Liberties Journal: Contributors and Themes Unveiled for Inaugural Issue
New Quarterly Journal on Culture and Politics Features Original Works from Leading Independent Thinkers and Writers including Mark Lilla, David Grossman, Laura Kipnis, and Thomas Chatterton Williams as well as New Voices including Joshua Bennett, Clara Collier, and Andrea Marcolongo
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 — Liberties – A Journal of Culture and Politics, a quarterly of essays and poetry from some of the world’s most celebrated independent thinkers, leading artists, and up-and-coming literary voices, has unveiled contributors and topics for its inaugural issue, available now by subscription at LibertiesJournal.com and then in bookstores and online booksellers this fall.
Liberties covers complex themes and provides its authors with the space to confront the genuine issues of our time. Featuring original works from leading essayists, award-winning poets, as well as the next generation of voices, the inaugural edition is a book for the coat pocket, not the coffee table. Liberties’ editor is the acclaimed Leon Wieseltier and rising talent Celeste Marcus is managing editor. Liberties Journal Foundation co-founder Bill Reichblum is the publisher.
A Charter Subscription is available for $45 annually, with special discounts for active military, as well as for those serving in government, affiliated with higher education, or who work for a not-for-profit organization. The cost of a single edition is $18.95.
“Liberties is proud to be known by the writers in its inaugural issue,” says Leon Wieseltier, editor. “They are young and old from around the world. They are fighting the good fight in culture and in politics. They are immune to contemporary cant and undaunted by controversy. And they are just the beginning.”
An essential mission of Liberties is to identify and publish new talent. The inaugural edition introduces: Italian journalist and author Andrea Marcolongo; Clara Collier, a graduate student at Oxford; Joshua Bennett, winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for the NAACP Image Award; Shawn McCreesh, current assistant to the New York Times’ columnist Maureen Dowd; and, twenty-four-year-old managing editor Celeste Marcus.
“The beauty of Liberties is that there is a piece for everyone to read, enjoy, and learn from,” says Marcus. “Our pieces are meant to inspire deep thinking and analysis. We provide our writers with the proper space and place to write pieces that intentionally evoke hard emotions and force both our authors and readers to grapple with both received and new ideas.”
Future editions will include more well-known independent thinkers and leaders from the worlds of culture, business, entertainment, government, higher education, politics, and technology alongside introducing readers to the next generation of writers from these fields. In addition this and each subsequent edition will publish new poetry from both highly regarded and up-and-coming poets.
“In a world overloaded by quick reactions and social media shouting, this is the time for a publication like Liberties,” asserts publisher, Bill Reichblum. “The most significant artistic work and the most insightful analysis is created from the hard-earned essential freedoms of thought and expression. Liberties is a platform to inspire our culture and our politics.”
The full list of inaugural contributors includes the following:
- Joshua Bennett: Author of The Sobbing School; winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for the NAACP Image Award.
- Thomas Chatterton Williams: American cultural critic and author, and 2019 New America Fellow and a Berlin Prize recipient. He is the author of Losing My Cool and Self Portrait in Black and White. He is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine.
- Clara Collier: Recipient of the Lidl Graduate Scholarship for the Study of German at Oxford.
- Louise Glück: American poet and essayist. She has won many major literary awards, including the National Humanities Medal, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Bollingen Prize, among others.
- David Grossman: Award-winning Israeli novelist whose books have been translated into more than 30 languages. His latest work is A Horse Walks Into A Bar.
- Ramachandra Guha: Indian writer and author of India After Gandhi. He is also a columnist for The Telegraph, Hindustan Times and Hindi Daily Newspaper Amar Ujala.
- Moshe Halbertal: Israeli philosopher, professor, and writer, and a noted expert on Maimonides. He is a co-author of the Israeli Army Code of Ethics, as well as the Gruss Professor of Law at NYU Law School and Professor of Jewish Thought and Philosophy at Hebrew University.
- Michael Ignatieff: Canadian author and former politician; Rector and President of Central European University, Budapest and Vienna.
- Laura Kipnis: American cultural critic and essayist whose work focuses on sexual politics and gender issues; author of Against Love: A Polemic, How to Become a Scandal: Adventures in Bad Behavior, Men: Notes from an Ongoing Investigation. She is a professor of Media Studies at Northwestern University.
- Eli Lake: Columnist for Bloomberg and the former senior national security correspondent for The Daily Beast and Newsweek.
- Mark Lilla: American political scientist, historian of ideas, journalist, and professor of humanities at Columbia University; author of The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics; The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics and The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics and the Modern West.
- Andrea Marcolongo: Italian journalist and former speech writer for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. She is the author of Nine Epic Reasons to Love Ancient Greek.
- Celeste Marcus: managing editor of Liberties.
- Julius Margolin: Former Israeli writer and political activist; author of Journey to the Land of the Ze-Ka.
- Shawn McCreesh: Contributor at Air Mail and editorial assistant to Maureen Dowd.
- Sally Satel: Visiting professor of psychiatry at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
- Hannah Sullivan: British poet. She is the author of The Work of Revision, which won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize and the University English Book Prize, as well as the poetry collection Three Poems, which won the T. S. Eliot Prize.
- David Thomson: British film critic and historian, and author of more than 20 books with recent titles including Have You Seen….? A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.
- Helen Vendler: American literary critic and the Porter University Professor Emerita at Harvard University.
- Leon Wieseltier: editor of Liberties.
- Sean Wilentz: Author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. He is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor of the American Revolutionary Era at Princeton University.
- Jim Wolcott: Author of Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants and Lucking Out: My Life Getting Down and Semi-Dirty in Seventies New York. He is the former cultural critic for Vanity Fair.
- Adam Zagajewski: Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. He was awarded the 2004 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award and the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature.
In addition to individual subscribers, Liberties – A Journal of Culture and Politics is distributed to booksellers in the United States by Publishers Group West; in Canada by Publishers Group Canada; and, internationally by Ingram Publisher Services International. Visit libertiesjournal.com for more information, including the full list of contributors, and follow the Liberties team on social (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) for regular updates and insider commentary.
About Liberties Journal Foundation
Founded in 2020 and based in Washington, D.C., Liberties Journal Foundation is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization devoted to educating the general public about the history, current trends, and possibilities of culture and politics. Through the publication of its quarterly, in-print journal, and its supporting initiatives, the Foundation seeks to inform today’s cultural and political leaders, deepen the understanding of citizens, and inspire the next generation to participate in the democratic process and public service. For more information or to inquire about subscriptions or orders, visit libertiesjournal.com.