With the community still under occupation, it is increasingly important to protect places where our voices and creative expression can be heard without censorship or financial threats. When the nationally recognized Water~Stone Review lost its funding, it seemed as though yet another literary space for public expression would die. But WSR’s team has a plan to move forward. And they hope Minnesota’s creative literary community will continue to stand with it.
Its champion, Executive Editor Meghan Maloney-Vinz, is leading that fight to keep the 28-year-old publication alive. It’s hard to state the importance of the WSR, but it’s easy to note how many legendary writers have graced its pages, including Jane Hirshfield, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Michael Chabon Sven Birkerts, Charles Wright, Ross Gay, Galway Kinnell, Adrian Matejka, Rick Bass, Jim Harrison, Camille Dungy, and Sheila O’Connor.
In this brief interview, Maloney-Vinz talks about the road ahead and what we can do to help the WSR rebuild.
What is the status of Water~Stone Review?
Meghan: Last spring, funding for Water~Stone Review was permanently cut from the Hamline University budget. As one of the longest-running teaching literary journals in the state, we were unwilling to let the journal go down without a fight. Many of you rallied alongside us, writing letters to Hamline University and sharing posts on social media. Thankfully, we were able to successfully petition to recuperate some of that budget to finish the issue in production at the time of this cut. I am so happy to report that Vol. 28 was completed and is now available for purchase on our website.
While we were able to negotiate for funding to finish the issue in production at the time, we are currently at $0 and need to generate funding and support from our beloved community to keep this journal and its lofty initiatives alive. This October, WSR did not open its annual submission period. Instead, we are taking this year to reevaluate our structure and operations, and to mobilize.
What is your vision for its future?
Meghan: While I’m not completely sure of WSR’s future–so much of it depends on the funding we receive–I am sure that I want the journal, and/or the work done in its wake, to continue the mission and spirit it has established by creating space to: 1) publish emerging and established authors, 2) cultivate considerate editors, and 3) engage with community around us, literary and beyond.
Hopefully, this means the continuation of the print journal AND other initiatives, like podcast series, or regional reading series, events with other local and national journals and literary organizations, finding partnerships in the Twin Cities and nationally for Hamline students who have worked in the creative writing editorial space, WSR workshops in writing, editing, zines, journals, content creation, etc., for our community members… I’m excited to lean into whatever our community wants to see or create in this space and to empower new writers and editors to take that lead.
How can people help support you and the Review?
Meghan:
- General Crowd Sourcing: You can donate to the WSR Fund. Right now, our projected annual operating expenses are $25K . Your generous donation will help us continue to publish award-winning writing, teach and train aspiring editors, and support our new community-centered media and publishing goals. No donation is too small!
- Letters of Support: Did you write the former university interim president, provost, or Board of Trustees last spring? If so, share your letters with us. It’s important for us to collect and document these letters and preserve them in the WSRarchives. Didn’t write then but have something to say now? Same request. Share your letters with us at wa*********@*****ne.edu.
- Piper Funding Week: We also hope to participate in a concentrated fundraising campaign with other distinctive campus organizations and projects the week of March 30, 2026, and we’re looking into hosting a benefit event in conjunction with that effort. Look for more information about that coming in the new year.
- Major/Corporate Gifts and In-kind Donations: If you are interested in presenting a major gift or know of funding opportunities for WSRto pursue that could yield enough funding to open work toward an endowment, please contact me directly at, mv*****@*****ne.edu. Generous gifts ($50K+) would ensure that operating costs are secure each year, new endeavors can be pursued, and instead of fundraising each year, we can get back to the work of curating homes for good writing, teaching the next generation of careful editors, and being informed literary citizens instead of fundraising each year. Similarly, if you have a skillset or expertise in production, printing, or anything else you think could help the cause or positively affect the bottom line of operations, please reach out to me.
- Share this request:We hear from many of you on social media. As a community-centric literary journal, we’ve long championed acts of mutual aid. Even if you can’t donate today, please share our request with people in your networks. We will not be idle as cuts to funding for literary arts and education programs are made. It’s up to all of us to support each other.
Your work at the Review has been so vital. What inspires you to keep going?
Meghan: I am in the business of building artifacts. I think books–our stories, our poems, our essays–contain evidence of our humanity. Where are our words without the vessels that hold them, that we pass along and down to the next generation, that survive the move, the fire, the flood? I am completely devoted to building these vessels, these little houses of our souls, and the community and infrastructures necessary to sustain that practice.
So many Water~Stone Review folks have gone on to do great things. Who are some examples? Was there anything in the education process that you think helped people see publishing differently?
Meghan: I know writers have gone on to do bigger things, but I don’t feel any responsibility for that; literary journals are meant as stepping stones in that pursuit of building of writing careers. If we’re doing our job right, all of our writers go on to do great things.
Our students who work with WSR as screeners, editorial board members, or assistant editors get first-hand experience in the back side of publishing. From the writing aspect, they develop the analytical skills to determine whether or not a piece is working, and what makes it publishable. Being on the other side also allows them to see just how much good writing we get, and to understand that good work, even great work, sometimes just isn’t the right fit for a collection with limited space. They come away from the process better equipped to submit work and to take critique and rejection in stride. All of them go out into the world as better prepared writers, editors, publishers, and administrators as a result of this work.
- Daniel Bylund–library marketing manager with Portland Public Libraries
- Halee Lasché–Concision Literary Journal and Beauty School Editions
- Zach Czaia– One Subject Press
- Ralph Pennel, Justin Maxwell, Rebecca Weaver, Paige Riehl Midway Journal’s founding editors
- Mubanga Kalimamukwento–Ubwali Literary Magazine
- Didi Koka, Jenn Sisko, Jennifer Filardo, Lacey Buchda, Lisa Higgs, Steve Merino, Sam Stokely–editors for Red Bird Press
- Zoey Gulden–Milkweed Bookstore + Warehouse Manager
and many more examples.
Thank you, Meghan, for these wonderful ideas!
Meghan Maloney-Vinz was a public-school educator before pursuing her MFA in creative writing at Hamline University. Since completing her degree in 2007, she has served as managing and executive editor of both Water~Stone Review and Runestone Journal and has taught in the education and creative writing programs at Hamline. In her spare time she is the poetry and managing editor of the Under Review, makes books, watches sports, and tries to keep tabs on her wife and two children, all of whom are taller than she’ll ever be.
