Folly journal is ruffling feathers
Emily Makere Broadmore is editor-in-chief of Folly journal, which she describes as a literary journal for people who don’t buy literary journals. She’s based in New Zealand, and the magazine gives a strong sense of local provenance, with lots of the stories reflecting on contemporary culture in the country. But she’s also keen to stress that around half the contributions come from people outside New Zealand, giving it an international perspective.
Similarly, when I read the magazine, I was struck by the fact that lots of the stories have a sexual theme. But when we spoke, I got the impression that she wanted to point me away from that, instead emphasising the variety of the writing and the fact that the magazine is really led by the sort of work that was submitted by its contributors.
The magazine describes itself online as, “The rebel child of the literary New Zealand scene,” and, “The love child of a literary journal and a Victorian gossip rag,” and it seems that Folly journal doesn’t have any problem with the idea of ruffling a few feathers. It all adds up to a magazine of contradictions that wants to do things differently, and I hope you’ll enjoy hearing Emily’s story of overcoming establishment criticism to create a fresh new literary voice for New Zealand.
If you enjoy this one, remember we have lots more conversations with independent magazine makers in our podcast archives. We release a new episode every couple of weeks, so please do follow us wherever you get your podcasts and we’ll be able to deliver them to you as soon as they’re ready.
Image by Sam Duckor-Jones, detail of ‘Gloria’
