By Brian Dunlap

This summer two local literary journals—Pomona Valley Review and Dryland: A Literary Journal Based in South Central L.A.—released their latest issues.

Pomona Valley Review (PVR) is an online journal which publishes short fiction, poetry and art by new and established writers. Their latest issue is their 13th. PVR considers all works equally and desires new, original and provocative work that challenges traditional literary paradigms.

In issue 13, Pomona Valley Review includes a fair number of pieces from people of color. These include stories from Vanessa Garcia, Brian Yang, Art Ikehara and Bill Cushing; poetry from Helena Mahdessian, D.S. Maolalai, Antonio Barajas and Linda Imblerto; and art from Rheya Leack, Xiaoke Ren and Saul Villegas.

As PVR says in their Dear Readers note, “We have published what can only be considered a labor of love—a love for poetry, fiction and artwork from the artistic community we find ourselves a part of.” The editors even comment on the importance of the artistic community saying, “We are committed to participating in the artistic community of the Inland Empire, and…we the editors have read poetry and fiction at Cal Poly Pomona, the University of California Riverside and at dA Center for the Arts—Pomona this past year.”

Unique to issue 13, PVR “worked closely with a professor from the Pelican Bay Scholars Program to help incarcerated students gain access to submissions. Many…were accepted in the 13th Edition—completely on their own merit…”

Dryland is a journal founded by South Central native, resident, poet and activist Viva Padilla. Padilla’s mission is to publish poetry, fiction, art and nonfiction by writers of color, primarily celebrating these writers and artists that hail from Los Ángeles and South Central. In the Editor’s Note Padilla says, “…this time around it really feels like the journal I was hoping to create especially now that I’m working with…con el compa sad boy Nikolai Garcia…who pretty much made the whole thing easier…” She goes on to say, “I’m happy to say that [it’s] a Xingona issue!…Thank you for caring about this little South Central journal, we are doing the best with what [we] have out here.” Issue 9 includes an excerpt from L.A. heavyweight Vickie Vértiz’s memoir in progress, along with powerful pieces from emerging writers such as Karo Ska.

Add Pomona Valley Review and Dryland: A Literary Journal Based in South Central L.A. to your nightstand if you want to know what the scribes of the literary community are currently up to. These are just two of the many literary journals that abound in the Southland.