New literary journal The Rattling Wall comes to L.A.

There’s a new literary journal in town.

The Rattling Wall may sound like it took its name from a piece of literature, but in fact, its origins are much humbler. As a homage to her maternal grandparents, founder and editor Michelle Meyering took their last names, Rattle and Wall, and simply combined them. The journal publishes short stories, travel essays and poems, as well as some photography and art.

The Rattling Wall release party kicks off at the UCLA Hammer Museum at 7 p.m. Writers whose submissions are included in the first issue will read from their works. More than 10 writers from the 256-page inaugural issue will participate in tonight’s reading.

Published by Narrow Books, an independent publisher based in Los Angeles, The Rattling Wall is funded by PEN Center USA, a nonprofit literary organization for writers of all sorts, from poets to screenwriters, novelists to critics.

Meyering, who has served as director of programs and events at PEN Center USA since completing graduate school in 2008, took an interest in literary journals after she began writing poetry.

“(The literary journal) is a very interesting space where people who have established careers are collected inside of books with people who have not yet published work,” Meyering said.

For Issue 1, Meyering solicited content from writers whose works she had long admired. Backed by PEN’s literary reputation in Los Angeles, Meyering said she didn’t have a hard time convincing writers to come on board.

“I basically wrote each of them a heartfelt but also business-oriented letter,” Meyering said.
One of those writers was Tod Goldberg, who used to teach at UCLA Extension and now runs the MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts program at the Palm Desert Graduate Center at UC Riverside.

Goldberg said he plans to read three pages from his short story, “How Will The Pilgrims Survive,” which is a conclusion of two stories from his last book, “Other Resort Cities.”

He said it is in line with his writing, sad and depressing.

“It will make you want to kill yourself but at the conclusion of it feel strangely edified that you don’t have such a (messed up) life,” Goldberg said.

Writer Lou Mathews, who has taught creative writing at UCLA Extension since 1989, got involved with the journal in a more traditional way. He responded to a call for submissions that Meyering sent out to the PEN Center USA mailing list and handled it like any publishing opportunity.

“I just did what I always do, send it (in) on the last possible day,” Mathews said. “And that seems to bring luck.”

Mathews will also read tonight, from his short story “Doña Anita.” Part of a longer manuscript called “Shaky Town,” a collection of stories about a neighborhood in Los Angeles, the story follows long-time resident Doña Anita and her 40-year war with her neighbor.

Slated to publish twice a year, The Rattling Wall has already received its content for Issue 2, whose submission deadline was last month. Because of the increased volume of submissions, Meyering will appoint an editorial board to assist her in selecting for the next issue.

Literary journals have a very small readership, and Goldberg said the fact is that the general public does not have a desire to read them.

“But what the reading does, and having it at the Hammer, is it lets readers know that something new and interesting is out there,” Goldberg said.

Despite the limited readership, Mathews said that writings appearing in anthologies such as “The Best American Short Stories” have been increasingly drawn from small literary journals.

“That’s the main thing with literary magazines ““ they forecast the future,” Mathews said. “They sort of let you know where the good writers of the next generation are coming from.”