Ask the Editor: Anupama Shankar, Associate Editor, The Foundling Review

1. Why The Foundling Review? What is the significance of that name?

So many well-written pieces without takers languish in dead space, like abandoned children — hence Foundling. According to many of our authors, their pieces found a home in FR after many years of accumulating in a retired pile. And Review – well, it just makes the journal sound more tie-and-suit at work than jeans-and-sandals.

2. What do you do for your magazine, as associate editor?

I read fiction submissions (either breezing through or slogging through depending on the quality), then pass on my recommendations to Ajay, our Chief Editor, along with comments and reasons for rejecting or accepting a piece. He agrees with most of my suggestions but sometimes we differ.

Opinions on literature are so subjective – sometimes (not too often), I even disapprove of some of his own pieces. We try to maintain a low turn-around time, even if it means reading at nights or during lunch breaks.

3. Who else do you work with? What do they bring to the table? How did you all come together?

We are a team of scientists /academics who are also friends that share a passion for the art of the written word.
Ajay Vishwanathan, a virologist working with HIV and AIDS, is the Chief Editor, and also the founder of FR. He is the brain and creative spirit behind the website design.   He keeps a very low profile – will suffer a cardiac arrest if I said more about him.   Bindu Viswanathan, a biostatistician, is also an extremely talented photographer and social worker who has given us some great pictures for FR. And Girija Shankar, PhD candidate in sociology, helps us select from the published material to find potential nominees for various awards. Finally me — I’m a Molecular Biologist. As you can see, none of us have a literary background but love to discuss great books, a well written piece or even a lovely turn of phrase.

4. You attended Michigan Tech, where the PANK staff teach and study. Did you like Tech, Houghton, the UP? How did you cope with the snow? Will you ever come back to the UP?

Oh, I LOVED Houghton. My years there were absolutely memorable. I think it is one of the most beautiful places I have lived in. How many grad students can boast of an office overlooking a pristine lake with a fantastic view of ski slopes on the other side?!   The Porkies, Copper Harbor, Covered Road, Winter Carnival, the fall colors… I could go on a massive nostalgia trip here!   I didn’t just cope with it –     I loved every moment of it (not counting a few -30F blizzards).   I come from Mumbai, India where we only dreamed of snow. I would love to visit the UP again. I’m sure Tech has grown a lot since I left [hopefully, Mesaba ticket prices have gone down!].

5. How does someone with a degree in biology find his way to editing a literary magazine?

I have always harbored a passion for language. For many reasons I just never turned to it as a full time career.     I am lucky that now I have the opportunity to pursue my research, which I enjoy and also dabble in something I have always loved.

6. What do you do for a living, when you’re not editing, that is?

As I said, I am a researcher. I analyze various strains of viruses including HIV at the molecular level, to discover new ones and study their evolution and relationship to one another.

7. What are you looking for in submissions?

Honesty, simplicity and good prose – pieces that come from the heart.   That and accessibility. If we have to read it three times just to make sense of the piece, then it is not for us. We get submissions, especially poetry,   sometimes even from well-published authors that are so abstract that we spend a lot of time trying analyze the lines, thinking – are we missing greatness somewhere?   What is this person getting at? Is it us? We’ve stopped doing that now– call us escapist, but it’s just easier to pass on a highly convoluted piece.

8. What is the primary flaw in the submissions you reject?

Some people try too hard, deck it up with so many colorful analogies that they take me away from the story… the work begins to sound contrived and loses its charm. Some pieces are well written but seem to have no point to them or fizzle out at the end as if the author ran out of steam.

9. Other than PANK, what is your favorite magazine?

Oh, there are so many terrific ones out there. Pindeldyboz, Narrative, Thieves Jargon. I also love Boxcar, elimae, Alba – their simplicity is striking.

10. The Foundling Review and PANK meet at a bar, have drinks, hit it off. Do they a. go to a sleazy motel and have a one night stand or b. make out in the bar but leave it at that or c. exchange phone numbers, start dating, and live happily ever after? Show your math.

Hmm–I cannot really visualize that happening – FR is usually the designated driver.   However, FR just might indulge in some harmless flirting with PANK.

11. Are you also a writer? If so, does your editorial work inform your writing?

I do dabble in writing on occasion, but I would consider it a stretch to call myself a writer.

12. What is your favorite curse word?

Nowadays ‘Pass’ 🙂

11. Looking ahead, are there any new projects on the horizon for The Foundling Review? Are there any plans to publish print issues?

We certainly want to publish print issues but right now, we want to keep our goals modest and maintain a level of sustenance before we look further. It is so easy to take up or expect too much and then just burn out. We want to start a ‘Gallery’ section that includes invited reprints, anecdotes and inspiring notes from established or recognized writers, and   a   guest commentary where we will invite guest writers or editors (could be you!) to comment on the works in a particular issue.

12. You have a beautiful website. How did you develop your aesthetic?

Thank you. Again, we wanted to avoid frills and fancies. Make it easy on the eye, and accessible even to casual readers. The creativity there is all Ajay. Also, thanks to all our photographer friends!

13. What’s the most important thing a good literary magazine should do?

Expose everyone to the beauty of words, the lovely ring they make when they are strung well together.   A good magazine can be inspiring and get people to read more. Sometimes, I go to sites that are gorgeous and compelling to look at but have just a teaser, forcing me to pay to read the entire work. That disappoints me.

14. What is your guiltiest pop culture pleasure?

Watching endless reruns of Friends, even the really bad episodes (there are a stunningly high number of those)

15. What question should we have asked?

I think 15 is a perfect number for an interview!