The Boston Review: An Intellectual Fiesta

Over the years, the Boston Review has evolved into a forum where its devoted readers find a debate-like approach to serious political issues along with avant garde cultural articles and work from some of America’s most important poets. Carnegie Corporation’s Dissemination Program began funding the Review in 2003, providing support that has included helping this critically important publication to widen its audience and enrich its content, both through its print edition and a robust web presence. Recently, the Boston Review won Utne’s Independent Press Award in the category of Best Writing. Utne, a “[digest] of independent ideas,” had this to say in presenting the award to the Boston Review:  "Crack open Boston Review’s generously sized newsprint pages and plunge into a world where poems sit alongside political essays, where fiction coexists with cultural criticism, and where every element in the intellectual fiesta is thought-provoking and expertly crafted. When the 35-year-old bimonthly added more investigative reporting to its repertoire last year, we nearly swooned. Let mainstream publications give in to the perceived demand for bite-sized news; Boston Review provides the exquisite main course." On another note of excellence, Junot Diaz, the Review’s fiction editor, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in 2008.