Denver Quarterly's Impact - Celebrating 60 Years in Print
Various editions of the Denver Quarterly next to each other. Courtesy photo.
This year, DU's own literary arts journal Denver Quarterly (DQ) hit a prestigious milestone: 60 years of continuous publication. DQ was founded in 1966 by novelist John Williams, whose aimed to provide a home for works of poetry, prose, visual art, book reviews, translations, photography, and other types of critical engagement. 60 years later, the journal remains one of the premier literary landscapes where emerging writers aspire to be published, alongside many esteemed and established authors and artists.
When asked about the significance of having remained in the printed medium for so long, English Professor W. Scott Howard had this to say, “Print journals are more sustainable than electronic journals when printers follow the best practices of the Lacey Act, which requires the use of papers produced from sustainably farmed and replenished forests; and when printers follow Green LEED standards. Our printer, Beacon Printing, follows those Lacey and Green LEED requirements for 100% environmentally sustainable operations. Beacon Printing is a local, family-owned and operated business, and we highly value our relationship with Terri Witt, the business owner and a member of the Cherokee Nation. By supporting Beacon Printing, we are also supporting all of the expertise that is essential for printing and distributing Denver Quarterly, from the typesetting and design and production skills to the mailing process, which includes the USPS and our distribution partners with whom we have contractual obligations. And then, of course, there are all of the inestimable benefits of keeping our journal in print for our readers, artists and writers, nationally and internationally! Denver Quarterly travels from person to person, place to place, and may be read without having to plug a device into electricity (as long as there's daylight or moonlight)."
To celebrate 60 years of print, the Denver Quarterly editorial team, including Howard (editor), Jane Huffman (associate editor), Francesca Lisette (managing editor), Gabriel Campos (editorial assistant), and Lydia McCann (editorial assistant), hosted a curated exhibition of significant textual and visual artifacts from its special collections archive. Notable works included correspondence from famous writers such as Alice Walker, John Ashbery, and Joan Didion. In addition, the exhibition included a behind-the-scenes look into the production process as it has evolved since 1966 and how the literary arts journal became a major player in twentieth-and twenty-first-century literatures of the avant-garde.
The archival exhibition entitled Facing Pages: 60 years of Denver Quarterly, emerged from a richly collaborative effort that began in the summer of 2019, led by Howard and his team, who sifted through of hundreds of boxes of the journal’s records going back to 1966, eventually indexing over 20 boxes of the journal’s correspondence, manuscripts, typescripts, artworks, and production materials with the hope that someday, they would be available for research. In the spring of 2023, the Denver Quarterly records finding aid was released, with the invaluable help of the staff of the Archives and Special Collections at the DU library.
In sync with that moment, our College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences announced a new undergraduate internship program funded by the Sturm Family Foundation that made it possible for Denver Quarterly to offer paid, short-term archival research internships during the following summers and between academic quarters (2023 – 2025). Two of their editorial assistants, Gabriel Campos and Lydia McCann, were selected for the critical project of building a micro-level documentation (4,197 citations) of the contents of every folder in all boxes of the Denver Quarterly Records. The plan, according to Howard, is to make that documentation available in 2026 via our electronic journal, FIVES: a companion to Denver Quarterly, so that Denver Quarterly’s history will be available for research visits at DU’s Archives and Special Collections.
The undergraduate internship program is just one element of a bright future for DQ. When asked about other plans, Howard describes wanting to build a diverse and dynamic community, so that the magazine will be in a position of strength when he steps down as editor. Other intentions include wanting to publish more DQ online folios via FIVES, which will include a new collection that will follow up on the archival exhibition from this past spring quarter, he also mentions plans for a podcast via FIVES, as well as providing short-term archival research grants that will support research projects for interested PhD and MA students in our editorial community who would like to study manuscripts, typescripts, and production materials in our Denver Quarterly records archival materials in special collections at the Anderson Academic Commons/DU Libraries.
Francesca Lisette, the managing editor of Denver Quarterly, summed up the journal’s illustrious legacy and future impact on the literary landscape succinctly:
“Denver Quarterly's 60th anniversary represents a moment to celebrate DU's beloved literary journal, particularly its forward-thinking approach, focus on innovative work, and international scope. DQ has a significant reputation in the literary landscape as a venue where emerging writers aspire to be published, alongside many esteemed and established authors and artists. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to see first-hand works by famous authors in the DQ archives, and explore the journal's legacy and contemporary vitality. This event marks a real crowning achievement given that many journals and small magazines last only a few issues, and that longevity is doubtless due to DQ's enduring commitment to building literary community.
