the Ruminate Magazine is undergoing a digital redesign on their website, but you can find them active on Twitter.