After the inaugural issue of the Whitefish Review hit bookstores, copies sold to almost half the states in the nation via its web site. "Our reach has grown in just a short time," notes editor-in-chief Brian Schott. "It is humbling considering our low-key start."
The compilation of mountain literature and art just released its second issue, featuring 32 works. "This issue was a little harder to do," muses Schott. "I think the initial euphoria of the idea has passed, and it seems like a little more work. I mean we are trying to do this in our "spare time."
This second issue of the Whitefish Review fielded submissions from a more geographically diverse area than the first issue. Writers and artists hailed from 12 different states. Their diversity warbles, waltzes, and wiggles on the page in a combination that goes down well with morning coffee.
It is anchored by known names--two authors and one photographer. The cover features a photograph of snowy railroad tracks by Whitefish’s Heath Korvola. Best known for his wildlife writing in National Geographic, Doug Chadwick from Whitefish writes about the wolverine’s ravenous jaws in Bone-Eaters. In the issue’s interview, the California- and Colorado-based Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness, explains how she walked out of her PhD writing program and carved her own writing niche.
Currently, the Whitefish Review survives on private donations. But Schott is considering non-profit status to access art grants. "I get a lot of pay-off right now without getting any money from the project, but at some point you have to make choices about your time," he says.
But Schott points to the purpose for the project—boosting unpublished writers. In this issue, an 11-year-old writer is published with Doug Chadwick and Pam Houston. He adds, "That’s got to give her a lot of confidence."
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