Dear Readers,
Happy 2nd birthday to The Indianapolis Review, and welcome to a really exciting Summer Issue! I’m so pleased to share with you an issue packed with amazing poetry and art. We are featuring an interview with the poet and activist Tatjana Rebelle, who is an important figure in the Indianapolis poetry world, and I’m so glad they took the time to share their wisdom with us. I also have to mention (in case some people are curious) that one of the featured artists in this issue is my cousin, Caroline Solmer. I reconnected with her on Facebook and have been really impressed with the amazing art she has been producing. We almost never see each other because she has lived in California all of her life, and I’m grateful to her for contributing to this issue!
I also want to encourage all Indianapolis area writers and artists to submit to our upcoming Indianapolis issue, which will feature artists and writers from the area. Your submission doesn’t need to be any particular theme, just submit by Oct. 1st. As a reminder, we are always open for regular submissions, and we accept submissions from artists and writers all over the world without any submission fee.
On that note, I want to thank everyone who donated to our fundraising campaign. We were able to pay our web fees and also make a nice donation to RAICES.
It is really incredible that The Indianapolis Review has been in existence now for two years! I am so grateful for all of your support and the support of my staff: Jen Bingham, Lydia Johnson, Ashley Mack-Jackson, Brianna Pike, and Rachel Sahaidachny. Big congrats to Rachel, who was just named Executive Director of The Indiana Writer’s Center! In addition, I want to congratulate Ashley on another successful trip to Brave New Voices with her young writers from the organization Word As Bond, which she founded with Rashida Greene in 2013.
If you were still interesting in purchasing a broadside, ‘zine or sticker, we have plenty more, and you are most welcome to do so. Looking back, maybe I went a little crazy with making so much stuff for this year’s fundraising. I had a lot of fun doing it, though! We will also be selling these products at this year’s Divedapper poetry carnival at Butler University, September 14th. I have heard that among the readers this year that will be there are Hanif Abdurraqib, Franny Choi, and Eduardo C. Corral! I hope to see you there!
Sincerely yours,
Natalie Solmer
Editor In Chief, The Indianapolis Review
Indianapolis, July 2019