The Massachusetts Review
The Massachusetts Review is a U.S. literary quarterly that started in 1959. It was founded by professors from Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The magazine is published four times a year by Massachusetts Review, Inc., with support from Five Colleges and nearby schools. It describes itself as “A Quarterly of Literature, the Arts, and Public Affairs.”
From the beginning, MR focused on civil rights and African-American history and culture. It published prominent writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Martin Luther King Jr. Founding editors included Sidney Kaplan, and Ekwueme Michael Thelwell remains a contributor.
In 1969, MR released a collection of essays from its first decade. In 1972, it published a special double issue called Woman: An Issue, featuring writings by Bella Abzug, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, Norman Mailer, Anaïs Nin, Tina Modotti, and Sonia Sanchez.
MR also highlights visual art. Leonard Baskin designed its early covers, and Jerome Liebling edited for the magazine. In recent years, artists such as Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Whitfield Lovell have been featured. The Massachusetts Review has published work by 10 Nobel Prize winners, 23 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 9 U.S. Poets Laureate.
Notable pieces first printed in MR include Chinua Achebe’s critique “An Image of Africa,” Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Legacy of Creative Protest,” Adrienne Rich’s poetry, and Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Black Orpheus.” The magazine is connected to the literary community through CLMP and runs annual prizes, including the Anne Halley Poetry Prize and the Jules Chametzky Translation Prize.
Today’s staff includes founding editor Jules Chametzky and executive editor Britt Rusert, along with editors for poetry, prose, translation, theater, and reviews, plus an art director and a managing editor.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:25 (CET).