We were picnicking on the plains
when she emerged from the rushes.
She wore an apricot smock.
Her face was smeared with soot.
She said her name was Stina Groth.
A cloud of bats burst from the chimney
of a crumbling cottage behind her.
We asked her where home was.
She drew a circle in the silt with a twig.
News and Events
JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM CONJUNCTIONS AND BARD COLLEGE
After thirty-three years of being published by Bard College, the internationally celebrated literary journal Conjunctions will finish its tenure at the college with issue 84 in spring 2025. When it was announced several years ago that Bard would no longer be able to continue its role as publisher, the college responded to widespread calls to reconsider that decision by agreeing to a three-year extension. Founding editor, novelist, and professor of literature, Bradford Morrow remarked, “By far the most enduring of the journal’s five publishers since our inaugural issue in 1981, Bard stepped in to support Conjunctions at a critical moment in its history when, in 1991, we were about to go under. I’m grateful for the crucial role Bard has played in giving Conjunctions a home where it’s not just survived but grown exponentially, having helped to establish and support the careers of some of the most pioneering writers of our time.” The final two issues under Bard’s aegis will include, this fall, Conjunctions:83, Revenants: The Ghost Issue, co-edited by Morrow and Joyce Carol Oates, with contributions by Margaret Atwood, Jamaica Kincaid, Carmen Maria Machado, Paul Muldoon, Can Xue, and many others. The theme for the journal’s spring issue will be announced in the coming months.As for Conjunctions’ future, Morrow, who will become professor emeritus next July when the journal departs from Bard, plans to bring out issue 85 in fall 2025 himself. “We are beginning to raise money toward that end and will have to see if another publisher is interested in joining the project going forward.” In support of that goal, Bard plans to donate computer equipment, temporary storage space, and provide other assistance as the journal transitions to the next chapter of its storied run as one of the most influential and respected literary journals in the country. The college plans to host a celebration of Conjunctions next spring on its campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.