VQR

I got a chance last week to read at the Virginia Festival of the Book, a five-day, 250-author extravaganza that left me wishing I lived closer to Charlottesville.

I also got a chance to spend a day at the offices of my favorite literary magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, or “VQR” to those who love it.

VQR, who hosted me at the Festival, is the kind of magazine that makes me do a double-take every time I see my byline in it. Every issue has a stop-you-in-your-tracks cover. And every quarter, underneath that cover, VQR offers up a new selection of writing, poetry, photography, and graphics that will not only revive your cardiac function but also your soul.

But what amazed me most this past week was learning how VQR gets published. I fully expected expansive offices filled with Jeffersonian antiques in the lush setting of University of Virginia greenery. Yes, Thomas Jefferson did design the rooms that house VQR. But there are only three rooms. And they are filled not with desks and editors but mostly with books and old issues. Those books and old issues outnumber the people in the offices, of which there are only four (the editor, the managing editor, the assistant to the editors, and the circulation manager), by a ratio of at least 100 to one.

Four people put out that magazine. Four people. It takes more people than that to fill your coffee order at the local Starbucks.

But when you talk to those four people, especially Ted Genoways, the editor, and Kevin Morrissey, the managing editor, you can see why VQR won the National Magazine Award for general excellence in its category last year and has been nominated for the same award this year.

They are obsessed with writing, quality writing. Over lunch, we talked about Belgian beers, civil war history, and even blog management. But nothing, nothing, made Ted’s words more energized or more poetic than our discussions about good writing.

So take a look at the new Spring issue. There’s work by Philip Caputo, Nadine Gordimer, and Robert Olen Butler, and Ted has, yet again, written a beautiful editor’s column. There’s even a new essay by me, “The Gross-Out Factor.”

VQR is gorgeous. It’s an amazing read. It’s one of my favorites.

Comments

[Tim]

We will look for the VQR upon your recommendation. Anyone who appreciates the charms of Charlottesville (and the subtlety of Belgian beer)automatically carries high credibility!

Not too far over the mountain is Mount Crawford, VA. For the omnivorous and adventurous reader, a must-see attraction is the Green Valley Book Fair. http://www.gvbookfair.com. It's worth the drive.

We take our kids there every year, and promising to be frugal going in, end up walking out with bags of books.

All the best.

[Mark Manley]

Dr Chen,
Just finished your book and wanted to find some way to show my appreciation. I am a physician of 15 years in anesthesiology, yet began my training in end of life care when my wife was diagnosed with metastatic cancer nine years ago. Her treatment and ultimate death were the most difficult times of my life. If there was any positive for me, it was gaining a tremendous respect for the importance of caring for the person, rather than the disease, especially in terminal cases. Your book truly touched me, as a physician and as caregiver. I will enthusiastically recommend it to all my colleagues.

[Peter Zeldow]

Pauline -

Just completed Final Exam and wanted to tell you how intelligent, compassionate, and beautifully written it is. I only recently leaned that you were in Chicago earlier this year. I regret missing your talk and the opportunity to say hello. Congratulations!

[Grace T]

Hi Dr. Chen,

Just wanted to say I enjoyed your seminar at the Muse.

I'm waiting for my mother to finish reading your book and can't wait to get to it!

Congratulations!

Grace

[Anna]

Dear Dr. Chen:

I saw your book spotlighted by Ho Chie on TaiwaneseAmerican.org and purchased a copy as I was searching for summer reading to keep me occupied in the small trips ahead. Unfortunately (or not), my plan backfired: I read your entire book in two days and haven't even left for my trips.

I don't know how to let you know how much I appreciate your reflections. I approached your work largely as a Taiwanese American woman who has always craved a voice, whether through television, films, visual culture, politics, or literature; partly as someone who was pre-med once-upon-a-time and is watching fellow recent grads as they begin their journeys into medical school; and partly simply as a human being who has never really had to face mortality but found this to be a beautiful space for contemplation.

At any rate, I hope I will get to meet you one day soon. I am so glad I had the opportunity to see a part of your work. Thank you!

[Sarah]

I am impressed with you're saying. I might have to check it out. Thanks.

[Kim T.]

Can I tell YOU a story? These are the first words that I ever heard from you on Morning Stories. I was downloading podcasts from NPR and that was one of the options. I then found your book on Amazon and ordered the audio version. I have only finished the first disc, and felt compelled to write. My sister passed away at age 58 in May 2008 of metastatic breast cancer (liver/lungs). As a nurse her whole career, her lifelong desire was to donate her body to science as a final contribution. In hearing you talk about your cadaver in med school I could only think about her decision. My sister was a heavy smoker; her breast cancer discovered in 2005, then cancer in the liver/lungs in 2007. It really was emotional for me listening to your story about the last time with the cadaver and you thanking her for her last contribution. Ironically, that was what was written in my sisters obit. - that her lifelong desire was to continue giving to the medical field and therefore donating her body to Duke University. After listening to the disc in the car, I came home in tears and announced to my husband and teenage kids that I too want to donate my body to science.