The Paterson Literary Review (PLR), edited by Maria Mazziotti Gillan since 1979, is huge in every sense of the word. It is an anthology of poets and fiction writers both famous and new. Brimming with energy and vitality, PLR publishes real work for real people. PLR also sponsors the Allen Ginsberg Awards.
Allen Ginsberg, Philip Levine, Galway Kinnell, William Stafford, Ruth Stone, Sonia Sanchez, Laura Boss, Marge Piercy, David Ray, and Diane di Prima have all been published in the Review.
The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College—unique for the number, variety and excellence of the services it offers and its connections with an inner-city, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic community—has been accorded international recognition for many of its activities, including the Paterson Literary Review,
The Distinguished Poets Series, Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards, Paterson Poetry Prize, Paterson Fiction Prize, Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, cable TV show POETRYWORKS/USA, New Jersey Poetry Calendar and New Jersey Poetry Resource Book are all part of the Poetry Center's reach into the poetry community. It is one of the most active poetry centers in the region, and possibly the country, reaching approximately 80,000 people annually and earning a reputation for presenting high-quality programs, drawing upon a vast network of professional poets.
PLR is listed on NewPages.com which has news, information, and guides to literary magazines, independent publishers, creative writing programs, alternative periodicals, indie bookstores, writing contests, and more.
Praise For the Paterson Literary Review
A great poet once said that art is not life because ‘Art has its own dynamic. It is a runaway train which society either boards, or does not board.’ Editor Maria Mazziotti Gillan decided from the beginning that the Paterson Literary Review would board that train and bring with it all voices, all people, not just a few—not only the dominant cultures, but each writer who has a genuine story to tell. We thank her for an all-inclusive literary magazine with a high degree of excellence—a journal that is global as well as deeply personal.
- Grace Cavalieri, Producer & Host: “The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress”
Paterson Literary Review is huge in every sense of the word…an anthology of poets and fiction writers both famous and unknown in every issue. Where else could a schlepp like me rub verbal elbows with the likes of Diane DiPrima, Marge Piercy, and Jim Daniels, as well as the occasional ex-girlfriend? It has the quality of a raucous and unwieldy wedding reception, where anything can happen and usually does—the drunken uncle as well as the five-year-old little darling in her step dance outfit, all of them welcome, all of them happily vital and fully alive.
- Joe Weil, Poet & Editor, Black Swan Review
Powerful, provocative and profound. If Allen Ginsberg were alive and could only subscribe to one journal, he would pick Paterson Literary Review.
- Vivian Shipley, Editor, Connecticut Review
“The Paterson Literary Review…Real poems for real people, poetry to enrich our everyday lives.”
- Leslie Heywood, Poet, Professor
The Paterson Literary Review is the nuts and bolts of the American literary movement, necessary to keeping the scene real and alive. Maria Mazziotti Gillan pulls together some of the strongest work from established and young writers to create one of the best, if not “the best,” literary reviews in the entire world. The Paterson Literary Review is the true pulse of American poetry!
- M. L. Liebler, Poet and Director of Metro Detroit Writers Literary Organization
Exciting, intriguing. The Paterson Literary Review is one of the most interesting, beautiful magazines around today. I love the variety, the inventiveness, and the emotional intensity of much of the work as well as the mix of familiar names and new voices. The reviews are always fascinating as are the poems that stay in my mind like irresistible music
- Lyn Lifshin, Poet
The Paterson Literary Review has evolved from an 8 1/2x11 small town school magazine to a trim, 6x9” world class professional journal. Nay, much more than that—a veritable book, whose heft is full of weighty words—poetry, stories, essays, reviews, photographs, art—that reach out across the globe permitting a place for the best of the essence of world literature. It’s even more than multicultural/multiethnic/multinational; it’s a kind of little United Nations, where the sinew and muscle and spirit and heart and soul of inspiration can be found. The newly discovered unpublished writer discovers himself alongside Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners.
- Stanley H. Barkan, Poet/Publisher, Cross-Cultural Communications
For twenty five years, Editor/Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan has consistently demonstrated her gift for selecting the strongest work of a poet.
- Laura Boss, Poet & Editor, LIPS Magazine
In his poem “The Layers,” Stanley Kunitz observed: “Oh, I have made myself a tribe/ out of my true affections,/ and my tribe is scattered!” For a quarter of a century, the Paterson Literary Review has been home for a variety of voices singing the lyric poetry of their kind and culture. The tribes are not scattered but gathered in one consistently high-quality, award-winning literary publication. The language of love, loss and longing forms the foundation of every true affection so passionately and reverently offered in each PLR.
- Charles H. Johnson, Identity Theory poetry editor, Home News Tribune poetry reviewer and author of Tunnel Vision
Allen Ginsberg may have seen the best writers of his generation destroyed. But by reading these insightful anecdotes, it’s obvious the top minds of our generation’s poetry scene remain intact. Poet Editor Maria Gillan has the courage to present both sides of Ginsberg. The one most people knew—the activist poet who encouraged personal freedom and created a space for poetry based more on oral tradition. And the one I knew—the rock star poet so beloved by his fans, that he was always leaving the event with them before it was my turn to read.
- Hal Sirowitz, Former Poet Laureate of Queens, New York
PATERSON LITERARY REVIEW
Published by The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College
One College Boulevard, Paterson, New Jersey 07505
Editor: Maria Mazziotti Gillan