HR 61 Editorial

Over the years we have had the pleasure of working with many different guest editors, including Mira T. Lee, Neel Mukherjee, Paul Harding, and Miciah Bay Gault, each of whom brought a distinct set of preferences and interests, as well as new literary connections, to the pages of Harvard Review. We have always appreciated the way in which the contributions of these writer-editors expanded our ability to represent the great stylistic and thematic variety of contemporary writing.

In this issue, we present a variation on this theme: a portfolio of work selected by our first editorial fellow, Elinor Hitt. Elinor is a PhD candidate at Harvard and a writer, editor, and dancer. Her long involvement with the world of dance, particularly ballet, provides the focus for the curated collection of stories, poems, essays, and art that appears here.

I have been a lover of dance all my life, but I was not entirely sure how an art form so physical would translate onto the page. It was interesting to see the strong threads of continuity across these diverse pieces: obsession (not surprisingly) with the body; a strong narrative drive, even, one might say, a propulsive sense of urgency; a profound aesthetic absorption; in some cases an almost fevered emotional tone—all fascinating for anyone who has only ever seen the world of dancers from the outside.

Flanking this portfolio, we have work by a mixture of old friends, like Campbell McGrath, Rosanna Warren, Alice Hoffman, and Anthony Varallo, and new discoveries, including Jamie Fisher and Maria Marchinkoski. We are also pleased to present work by Nathan Curtis Roberts and Jason Brown, both shortlisted for the 2023 Harvard Review Chapbook Prize. We commend their writing to you and hope you enjoy it.