New Contrast Testimonials

Publishing in New Contrast means presenting your work in distinguished company to an informed, erudite audience.  I'm thrilled that my work has appeared there, and even more to read the writers there who show me how it's done.  New Contrast is a conduit to that most precious thing, a writing community.  Join us. Gabeba Baderoon

...

In a time of the unequalled dumbing down of our intellectual life by officialdom and capital and misinformation - for understandable as well as expedient reasons ­ and for just trying to remain head above water in historically turbulent times - the survival of a magazine such as New Contrast is cardinal.

There are very few fora left in our country that examine the categories - often contingent and tangential - that societies get built on. This is what literature does. Why governments sometimes view it with hostility. And why, in hidden code, the humanities at our universities are being scaled down. 

It is no use having such forums when the building of nation and state has already been completed. By then things are fixed in stone. Now is the time to have them - in the incipient phase, and the very time these magazines are under unprecedented threat.

Let New Contrast live.
Charl-Pierre Naude

...

Contrast and its successor New Contrast have over the years been a major  influence in keeping South African writing a flourishing activity.  This is especially true of the poetry: financially the poorest member of the Arts family, imaginatively the the first to go on the invitation list for any gathering. All literary magazines need subscribers;  subsidy is no substitute for subscription - and only subscription ensures a regular supply.  If you read for pleasure, you should be subscribing to New Contrast.
Jonty Driver

...

New Contrast is on the cutting edge of South African literature. There is nowhere else for the poet in this country of higher standing as a forum for sharing in what poetry is doing. The journal must be kept in place, and enhanced if possible by better funding: without it, where could we send material, how could we access each other's work?
I can't emphasise the importance of New Contrast too eloquently: its track record speaks for itself. (We actually need 6 more journals of its standard to serve the needs of South African poetry.)
Norman Morrissey

...

New Contrast is becoming an increasingly valuable reflection of literary talent in this country. But don't subscribe because it's South African - subscribe because the writing and art it showcases is really good.
Ken Barris

...

The harsh monetarist culture in which we live represses many kinds of spirituality. Poetry is one of these and all of us who are smitten by the muse from time to time are blessed to have a journal like New Contrast which year after year thanks to the labour of the editors, opens its pages to the poets.
Chris Mann
Honorary Professor of Poetry
Rhodes University

...

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed my free issue 142. It was exceptional - there wasn't a single piece I didn't either like tremendously or had to grudgingly concede that despite my taste based reservations it nevertheless deserved to be published (almost none of the latter).  And I'm a harsh critic.  I have never read a journal that I have thought of as highly.

Terence Beney

...

Letter from Silke Heiss

Dear Hugh
 
Norman and I were talking the other day about all the good work that you do, and we both ended up writing something to express our feelings about that. We thought it would be good if these were published in New Contrast, but Paul said that it is unlikely that you would do so.
 
Here are the pieces:
 
A sweet plum of thanks
 
In Issue 151, the editor expresses pleasure that New Contrast has half a century in the bag and is still fairly fit and healthy, thanks to a host of support.
 
I would like to fill in the missing speech bubble from Hugh's notes of gratitude, and I hope I speak for many longstanding and new readers alike when I say: New Contrast has youthed into a bright middle age since Hugh took over editorship in 2007, bringing the journal back up to date with a bang of 3 editions at once.
 
It is beacuse of Hugh's inquisitive mind and ears, his firm and selfless editorial skills, his generous heart towards the rich pageant of local poets and, not least, his hard, daily, largely unacknowledged slog at it, that the journal is as alive and toned as it is now. To the Muse's right-hand-man: please accept a sweet plum of thank you.
 
Love
Silke
 
And here is Norman Morrissey's poem - a limerick, believe it or not:
 
        The Editor
 
    There is a man called Hugh
    who's one of the rare few
    who tastes words of power
    like a bee in a flower
    - then brings them to me and to you.
 
                23/11/10.

...

"Your NC webpage and submissions procedures are very elegant and user-friendly. It was one of the VERY RARE occasions when I was on a site and did not become aggressively impatient! Maybe the colour soothed me? I don't know, but whatever you did, it was good." 

3/6/2011 - Silke Heiss

South African Literary Journal Quick Links

Editor's Notes, Contributors, their literary contributions and bios

How do I submit my work? Click on the link below.

Contribute Poems, Short Stories, Flash Fiction, or other Literary Works

Help Sponsor New Contrast Project(s)

More About New Contrast

Thank you for visiting New Contrast Site

Hope to see you again soon!

Published by South African Literary Journal

Want to Publish your work, or have it edited?

For Assistance with

• Publishing
• Editing

Please Contact Hugh Hodge at this email: