introducing the sneaker wave team

by The Editors

NEW YEAR’S DAY is well in the rearview mirror now, but don’t let that stop us from wishing all our wonderful readers and writers a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2025.

We will resume publishing compelling true stories every Sunday morning on January 12, 2025, and we have been working with our talented group of writers to bring you a great lineup of stories and original voices over the next few months. We will have a table at the Associated Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Bookfair, held in the Los Angeles Convention Center, March 27 through 29. AND our first public submission window will open on March 30, 2025! In other words, we are stoked about the possibilities this year will bring.

sneaker wave magazine is immensely grateful for your support. We couldn’t have created our buzzworthy magazine (read: new nonfiction literary journal everyone is talking about!) without YOU. So at the top of our gratitude list is YOU! Thank YOU! We hope you keep reading!

We also need your help. This magazine takes countless hours to put together each week, and it’s a labor of love, no question of that, but in order to make this project sustainable, we need funds to cover our overhead and, most importantly, to pay the writers whose fantastic work we present each week. All of our content is free. We want to keep it that way because we don’t to place barriers between our stories and our readers. Still, if you haven’t considered a paid subscription to sneaker wave magazine at the monthly, yearly, or founder level, please consider becoming a paid subscriber now. Thanks!

Okay, then. Let’s meet the team at sneaker wave magazine, shall we?

Editor in Chief

Mike Magnuson has been teaching writing and coaching writers through the publication process for more than thirty years. His books include The Right Man for the Job, The Fire Gospels, Lummox, Heft on Wheels, and Bike Tribes. He lives on the north shore of Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago and has been a faculty member of Pacific University’s Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing for a long time.

“The team at sneaker wave magazine feels to me like a kickass band coming together and recognizing that the artistic chemistry is awesome, and when that happens, all the hard work turns into great music that’s fun to play. I couldn’t be working with better, more capable people. Thanks to McKenzie, Angela, and Julie for everything!”

Executive Editor

McKenzie Watson-Fore works at the most beloved liquor store in Boulder, Colorado. She writes about growing up evangelical and dating atheist boys and is currently at work on a memoir titled This Is Exactly What My Mother Was Afraid Of. McKenzie’s writing has been published or is forthcoming in The Offing, Belmont Story Review, Bridge Eight, and elsewhere. You can keep up with her here.

“This creative venture has been the most surprising and gratifying development of 2024, and I’m so excited to see what happens to sneaker wave in 2025! I’m also grateful to be back in tango classes after a long personal social dance drought, and I’m grateful for my wacky and brilliant collaborators of all stripes.”

Managing Editor

Angela Wang lives in Seattle with her family and is currently working on a book about graveyards and family history. She is a graduate of Pacific University’s Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of this new and exciting nonfiction magazine. Not only has sneaker wave been a surprising delight to join in 2024, I know that we as a team are just getting started. 2025 brings an exciting new chapter in our little magazine as we look to grow and expand our reach. In this upcoming year, I’m looking forward to reading and writing more. I’m also looking forward to playing tennis and skiing more—both of which constantly humble me. Bring on 2025!”

Editor at Large

Julie Levine started her career on the business side of book publishing and later moved to the creative side. She holds both a BA and MA in American Literature from New York University and completed an MFA in Creative Non Fiction from Pacific University last June. She writes personal essays about her childhood, her family, about losing things and about finding herself. She is currently working on a memoir.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from my fellow sneaker wavers. Starting a literary magazine with such a fabulous and talented group of writers has been one of the highlights of my year. In the new year I’m looking forward to publishing more outstanding stories from outstanding writers. I’m also looking forward to writing more, reading more, and cooking more. I’ve got a list of new movies I want to see in the first few months of the new year. And I’m looking forward to spending more quality time time with those I love.”

Thanks for all of your support!

Love,

The Editors