| Editor | Diane Williams |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Annual |
| Founder | Diane Williams |
| Year founded | 2000 |
| Company | Noon, Inc. |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Website | noonannual.com |
NOON is a literary annual founded in 2000 by American author Diane Williams. The 10th Anniversary Edition launched March 2009.
NOON publishes fiction and occasional essays. A full table of contents, including back issues, is available on the NOON website. The magazine has been described as a "beautifully-produced literary journal that features the strongest offbeat writing from a select group of literary stylists."[1] In 2007, Deb Olin Unferth told Bookslut that NOON founder and editor Diane Williams "inspires excellence and demands discipline. More than an editor, she is an editor-artist."[2]
NOON stories have won numerous awards and prizes, including:
NOON published first or early stories by Deb Olin Unferth, Clancy Martin and Rebecca Curtis, and regularly publishes Gary Lutz, Lydia Davis, Sam Lipsyte, Tao Lin, Dawn Raffel, Brandon Hobson, Greg Mulcahy, Rob Walsh, Kim Chinquee, and others, giving it a reputation as "easily one of the most innovative literary magazines in America." [3] The journal also publishes original drawings by Raymond Pettibon and Augusta Gross, and photographs by Bill Hayward.
Contents |
The Times Literary Supplement reviewed NOON in its Learned Journals section on October 30, 2009. Alison Kelly wrote, "[T]he best stories in NOON are, indeed, stunning, in the sense that they leave one conscious of powerful meanings not yet fully absorbed. . . . [T]he journal has proved its staying power and achieved a respected position. . . NOON has intellectual weight. Over the years it has investigated, and pushed the boundaries of, the means and processes of communication. . . . Williams's editorial vision ensures the intelligence and integrity of the journal as a whole."
In The New York Sun, Benjamin Lytal called NOON "One of American fiction's finest and most focused journals."[4]
Library Journal wrote that “NOON sets itself apart from the crowded field of literary journals with the quality of its submissions, its clean, easy-to-read design, and eye-catching cover. This independent, not-for-profit annual features essays, fiction, interviews, art, and translation that are as diverse as its contributors, who are both published and previously unpublished and come from international backgrounds. The editors of NOON adeptly select innovative, original, and highly readable work.”[5]
Christopher Frizzelle, editor of The Stranger, wrote "Noon, another literary journal that belongs on the list of literary journals that don't suck. The downside to Noon is that it only comes out once a year. The upshots are that Noon has a serif font, crisp photos, and excellent writing, or at least writing by writers I love."[6]
Time Out New York said "Even if it shares some authors with mainstream publishers, Noon still shimmers with courage, strangeness and unknown voices" and that editor Diane Williams "has a penchant for devout stylists and squirm-inducing topics." [7]