New Letters, a journal of fiction, poetry, essays and reviews, is the best in the country. Don't just take our word for it — on May 1, the publication took home a National Magazine Award at a black-tie ceremony at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City. Against stiff competition in the essay category — including The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic, Entertainment Weekly and Elle — New Letters won for Thomas E. Kennedy's "I Am Joe's Prostate." If the title of Kennedy's essay isn't explanatory enough, it's the story of how a man in his 50s goes through the excruciating process of finding out whether he has prostate cancer. (It's a story about aging and mortality, sure, but it's also about sex and medicine and man's — and woman's — inhumanity.) No spoilers here; we'll leave it to the curious to find out what happens. We will, however, leave you with a couple of our favorite lines from the essay: "You hear a strangling gargling horror-comic groan contract your throat: Argh! You consider that the first person who ever thought to write that sound with just those letters had been through this very procedure." New Letters, the writers here at The Pitch bow before you.
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The comments by The Pitch editors in selecting New Letters magazine "Best Publication" for 2008 are extremely gracious and appreciated. A lot of people turned away from Thomas Kennedy's award-winning essay at first, and now have doubled back to find it both startling and hilarious. Many thanks for this recognition. By the way, Tom Kennedy will be at the Kansas City Public Library, downtown, on Thursday, Oct. 9, 6:30 p.m.
Robert Stewart, editor
The comments by The Pitch editors in selecting New Letters magazine "Best Publication" for 2008 are extremely gracious and appreciated. A lot of people turned away from Thomas Kennedy's award-winning essay at first, and now have doubled back to find it both startling and hilarious. Many thanks for this recognition. By the way, Tom Kennedy will be at the Kansas City Public Library, downtown, on Thursday, Oct. 9, 6:30 p.m. Robert Stewart, editor
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