The Old Crow Review was an English-language literary magazine

Literary magazine

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...

 established in Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

 in 1990 by publisher John Gibney, owner of FkB Press, and its editor-in-chief Tawnya Kelley-Tiskus. It published infrequently and distributed locally with a very small circulation; between 1993 and 2005 thirteen issues were published.

History and significance

The Old Crow Review was a multi-genre literary magazine that published short stories, poems, essays, interviews, photography, and art; it had mythic concerns, declaring itself interested in "visions or fragments of visions of a new myth." The literary magazine was founded in 1990 by publisher John Gibney and editor Tawnya Kelley-Tiskus. Old Crow launched its first issue in January 1993 with a press run of 500 and was distributed in the Pioneer Valley

Pioneer Valley

The Pioneer Valley is the colloquial name for the U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts's portion of the Connecticut River Valley. The Pioneer Valley consists of three counties in Massachusetts which collectively feature much of New England's most fertile farmland...

 of Massachusetts.

The magazine published poetry by Simon Perchik

Simon Perchik

Simon Perchik is an American poet with published work dating from the 1960s. Perchik worked as an attorney before his retirement in 1980. Educated at New York University, Perchik now resides in East Hampton, New York. Library Journal has referred to Perchik as "the most widely published unknown...

, Patricia Martin, Pat Schneider

Pat Schneider

Pat Schneider is an American writer, poet and editor.-Biography:Schneider was educated at Central College in Missouri, and earned her MA from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. In 1979 she became a graduate of the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of...

, Christopher Jones, and Michael Ventura Jones. An early version of screenwriter William Monahan

William Monahan

William J. Monahan is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film which earned him a WGA award and an Academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay.-Writer and editor:...

's first novel, Light House: A Trifle

Light House: A Trifle

Light House: A Trifle, a 2000 satirical novel by American screenwriter William Monahan. Originally serialized in the Amherst literary magazine Old Crow Review from 1993 to 1995, Monahan sold Light House to Riverhead Books, a Penguin Group imprint, in 1998. Warner Bros...

, was published serially starting in issue 1 and ending in issue 5. There were also contributions from Sam Cherubin, Tobias Burghardt, and Richard Exner.

Independent bookshop Amherst Books hosted readings by Old Crow Review contributors in 2004 and 2005..

Reception

In 1995, an editor for Factsheet Five

Factsheet Five

Factsheet Five was a periodical mostly consisting of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers....

wrote a short review of the Old Crow Review's serial run of future screenwriter William Monahan

William Monahan

William J. Monahan is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film which earned him a WGA award and an Academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay.-Writer and editor:...

's Light House, describing it as a "gritty screwball comedy set in a Massachusetts coastal hotel during a raging winter storm" that is "very, very funny". Monahan went on to win a Pushcart Prize

Pushcart Prize

The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....

 in 1997 for his short story "A Relation of Various Accidents Observable in Some Animals Included in Vacuo", originally printed in the New York Press

New York Press

New York Press was a free alternative weekly in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice...

but nominated by the Old Crow Review.

Bibliographic details

FkB Press published a total of thirteen issues of the Old Crow Review between the years 1993 and 2005. Each issue was 100 pages. The editors accepted 2-3% out of approximately 1,000 submissions received each year.

All 13 issues of Old Crow Review are available at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. Issues 1-7, and 12 are available in the Department. of Special Collections at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

.