Hunger Mountain

We’re looking for writing with vision, intent, craft, and an ability to transport the viewer/reader into the world of the writer.

Hunger Mountain is both a print and online journal of the arts. It publishes fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art, young adult and children’s writing, writing for stage and screen, interviews, reviews, and craft essays. The print issue comes out annually in the fall. The online content changes on a regular basis. The journal is affiliated with the VCFA (Vermont College of Fine Arts) located in Montpelier, Vermont. VCFA offers a low residency MFA in a variety of genres.

Print edition No. 16, 2011, features categories titled poetry, fiction, nonfiction, “widgets” (tiny cartoon sketches), young adult &children's literature and photography. There are four creative nonfiction pieces as opposed to seven short stories (one of whom was a contest winner). Two of the five YA publications are craft essays. Looking at the bios in the back, most writers are established with many publications, multiple books and/or MFAs. A few writers do appear to be “emerging” writers (those with few publications).

The four nonfiction pieces are:

“Children of Paradise,” by Sascha Feinstein, a memoir about how her parents forced her to watch art films at The New Yorker, but she gets her revenge by laughing hysterically during a dramatic moment which mortifies her mother.

“Fossiliferous,” by Nancy Lord, a memoir that uses the story of her hike at the Denali National Park in Alaska as the backbone, while she muses on past species and geology (via fossils), concluding with a forward look to our ecological future.

“Accidental Pugilism,” by Anthony Ferrell, a memoir about the author’s struggle with epilepsy. He discusses how this disease cut short his dream to be a pilot, yet how having a seizure can be a surreal, floating experience of its own. This piece has a more meandering style that the others which feature a linear beginning, middle and end.

“The Potential of the Peripheral: Secondary Characters in Jane Smiley’s The Age of Grief,” by Robin Black is a craft essay written in a conversational style, which includes some memoir before it moves into explication of the novella.

Hunger Mountain appears to be written for a literary, college-educated, well-read audience (one, for example, who would have read Jane Smiley). The inclusion of young adult and children's literature is different from most journals. As for nonfiction, in this issue three of these four pieces were literary memoir, not humorous (although witty in sections), and traditional in structure.

HM does have regular contests but the deadlines vary. Works of nonfiction should be double-spaced and less than 10,000 words, although most published pieces were much shorter. The submission period is year round and online submissions are accepted. Submission webpage here.

Conclusion: tough but not impossible market. The online aspects of the magazine present more publication opportunity.