History
The magazine was founded in 1996 by Carolyn Kuebler, Randall Heath, and David Caligiuri (who resigned with issue one). Current editor Eric Lorberer joined the staff after issue one. The magazine is art-directed and business-managed by Kelly Everding.
Rain Taxi has been relatively free of controversy and widely lauded for its role in bringing to light books which might not otherwise be reviewed. It has been awarded the 2000 Utne Reader Alternative Press Award for Best Arts and Literature Coverage and Best Literary Journal in City Pages (Minneapolis). Editor Eric Lorberer was named to the Publisher’s Weekly “The Twin Cities Top 10.”
An exception to the lack of controversy was David Foster Wallace’s Summer 2001 review of The Best of the Prose Poem: An International Journal (White Pine Press). The review, which took the form of a bullet-pointed index that “broke down the anthology into numerical components.,” inflamed many of the book’s contributors. See responses in Fall 2001 print edition of the magazine..
The magazine publishes relatively few dismissive reviews. Lorberer explained that “the reason the majority of the reviews are positive is that the process of selection itself is an aspect of reviewing–we’re trying to select the best of the best.” And former Board Member and Twin Cities journalist Josie Rawson notes, “There are so few avenues in the reviewing press for praise for books from small presses, independent presses, it’s hardly worth wasting space on books nobody should be reading anyway.”
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