A year ago now, on September 15, 2024, sneaker wave magazine published our very first true story, Jane Myers’s haunting, lyrical "Bleeding." Since then, we’ve published so many stories that I’ve lost count. If you want to see how many, go to our Archives and start reading. Spoiler alert: You’ll be reading a for quite a while.
I will admit to having an impulsive nature, especially when it comes to creative endeavors, and I came up with the idea for sneaker wave magazine on a whim, while I was in Forest Grove, Oregon, attending the June 2024 residency of Pacific University's Master of Fine Arts in Writing, where I’ve been teaching creative nonfiction for the last fifteen years. One day at lunch, some nonfiction students were talking about how there weren’t enough literary magazines out there dedicated to publishing exclusively creative nonfiction. These students were writing at a high level—I knew it, they knew it—and they wanted more opportunities to present their work to a national audience! I probably should have been more realistic about the lack of opportunity. In the arts, since I can remember, there has always been more people making art than there have been venues through which to bring this art to an audience. An old professor of mine used to describe this imbalance as “forty dogs fighting over one porkchop.” I think he was talking about poets, but the idea applies to any creative writer.
So I said, “Hey, let’s start a nonfiction magazine of our own.” The students liked the idea, even though they probably thought I was full of crap, which I often am, and from that moment forward, I dedicated myself to putting together a creative nonfiction magazine.
My guess is, under normal circumstances, we’d be looking at a considerable stretch of time to develop a literary magazine. As with many things, I don’t know for sure, but I’m thinking the normal magazine startup might take a full year to get all the necessary ducks in a row before publishing a first issue. sneaker wave magazine’s first issue appeared literally ten weeks after that luncheon conversation in Forest Grove, Oregon.
And here we are. Celebrating one full year in business!
I would like to thank our wonderful editorial staff for the countless hours they have devoted to producing this magazine every week. Executive Editor McKenzie Watson-Fore, Managing Editor Angela Wang, and Editor at Large Julie Levine: you guys rock!
I would also like to thank Pacific MFA alum Katie Stokes for coming up with our name.
Thanks, too, to all the Pacific MFA students and alums who donated their magnificent work to this magazine while we were getting up and running. We didn’t open for general submissions until March 2025, which means for many months every single piece we published was written by a student or a former student of Pacific MFA. I think this speaks volumes about the quality of this writing program. Our Pacific MFA writers are top-notch, and the archives of sneaker wave magazine prove it. The program is of course completely separate from this magazine, but we could not have gotten off the ground and stayed off the ground without our strong ties with Pacific MFA. If you’re interested in the program, please consider attending an online information session on Wednesday, September 24, from 4:00 until 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. Pacific MFA Information Session Signup
Last but definitely not least, thanks to our many readers and subscribers, paid and free. Your continued support makes all of the effort involved in sneaker wave magazine worthwhile!
I can’t wait to see what the next year brings.
With gratitude,
Mike Magnuson, Editor in Chief.
Yay!! I’m so happy that my favorite magazine is one year in 🤩
Congratulations on a magnificent first year!