New Editor at The Florida Review

The Florida Review has had many editors over the nearly 50-year history of its publication. Some have served for as many as nine years, others just one, but every editor has left an indelible mark on the literary legacy of The Florida Review.

It is in this context we announce that after five productive, transformative years—years that saw the launch of an entirely new online journal, Aquifer, on which you read this very post—our current Editor & Director, Lisa Roney, will be stepping down as editor. Our new editor, Jake Wolff, author of The History of Living Forever and Assistant Professor in UCF’s Department of English, will assume the editorship on August 8, 2020.

Reflecting on her time as editor, Lisa Roney shares:

“Over the past five years, it has been a great privilege to be editor-in-chief of The Florida Review and to introduce the new website in 2017 as Aquifer: The Florida Review Online. I’m so pleased with the high quality and diversity of the more than 600 writers and artists we’ve published in that time, and I owe a debt of gratitude to all the genre and special editors who have worked faithfully with me during this time—Kenneth S. Hart, Victoria Campbell, Nicole Oquendo, and Mike Shier especially, without whom I would never have been able to survive much less thrive as we have. Many other book review editors, GTAs, MFA interns, and undergraduate interns have also contributed to the success of the magazine during these years. I’m thrilled that Jake Wolff has agreed to take on the role of editor, as I believe he will both continue the 40+-year tradition of TFR at its finest and add his own innovations as well. Fond farewells!”

From Jake Wolff, on assuming editorship of the magazine:

“I’m very lucky to be inheriting a magazine in such fine condition. Over the past five years, The Florida Review has seen a return to consistent, semi-annual publication; a sleeker, more modern redesign of both its print pages and website; its first piece selected for the Best American series; and a dramatic increase in the amount of money we are able to award writers via our various contests and prizes. I hope to continue the magazine’s commitment to diverse voices, both emerging and established, and to championing all of the authors we publish.

Since I like to consider my own work to be a mashup of various genres and forms, I’ll especially be looking for stories, essays, and poems that cross genre lines or disrupt our notion of genre while still communicating deeply felt, deeply urgent conflicts. But most of all, I just want to publish good work.”

Due to production schedules of print and online magazines, Lisa Roney will be co-editing our forthcoming 44.2 issue due for publication this coming December and leaving her editorial mark on the fine work still to be published throughout the fall on Aquifer.

Bidding the fondest of farewells to Lisa, and the warmest welcome to Jake here at The Florida Review.