Photo by Peter McCrady

Photo by Peter McCrady

Photo by Peter McCrady

Photo by Peter McCrady

It is all about the words on the page for the founders of Austin's newest literary journal The Austin Review.

Editor Michael Barrett said he feels the city is ready and willing to support a new literary journal.

"I think it's very accepting," Barrett said. "I get this feeling that [interest is] growing and it's about to grow even more rapidly. We've been pleasantly surprised by all of the help, encouragement and support we've been given. Simply saying that we're starting a new literary journal, most people physically become excited."

Barrett said that in 2012, he had toyed with the idea of starting a literary journal based on the feel of The Paris Review, but the ink really began to dry on the idea after four of the founders—Barrett, Shannon Perri and Wendy Walker—took a creative writing course led by Tatiana Ryckman around March 2013.

"Each of us had an interest in starting something that would be a good fit for Austin—a place to recognize emerging talent and to get the best works that we could," Barrett said. "We thought there was a niche for that. We think Austin is a growing city, and a great place for people to start thinking in terms of literary pursuits."

The nonprofit, independent literary journal had its launch party Jan. 11 at the Livestrong building with readings from contributors Derrick Brown, David Olimpio and Boomer Pinches. The founders said for the first issue, not all of the authors are local writers, but many have local ties. They also reached out to some of their favorite authors to gauge their interest in submitting to the fledgling publication.

Inside the 5-inch by 7-inch journal are 131 pages filled with four pieces of flash nonfiction, four pieces of fiction and one piece of analysis. The founders said they wanted to keep the journal's length reasonable so readers could get through the content before the next edition comes out.

"It's ironic that having a print version is now more of an oddity than the norm for starting literary journals, and we decided that we like that," Barrett said.

Ryckman, the managing editor for The Austin Review, said the decision to start with a printed publication did not come easily. The founders considered starting with a blog to gauge its reception before moving into a print product.

"One thing that we all realized we love about books and love about reading and love about literature is the tangible object and interacting with a journal or with a book," Ryckman said. "It became really clear, really quickly that that was important to us. So we just jumped right in for the full deal."

Barrett said it was a "daunting" task to jump into a print product, but they enjoy the originality that a physical product gives The Austin Review.

Ryckman said the simple design of the journal and its focus on the prose was an effort to give the publication a more permanent feel.

"We talked for a long time whether or not we wanted to incorporate more visual arts into the inside of the book, and we decided that to keep it timeless and to feel like a book than what we should make is a book," Ryckman said.

Outside of the publication, the organization is looking to help bolster Austin's reputation in the literary world.

"We're very into wanting to be the friendly, local literary journal with national talent but strong ties to Austin," Barrett said.

Perri, the digital editor for The Austin Review, said the organization has a blog that includes author interviews, book reviews and bookstore features, along with a calendar of literary happenings around Austin.

Perri said she hopes The Austin Review can grow along with the city.

"For better or for worse, Austin's culture is changing," Perri said. "Austin is growing. You can see it with the restaurant scene and all the different restaurants popping up. We're hoping that culture and arts can come from growing too."

For more information about the nonprofit and to purchase the publication, visit www.theaustinreview.org. The Austin Review also is available at BookPeople, Farewell Books and Malvern Books.