Meet the Editors: Katie Lynn Johnston
In celebration of submissions opening, we are reintroducing ourselves! Get to know our editors better—today with Art, Prose, and Poetry Editor and Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Katie Lynn Johnston!
Who or what is your biggest inspiration as a writer/editor/artist?
My biggest inspiration would have to be other artists, other writers, and other editors. One of my favorite parts about writing is the community—the people who push you to write more, who encourage you and critique you and root you on. Reading the work of others inspires me most of all—whether they are friends, classmates, or some novel I picked off a bookshelf. It makes me want to write more, even if I’ve been in a writing rut, it inspires me and pushes me to create new stories, new ideas, and find where I can improve my work. I find that the more I read or wander galleries, the more I want to create and the more I find myself falling more deeply in love with the creative world—as if I could fall any farther.
What drew you to the genre(s) you edit at Mulberry Literary?
Fiction has been a lifelong love of mine. Ever since I was little I’ve written stories and attempts at silly little novels and fantasy series so it felt like a natural place to land as an editor. With poetry, I more fell into it. It was after taking a class with David Trinidad at Columbia College Chicago that I was invited to be an acquisition editor at CPR—Columbia’s previous poetry magazine. Columbia Poetry Review is why I edit todoy and what made me so enthralled with poetry and curation of it. It’s what eventually led me to taking up the position at Mulberry as well.
What got you into editing in the first place?
Like a lot of my fellow editors have said in their interviews, I was always the classmate or the friend that people came to when they wanted their work edited—whether for grammar or punctuation or more in-depth plot, story, wording, rhythm editing.
But editing first started as just a fun class for me. It was after being a part of Columbia Poetry Review as junior acquisition editor, I found myself wanting more. I became a part of CPR’s production editing team and from there became a senior acquisition editor on CPR’s final issues. I later worked with Hair Trigger Magazine (Columbia’s previous prose mag before Allium) as a production editor and became an assistant managing editor there alongside Ben Peachey who co-founded Mulberry with me. Long story short, the classes I took inspired me to continue editing and gave me the skills to start my own magazine where I wanted to be able to showcase all genres alongside each other without the confusion of niches or specific styles, topics or themes. I wanted to create a space for everything, and that’s what really got me into editing.
What draws you to literary and/or art spaces?
Art and literary spaces have been a part of my life ever since I can remember. My dad is both an artist and a writer and my mother was a photographer and filmmaker, so it felt natural for me to be drawn toward the places and the communities where art and literature are created. I’ve always felt a pull toward the world of art and literature because of the escape it allows me and the way it inspires me to create my own work, whether that be writing, drawing or painting. Discussing art or writing with a group of other artists and writers is probably my favorite thing in the world and nothing brings me more joy than walking around a gallery for hours or sitting down to read a good book or story.
Do you have a routine that puts you in the editorial headspace? What is it?
I do and I don’t. When acquisition editing, I find that I crave to read the work as soon as it pops into Mulberry’s inbox. I’ll read it right there once or twice, no holds barred, no prep—and then I’ll read it again before we meet to discuss our picks. On the production side of things, I like to be somewhere comfy, somewhere I can sit for a long time so I can edit as comfortably as possible. Production editing, depending on the length of the piece, can take hours so I like to be in a soft chair, at a table or desk, and somewhere quiet so I can read the work out loud as I edit.
Do you have a go-to reading/editing spot? What's the coolest reading spot you know of?
My go-to reading spotting as of now is my bed or my partner’s bed—but after I move, I’m hoping to curate an inspiring reading/editing/writing space. The coolest reading spot I know of, though, is probably the gardens outside of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the summer, fall, and late spring, I used to sit there for hours reading and listening to the sounds of the city.
Anything new and exciting you're working on or working toward as an artist, writer, and/or editor?
I have a few things I’m working on right now in the writing department—some short stories, some novel-length work. I want to write a magical realist short story collection with a focus on religion and queer women (a lot of my work revolves around those topics). I also have some paintings I’ve been hoping to complete that I haven’t touched in months. But the main thing I’m working on right now is getting back into the writing and creating headspace. After the passing of my mom, writing was hard—and still is. Grief takes a lot from you and I don’t think people talk enough about how hard it is to do the things you love once someone you loved so deeply, who encouraged you so much, and who you were so endlessly inspired by, is taken away. It’s not exactly an exciting thing to be working on, but it is my main focus at the moment, and I’m hoping to get back to doing the things I enjoy soon.
Katie Lynn Johnston is a queer writer from a small town in Indiana, who holds a BA in Creative Writing, Fiction from Columbia College Chicago. They have been a production, junior and senior acquisition editor for the Columbia Poetry Review and a production and assistant managing editor for Hair Trigger Magazine.
Their work has appeared in Hoxie Gorge Review, Oyster River Pages, Clackamas Literary Review, Allium, and Lavender Review, among others. You can find out more about them here.