Mission Statement

Although Sycamore Review does not have a permanent mission statement given the nature of our editorship, this year’s editorial staff has composed a statement that we hope will elucidate the journal’s mission and help our readers and submitters better understand what we aspire to publish.

Given this country’s current political situation, we at the journal would like to publish more work that takes a reflective look at our national identity and how that identity is perceived by the world. Politics should not be divorced of art; rather, art should present politics in a language that can be felt.

Sycamore Review looks for work that is well crafted and engaging. We read to be entertained; whether the work makes us laugh with stylistic and thematic innovations, or whether it haunts us, we want to publish memorable works. Diversity of voice, pluralist worldviews, and political and social context are qualities that we look for in our submissions. Works that illuminate our lives in the collective human search for meaning are admired and sought. They are often bold, vivid, and fresh. Although kinship with other literary journals is important to Sycamore Review, we want to publish work that you wouldn’t read anywhere else. Therefore, we admire work that takes risks but is not transcendent of meaning. In other words, the work’s “strangeness” must be earned and explained by the work itself. Ultimately, the work is only as good as the author’s ability to craft it, so, perhaps, most importantly, we look to be inspired by an author’s ability to weave these qualities in a manner that is seamless and allows for the reader to be lost in the world, and then found.