This letter from Julia Elliott was written as a tribute for a farewell celebration at Bard. As many of you know, Bard is ending our institutional support, and we are embarking on a new, independent chapter in challenging times. We wanted to share her letter here because it so beautifully illustrates why we do what we do and why we aspire to continue. Your generous donations are crucial in making this dream a reality.

April 21, 2025

I first encountered Conjunctions as an MFA student taking Paul West’s fiction workshop at Penn State, and like much of the innovative literature Paul introduced us to, Conjunctions seemed to be part of a secret society of strange writers, a mysterious hermetic order that the student devotees of West ached to join. Paul submitted my first story to Brad long before I was ready to be published, and though Brad rightly rejected it, saying that while he loved the audacity and richness of my prose, I was still in the “naming of the notes” stage of writing. Even at that young, egomaniacal age, I understood how kind he was to take the time to read my fledgling fiction and offer constructive criticism. I knew exactly what he meant by “naming of the notes”—while my brain swarmed with strange ideas, vivid images, and hyper-lyrical language, my fiction had not cohered into actual stories with convincing voices, full characters, and narrative momentum. Even today, when I find myself compiling information without some kind of plot arc or character development, I remember Brad’s words.

I sent many stories to Conjunctions between grad school and my 2006 publication of “The Camp Counselor,” my first ever story to appear in the illustrious journal—an acceptance that made me sprint around my house in a state of deranged happiness. Because of Brad’s kindness and encouragement, I never gave up, and when I finally joined a community of writers I had admired for years, doors opened for me. My work appeared in other great journals, one piece from Conjunctions won a Pushcart, and another made it into Best American Short Stories, which led to the publication of my first book in 2014, the story collection, The Wilds, which Brad kindly blurbed. Over the years, I have published nineteen stories in Conjunctions, a haven for weirdo writers since 1981, and I am proud to be part of this community of writers. While Brad is a literary legend who knows and has known many famous writers personally, from William Burroughs to Joyce Carol Oates to Karen Russell, he is generous and approachable, making every Conjunctions writer feel like they are a crucial part of this special tradition.

Conjunctions has provided a home for the bulk of my short fiction over the years—my collection Hellions, released on April 15, contains seven stories previously published there. But is has also provided endless inspiration from other writers I consider kindred creatures—from Thomas Bernhard to Carmen Maria Machado, Mikail Bulgakov to Sofia Samatar, Joy Williams to Nalo Hopkinson—writers who lurk along the borders between the real and surreal. The range and quality of the work that has appeared in Conjunctions for over four decades is staggering, and I regularly visit that hefty section of my bookshelf. Thanks, Brad, for your work as a visionary editor and writer, and also for your inspiring literary friendship. I can’t imagine what the book world would be like without you and Conjunctions.

—Julia Elliott