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Rating: The relationship between writers and literary magazines is the same as that between bees and daisies, magnolias, or any other flower: the existence and quality of the former depend on the health of the latter.
Champions of cultural health and quality indicators, literary magazines are a training ground for young writers and a genuine showcase far from any rule or publishing contract.
"Colla" is one of the magnolias (or daisies or roses) blooming in the field of the web, an original and interesting literary magazine founded by three "supernatural entities" (as the founders define themselves) who do not need ambiguous and tiresome analogies between daisies and literature to express themselves.
Marco Gigliotti is one of its founders who kindly answered my eight-questions-eight about "Colla".
-Introduce yourself, what is your name, how old are you, where do you live, and what do you currently do and which are your favorite bands? Who are the co-founders of "Colla"?
-My name is Marco Gigliotti, I am twenty-seven years old, I live in Rome and I am doing an internship at a publishing house. I have just finished editing an anthology of emigrated Calabrian authors titled "Terra". And of course, I am involved with "Colla". In my future, I see a job as a dishwasher abroad.
I like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
Francesco Sparacino (here a short and romantic story edited by him) is currently working in a factory that produces yogurt.
The last time I heard from Stefano Peloso, he was lost in the Langhe region or among the Aosta Valley mountains, I don’t remember.
-How and when did the idea of founding an online literary magazine arise, why and in what way? What other magazines do you like (print and not), would you recommend, or would you like to emulate?
-The idea was born between the end of 2008 and early 2009. We were not very satisfied with the Italian literary magazine scene, so we chose to start one ourselves. We managed to start at the end of March and overcame the difficulties we encountered thanks to the free collaboration of a highly skilled group of people and the availability of established authors who allowed us to publish their texts or interview them, thus giving more visibility to "Colla".
My absolute favorite magazine is "Poesia", "Satisfiction" has some interesting things, "Eleanore Rigby" if it came out a little more often wouldn’t be bad. I often read the "Archivo Bolaño".
-What were the initial objectives, have you achieved them, and do you have new ones? Who do you want to address?
-The main aim was to discover "unknown" authors of a good level and give them the opportunity to be read by professionals, but we also wanted to offer established writers the chance to experiment with the short story form, which for various reasons does not have much space in Italy.
Initially, we addressed mostly a specialized audience, working in publishing or cultural journalism, with good results, but now we are trying to expand the number of our readers and are already working on several ideas, both in terms of promotion and content.
-In broad terms, how does the work function, and how do you manage it on "Colla"?
-We receive the stories, read them, discuss which can be published and which cannot, sometimes we argue. Then there is the editing phase, first, we agree among ourselves (myself, Francesco, and Stefano) on the changes we consider most appropriate and then we discuss them with the author. When the story satisfies everyone, we move on to proofreading (Francesco and Benedetta Novello handle this part). Stefano handles text formatting and uploads them to the site. Usually, when the new issue of "Colla" is ready, we are very satisfied.
-What is your relationship with writing?
-I am very stubborn. I hope it's not unrequited love.
-Can you tell us about "Wimbledoc"?
-A tournament among literary magazines, with matches played in three sets, whoever wins two advances to the next round. The stories, even if very short and created in very little time, are truly enjoyable. The comments on the stories are also fun, which sometimes turn into something more akin to a bar brawl than a cultural debate. After all, bar brawls have always been more interesting than cultural debates, haven’t they? The fact that "Colla" won the first edition attests to the quality of the tournament. Perhaps I could have spared this one.
-Talk to us about your favorite authors, classical or contemporary, what do you like about them and which ones were the first to impress you? Among those you have published, which ones do you particularly like or were impressed by? Whom would you like to publish? What are you currently reading?
-I’ll scatter a few names of classics: Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Rimbaud, Nicanor Parra, Musil, Salinger, Fitzgerald, Huxley, Gogol, Pushkin, Dino Campana, Montale, Corrado Alvaro.
Among the contemporaries, my favorites are Roberto Bolaño, Bret Easton Ellis, and Haruki Murakami.
The text I liked the most, among those published on "Colla", is "Ghosts" by Elena Varvello, a preview of her upcoming novel for Fandango. However, if a text does not convince all three of us, we do not publish it.
At the moment I am reading "The Club of Assassinated Writers" by Diego Trelles Paz, "Rayuela" by Cortazar and "Swann's Way".
- There is talk of the crisis of print media, what do you think about its relationship with online magazines? How do you see the future in these terms?
-Maybe a bit like Eleanore Rigby. Maybe like Dave Eggers. Actually, like no one. In my opinion, the future of online magazines passes through the printer.
"Stupid people say they learn from experience, I prefer to learn from the experiences of others."
-Otto von Bismarck (possibly)
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