Six Questions for W.T. Pfefferle, Editor, Red Booth Review

Red Booth Review publishes poetry, photos and art.

(Ceased publication)

SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

W.T. Pfefferle: Primarily we just look for exquisite and exacting poems, with sharp imagery. Narrative is great, but too many narrative poets don't seem to have the gift of concision. For photos and artwork, we want startling images, beautiful and even alarming. We want to put our eyes on something we've seen before, but not quite in this particular light. 

SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

WTP: Submissions that come in that turn us off are usually just the wrong kind of stuff for our magazine: fiction of any kind, children's poetry, erotica, etc. Serious poetry and art is always a turn on, even when it's not exactly right for our forum. 

SQF: Will you publish a submission an author posted on a personal blog?

WTP: We like to publish work exclusively, but don't mandate it. If someone has a great piece on their blog and they send it to us, we're not going to track it down to make sure we're the only place that hosts it. Nearly all of our work, though, comes directly from poets who are looking for a larger readership than a personal blog. 

SQF: RBR went on hiatus for a while and came back in 2011. What would you like poets to know about the “new” Red Booth Review?

WTP: We're exactly the same. Many personal considerations got in the way of the magazine for a time. 

SQF: What has being an editor taught you about writing?

WTP: It's taught me personally to work harder. Great work that comes in makes me envious. How did that poet do that? How can I get some of that magic? 

SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

WTP: What are you doing about the glut of art online with no real readership? Well, we're adding to it. But we're trying to publish a certain kind of powerful, brief, and insightful set of poems that will hopefully bring readers back.

Thank you, W.T.. We all appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.

NEXT POST: 3/28--Six Questions for April Michelle Bratten, Editor, Up The Staircase Quarterly