A few weeks ago I received an email from my friend Marty Settle. The re message said, “Idea for Storied Charlotte.” Marty suggested that I write a blog post “about moonShine review, the local journal of prose. They’ve just come out with a special anniversary issue of 21 years of publication.” Well, I had heard of the moonShine review because a friend of mine who writes flash fiction had mentioned it to me, but I did not know that the journal is based in the Charlotte area. I thanked Marty and set out to learn more about the journal.
I contacted Anne M. Kaylor, the founder of the journal and the owner of Moonshine Review Press, which publishes the journal. She informed me that moonShine review is a creative prose and photography journal that is published bi-annually in the spring and fall. She then provided me with the following write-up about the history and mission of the journal:
The goal of the publication is to provide a venue for unusual creative perspectives. When choosing from submissions, we strive to balance talent with a twist and look for peculiar, profound, relentless viewpoints. I’m always searching for the epiphany in a story, and in the photography, too.
I began publishing moonShine review more than twenty years ago. At the time, it seemed to me the Charlotte area had a thriving poetry community and a good number of poetry publications, but I couldn’t find many prose publishing opportunities.
The journal’s name and mission emerged one evening on the back deck of Thomas Street Tavern in Plaza-Midwood. Sitting with friends under the stars and a full moon, I saw a connection between writing and the night sky—how creative ideas spark in the safety of the mind’s inner darkness and surface when exposed to the light, thus moonShine review is about what speaks to us in the moonlight, in the darkness, where we feel safer, somehow, to expose our shadows and truths.
I am gratified by the many writers who have graced moonShine’s pages and then gone on to publish their own books, as well as the talented photographers who have made names for themselves. As the journal enters its twenty-second year, I continue to stress the importance of publishing both established writers and new, emerging talent.
Though the journal has published national and even international writers and photographers, many appearing in moonShine review have been local, several of whom are in the anniversary issue—M. Scott Douglass, publisher and managing editor at Main Street Rag; David E. Poston, former Kakalak editor and North Carolina Poetry Society board member; Leslie M. Rupracht, cofounder and host of Waterbean Poetry Night in Huntersville; and Mary Alice Dixon, widely published prose and poetry writer and multiple Pushcart nominee, to name a few.
In more recent years, given the nation’s climate, moonShine’s mission has evolved to include the need to speak out, to act for change. Believing in equality, in social justice, is no longer enough. Writers stand on the front lines and have the power to make a real difference. I want moonShine review to be a vehicle for this.
Here is some general information for readers who are interested in submitting to the journal:
- No set theme
- Anyone eligible to submit
- Submissions accepted year-round; only read months immediately following deadlines
- 2026 submission deadlines: March 15 and August 15
- More information and all submission guidelines on website: http://moonshinereview.com
I thank Marty and Anne for their help with this blog post. As I see it, this post exemplifies what I mean when I say that the purpose of my blog is to celebrate Charlotte’s community of readers and writers. I usually focus on the readers and writers, but the value of community is just as important. Both Marty and Anne care about the Storied Charlotte community, and they both make valuable contributions to this community.