Oldest is a Matter of Pride

In the spirit of Harper’s Readings, I offer this trivia about literary journals. Below are the journals that use the adjective “oldest” as a badge of pride. And no — despite readers’ assumptions that only one journal would use the term “oldest,” with others using only “older” or “not as young as most,” quite a few use creative qualifications to lay claim to that trophy of all trophies: the geriatric-est literary journal.

• Northwest Review: “among the nation’s oldest”
• Carolina Quarterly “one of the oldest”
• Prairie Schooner: “One of the oldest literary journals”
• Southwest Review: “third oldest quarterly”
• Chattahoochee Review: “Atlanta’s oldest literary magazine”
• Poetry: “oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world”
• Poet Lore: “oldest continuously published poetry magazine”
• The Pinch: “one of the oldest literary journals in the country”
• Catch: “oldest continuously published student-run literary journal in the country”
• Watershed: “one of the oldest continuously published student-edited literary magazines in the nation”
• Sonora Review: “oldest student run”
• Red Cedar Review: “the oldest undergraduate-run publication”
• Reed Magazine: “one of the oldest student publications west of the Mississippi”
• 13th Moon: “oldest continuously published literary journal founded in the second wave of feminism”
• New River Journal: “oldest literary journal devoted to digital writing”
• The Blue Moon Review: “the oldest living literary magazine online”
• Columbia Review: “oldest college literary magazine in the nation”
• North America Review: “the nation’s oldest literary magazine”
• Harvard Advocate: “oldest continuously published college literary magazine”
• Sewanee Review: “oldest continuously published literary quarterly”
• Yale Review: “oldest literary quarterly”