What is A Public Space?

- A well designed literary journal that doesn't feel like a literary journal
- A collection of eminently readable short stories, essays, poems and interviews

I've had A Public Space — the new lit mag project by Brigid Hughes of Paris Review editorial fame — in my hands for a couple weeks now. At 16.5cm x 21.5cm, it's a squat, easy-to-hold tome with a full-color cover and two-colors in between. Distinctly modern in it's design and typography, it snubs other serif-centric literary magazines like Harpers by seamlessly mixing a soft, round-bodied sans with classic serif. And I'm not just talking about the interplay between headers and body text — A Public Space moves typographically to and fro depending on the context of the story or interview. For example, there are the multi-page interviews with Haruki Murakami set in full page-width serif contrasting with the short and punchy Masaya Nakahara interview set in two column sans.

The stories are good. Sharp. I read all of them. Well, most of them. Which is more than I can say of my general experience with most literary magazines. Of particular interest is the Focus section, edited by Roland Kelts of Kuhaku "Father Hunting" fame. He rounds up Murakami, Motoyuki Shibata and Nakahara in a tight and illuminating peek into modern Japanese lit through interviews, translations and never before published in English fiction. From the Nakahara interview:

"You recently announced that you're going to stop writing. Do you think you'll miss it?"

I never had anything I wanted to say to begin with and I'm completely uninterested in what I'm writing about. Doing something I don't want to do has taken a toll on my mental health. It has brought me to a lower level as a human being. I'm tired of it. If I don't quit, I feel like I'll drop dead. I really want to live in another country. I hate Japan.

What is it with modern Japanese writers and running away from Japan?

Other juicy bits include the "Illustrated Guide to Copper Extraction in Bungham Mining District" with note-like pencil scrawlings on the fascinating world of copper. And from "Tutor" by Katia Kapovich in the poetry section (which is overall a great group of selections in my opinion):

My CV would be incomplete without mention
of this Russian kid with Down syndrome
whom I taught English.

So run off and grab this sucker. It's solid, well designed and damn entertaining.