Fence magazine

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Fence magazine is a print and online literary publication containing both original work and critical and journalistic coverage of what may be largely termed "experimental" or "avant garde" material. Conceived by Rebecca Wolff in 1997 [1] and first printed in 1998 (receiving coverage from Poets and Writers [2]), its editors have included Jonathan Lethem and Ben Marcus (fiction), Matthew Rohrer and Caroline Crumpacker (poetry), and Frances Richard (non-fiction).

On its opening, Fence received criticism from some members of the American avant garde poetry scene, including an article by Steve Evans entitled "the Resistable Rise of Fence Enterprises" [3], which criticised the journal for the "vacuity" of its editorial stance. Fence is currently housed at The New York State Writers Institute [4], along with its book publishing arm, Fence Books, which has printed volumes by a number of younger non-traditional poets [5]. Fence has also joined with McSweeney's, Wave Books and Open City to distribute content at bigsmallpress; it also runs The Constant Critic, an online reviews site.