Issue 13 is when I first began reading Sundog Lit, but Issue 15 is a favorite of mine. There was a special kind of love I had for Aimy Tien’s for the love of goats that really solidified by love for this magazine’s style for word play, imagery and a great narrative to follow. I enjoyed reading this over and over because it incorporates so many different forms inside of one piece. It definitely changed the way I looked at nonfiction and storybuilding.
— Amber D. Dodd, Assistant Nonfiction Editor
I’m new to the Sundog Lit team, but I’ve been a reader and fan for many years, long before I was blessed to see my work in Issue 15. After I joined as an assistant nonfiction editor, I was involved with our current issue (17) and would have to name it my favorite. I love everything in this issue, from poem to prose to cover art, but working with Evan Senie on his piece was the cherry on top. I tell people this story of my Sundog Lit journey as a reminder that dreams come true!
— Hayli May Cox, Assistant Nonfiction Editor
I don’t relish being “that guy,” but here, I have no choice. My favorite issue is #12, because that’s the issue that contains a piece of my own fiction. Although I had a few stories picked up prior to Sundog, this was my first acceptance awarded by a team, instead of a sole proprietor, and that felt significant. I don’t return to issue #12 because of my own story (although, I’m not the only one that takes a circuit around my past writing, especially when the submitting game grows crushing, right?). I stop back to that issue occasionally because of everyone else in there. It contains names that I admire (Lori Sambol Brody and Kristen Arnett, for example), names of authors who have built the sorts of writing careers I’m working towards, and a little reassurance that, however lonely writing can be, we’ve got a pretty fantastic interconnected community to rely on. Sundog has a nice tradition of welcoming former contributors onto its staff, and I’m so grateful for issue #12 for those opportunities as well.
— Eric Rasmussen, Fiction Editor
One of my fave issues I worked on was Issue 17—partially because it was in the middle of the pandemic and having Sundog Lit submissions to read was a bright spot in my week. Another one I hold close to my heart is Issue 16, because I got to encounter some friendly names in the submission pile and work one-on-one in editing some of the poems. I remember working on this issue so vividly. When I read the roster of poets, I feel fuzzy kinship and community.
— Jennifer Huang, Former Poetry Editor
I love all the issues that we put out during my tenure as Sundog’s nonfiction editor, but I want to highlight issue 15 because that’s maybe the one I spoke about the least on social media at the time due to it releasing while I was on book tour. Harrison and Amy’s essays are so representative of what I wanted to accomplish with my time at Sundog Lit: these are essays about being queer, yes, but they are also queer essays in their playful, ecstatic choices of form and pacing and repetition language. Issue 15’s poetry section is amazing too, and look at who was published in the fiction section: current assistant editors Hali and Ferris! Sundog Lit has a long tradition of contributors joining the masthead, and I love how directly Issue 15 exemplifies that!
— Camellia-Berry Grass, Former Nonfiction Editor