Literary Hijinks

SOME MIGHT SAY LAUNCHING A LITERARY MAGAZINE today, in a media landscape ruled by blogs and tweets, where the news cycle never ends and the average reader spends 15 seconds on an article page, is foolish. Idealistic at best. Berk and Heddaya believe otherwise. In 2011 they launched American Circus, an online literary journal dedicated to experimental criticism, personal vignettes and investigative journalism. Writers would be young and talented, most without established professional homes. The journal would be irreverent and serious, a place for lively debates from both sides of the aisle. It was a natural evolution for the pair: Heddaya was president of The Dartmouth Review, while Berk was a Senior Fellow who spearheaded the Dartmouth Independent redesign.

Heddaya In 2011 they launched American Circus, an online liter- ary journal dedicated to experimental criticism, personal vignettes and investigative journalism. Writers would be young and talented, most without established professional homes. The journal would be irreverent and serious, a place for lively debates from both sides of the aisle. It was a natural evolution for the pair: Heddaya was president of The Dartmouth Review, while berk was a Senior Fellow who spearheaded the Dartmouth Independent redesign.

The first issue debuted on Christmas Eve and within the first month earned a Pushcart Prize in nonfiction—for a satirical review of the coat check at the Museum of Mod- ern Art. Since then American Circus has gone inside the headquarters of Egypt’s largest secular party, examined the literati’s response to Hurricane Sandy and investi- gated the decline of horseracing in a series The Wall Street Journal called “magnificent and elegiac.” The publication feels whimsical (one section is called “Hijinks,” another, “Debauchery”) and simultaneously highbrow. “We didn’t want to just be another literary website,” says Heddaya. “It’s taking some of the best elements of sharp writing and placing them in a context that’s more literary, and taking some elements of the best literary writing and making it sharper and more focused.”

In January American Circus, which Berk and Hed- daya fund themselves with help from Litbreaker, makes its print debut. Berk says he hopes “to create writing that resonates and says something. If we can do that, I think we’ll be happy.” Heddaya, ever the businessman, is quick to add: “We hope to have a good subscriber base!”

Berk (left) says he and Heddaya published when they couldn’t find “stuff we wanted to read.” >>>>