{"id":12309,"date":"2026-04-28T16:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T16:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/?page_id=12309"},"modified":"2026-04-28T16:07:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T16:07:23","slug":"rachel-gold-and-student-editors-talk-the-newest-issue-of-sinister-wisdom-lesbian-stories-in-literary-salon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/rachel-gold-and-student-editors-talk-the-newest-issue-of-sinister-wisdom-lesbian-stories-in-literary-salon\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Gold and Student Editors Talk the Newest Issue of Sinister Wisdom, \u201cLesbian Stories,\u201d in Literary Salon"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Tachau \u201827<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Spread<\/figure>
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In the last Literary Salon of March, Professor Rachel Gold was joined by two of her student interns and co-editors, Ella Stern \u201927 and Beja Pu\u0161k\u00e1\u0161ov\u00e1 \u201926 to talk about the newest issue of Sinister Wisdom<\/em>. The quarterly literary and art journal is the oldest lesbian venue for creative work, founded in 1976 by Harriet Desmoines and Catherine Nicholson. Since its founding, Sinister Wisdom<\/em> has welcomed a handful of prominent lesbian and feminist writers, such as Adrienne Rich, Michelle Cliff, and Audre Lorde \u2014 the former two serving as co-editors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Gold began the evening with a brief overview of the journal\u2019s history and current work. Aside from promoting multi-generational lesbian voices through themed issues, Sinister Wisdom<\/em> runs a book review column, the Wild Shrew Literary Review<\/em>. This bi-weekly community newsletter includes an art calendar and promotes Sinister Wisdom<\/em>\u2019s \u201cSapphic Classics\u201d series, a project that involves republishing out of print books from lesbian authors. The journal takes editorial interns to assist with sorting through the slush pile, voting on submissions, retrieving archival materials, and interviewing past and current editors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI saw the best side of it \u2014 the variety of voices we had,\u201d Stern said.\u00a0 \u201cIntergenerationality is something typically missing in queer spaces.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was tasked with the archival work for Sinister Wisdom<\/em>\u2019s 50th anniversary, interviewing past editors such as Judith Katz, Prof. Gold\u2019s former professor, and sorting through 1970s footage of lesbian mothers raising their kids. The project proved to be valuable in her academic life as she considers intergenerationality as documented through oral histories.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Prof.<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Gold highlighted the vast span of ages represented amongst writers in the journal\u2019s 138th issue, \u201cLesbian Stories.\u201d The age of the writers spanned from 16 to 86, while the editors ranged from Macalester students to Prof. Gold, Katz, and established playwright Penny Mickelbury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis issue pushed the bounds on what a lesbian story is,\u201d Prof. Gold explained. Her and Pu\u0161k\u00e1\u0161ov\u00e1 highlighted the diversity of subjects, from the healthcare industry to internal revelations of identity; the submissions were not purely romantic.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI developed trust in the editors,\u201d Pu\u0161k\u00e1\u0161ov\u00e1 said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to know that lesbians aren\u2019t excluding other lesbians, like trans lesbians.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her internship with Sinister Wisdom<\/em> revolved largely around editorial work, such as sorting through the slush pile of submissions and voting on possible stories. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting to think \u2018what do we want to publish,\u2019\u201d Pu\u0161k\u00e1\u0161ov\u00e1 continued, drawing on her experience reading submissions and sending in her own work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Prof.<\/figure>
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Prof. Gold ran through an overview of the publishing process: every piece is either solicited or taken from the pool of submissions, line edited, and formatted \u2014 a difficult step for some pieces, such as a zine that was accepted into the \u201cLesbian Stories\u201d issue. Thanks to Submittable, the works that are not accepted remain in the pool of submissions for consideration in later issues. After an undesirable cover was proposed by the journal\u2019s publisher, Prof. Gold\u2019s partner crafted the front graphic: a collaged scene depicting the diversity of generations represented within the pages. As for publicity, Sinister Wisdom<\/em> hosted a live launch on YouTube where the journal\u2019s new and established authors were welcome to read.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinister Wisdom<\/em> celebrated its 50th anniversary and the publication of its newest issue \u201cGolden\u201d on Zoom last Tuesday. The journal hosts several Zoom events<\/a>, serving as a consistent literary community.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Words<\/em> would like to thank Professor Rachel Gold and student editors Ella Stern and Beja Pu\u0161k\u00e1\u0161ov\u00e1 for taking the time out of their Wednesday evening to answer student questions.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Tachau \u201827 In the last Literary Salon of March, Professor Rachel Gold was joined by two of her student interns and co-editors, Ella Stern \u201927 and Beja Pu\u0161k\u00e1\u0161ov\u00e1 \u201926 to talk about the newest issue of Sinister Wisdom. The quarterly literary and art journal is the oldest lesbian venue for creative work, founded […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12309","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12321,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12309\/revisions\/12321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}