cicadas exist; chicory, chromium 

citrus trees; cicadas exist; 

cicadas, cedars, cypresses, the cere-
bellum

- from alphabet by Inger Christensen, translated by Susanna Nied.

Dear Simpsonistas, 

We hope that like the cicadas you are emerging into the world anew, making use of newly grown wings, and finding time to make music well into the evening. Nature is full of amazing surprises. Word is, cicadas are tasty, too, but let’s quickly move on.
 

We have a tasty musical surprise of our own. You may have noticed that our Project has emerged from 2020 into 2021 with a new name, and a new pair of wings. In the spirit of regeneration, our digital designer Josephine Courant created a new look and feel for the Project. Operating under the mantra “New and Continuous” she updated the New Literary Project’s palette to be modern and vibrant, attracting a wide variety of readers, writers, and teachers. “The electric cobalt blue feels like punctuation, which calls out the important elements of the site. At the same time, the abstract shapes of varied sizes break the traditional design strategy of adhering to the grid, square, and rectangle.” 

Our project is thinking out of the box. We never met a box that could contain our multitudes. And we’ve never seen a box that didn't need to be opened. We are thrilled to bring you this new design, which represents our project’s mission of bringing emerged and still emerging teachers, writers, and students into new geometries, new connections, new writing, new visions for art and society. Within the next months we will be able to bring you into the fold for celebrations of Simsponsitas, Simpson Fellows, and the publication of Simpsonistas: Tales from the Project: Vol. 3.

In our five years of existence, we have steadily grown. It’s a new day, a new year, and a new season that presents new challenges, new opportunities, new wrongs to right, new dreams to dream, and hence we have a new name: the New Literary Project.

Onward, 

Ashley, Diane, and Joe

PS: You can now watch our Meet the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner on our Youtube channel. Follow us on social media for the inside scoop on all New Literary Project happenings. Like the cicadas, we're everywhere.