ISSUE 07
Steve Evans. Oteeyho Iro. Charles Haddox. Zama Madinana. Taylor Graham. Natalie Harris-Spencer. Jason Lobell. Maggie Yang. Aaron Weinzapfel. Meredith Wadley. Asma Al-Masyabi. Linda Neal. Shilo Niziolek. David A. Porter.
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.
Ciara Alfaro. JeFF Stumpo. Zama Madinana. Chloe Clark. Andy Tran. Siobhan Jean-Charles. D.W. Davis. Clara Chow. Jessica Treadway. Zachariah Claypole White. Sanika Phawde. Caroline Picker. Will Cordeiro. Delaney S. Saul. Farai Chaka. Adrienne Licata. Brandon Lopez. Paige Blair. Michele Herman.
SUBNIVEAN AWARDS
2023-2024 WINNERS
POETRY
JEFF
STUMPO
Of poetry winner JeFF Stumpo's work, luminary poet Major Jackson writes: “These poems advertise a range of sensitivities: popular culture, language, religion, self-making. Also, too, I am stirred by the poet’s whimsy and humor which makes me feel even more their wild passages of song. I place high value on poems beneath the poems, conversations that feel tentative yet substantive. I enjoy the sense in several of the poem’s coming into being, works that make me feel the poem as a process of thought and retractions. All of the poems are within striking range of artistic permanence.”
— Major Jackson, Final Judge in Poetry
FICTION
MICHELE
HERMAN
Of fiction winner Michele Herman's work, iconic author Gish Jen writes: "This story was not only visceral and gripping, with many terrific details and excellent pacing, but boldly surprising. Bravo!"
— Gish Jen, Final Judge in Fiction
2023-24 NEW WRITERS AWARD
PAIGE
BLAIR
This year, Central New York high school student Paige Blair was selected as the Subnivean New Writers Award winner, earning a scholarship, mentorship, a bookstore gift certificate and a blurb about her writing. You can read Paige's poetry in Issue 10 of Subnivean. This year, Subnivean again invited talented new writers to participate in a special opportunity for high school students living in our New York headquarters’ seven-county region: Oswego County, Onondaga County, Oneida County, Herkimer County, Madison County, Cayuga County and Cortland County.
We are honored to celebrate our five 2024 finalists:
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Lucas Anzalone, from Oswego, NY
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Paige Blair, from Cazenovia, NY
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Makaylia Cuyler, from Oswego, NY
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Gabriella Warner, from Oswego, NY
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Millie Wu, from Skeneateles, NY
LISTEN
SUBNIVEAN
EPISODE 5: TEETH
Get ready to be read to like a baby at bedtime. In Episode 5, Subnivean presents stories and poems that have got teeth—the kind that get in deep, and lodge in the bone—by Jervey Tervalon, AJ Donley and Leila Farjami. Special thanks to voice actors Horane Daley, Kaya Wheatley and Chloë Hill, and to our editing and production team: Ryan Joyce, Tierell Chillious, Mathews Frank and Soma Mei Sheng Frazier.
WATCH
THE CANDLEMAKER
by ADRIENNE LICATA
When the candlemaker offers you a deal, will you take it?
ABOUT THE CREATOR
Adrienne Licata's The Candlemaker won the Creative Writing Program's top award in digital storytelling at SUNY Oswego, where she is presently a Creative Writing Major.
"THIS. I became overwhelmed with emotion as I followed the journey of the candlemaker. The music was brilliantly composed, animations were clean, and the writing was simply beautiful. Highly recommend submitting this to wider competition. I look forward to seeing more of this storyteller's work."
— Aunnoy Badruzzaman
Senior Digital Content Producer and artist
featured in Billboard, Pitchfork and SPIN
NEWS & EVENTS
THE SUBNIVEAN
AWARDS
U.S. POET LAUREATE EMERITUS JUAN FELIPE HERRERA & DANIEL HANDLER:
Literary Legends in Conversation
"...and if I went all out, I would probably have pistachio in there."
— Jf Herrera
What do U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera and Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler have in common? Hint: it's not fave ice cream flavors!
Subnivean. Catch these heavyweight authors in conversation, and get read to like a baby at bedtime by last year's Subnivean Awards finalists and winners: poets Artemisio Romero y Carver, Moni Brar, Alicia Rebecca Myers and Lauren Holguin; fiction writers Avtar Singh, Melissa Brown and Zach Swiss.
AWARDS
— Ten finalists named
SPRING 2024
The 2024 Subnivean Awards finalists are Michele Herman, Ciara Alfaro, JeFF Stumpo, Siobhan Jean-Charles and Sanika Phawde. Read their work in Issue 10.
Subnivean also invited talented new writers to participate in a special opportunity for high school students living in our New York headquarters’ seven-county region: Oswego County, Onondaga County, Oneida County, Herkimer County, Madison County, Cayuga County and Cortland County.
We are delighted to announce the five 2024 Subnivean New Writers Award finalists:
Lucas Anzalone, from Oswego, NY
Paige Blair, from Cazenovia, NY
Makaylia Cuyler, from Oswego, NY
Gabriella Warner, from Oswego, NY
Millie Wu, from Skeneateles, NY
To read about last year's competition and winner, click here.
THANKS TO OUR READERS FOR PUTTING US ON THE MAP
— News feature shines a bright spotlight
WEDNESDAY
MAY 31, 2023
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 now received submissions from writers working in Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and 49 U.S. states as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
So, writers from North Dakota, our U.S. holdout, let's do this: our Issue 9 reading period is now open.
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.