Blue Mesa Review’s 30th Anniversary Interview with Founder Rudolfo Anaya

By Tori Cárdenas

Issue 40 • Fall 2019 • Nonfiction

Summer 2019 marked our 30th anniversary as a magazine! To celebrate our 40th issue, Blue Mesa Editor in Chief, Tori Cárdenas, spoke with our founder, Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima and Albuquerque, about what it was like to start the magazine and how he’s watched it grow.

How did you decide to start Blue Mesa Review?

In 1974 I was invited by the English Department at UNM to teach creative writing. My first novel, BLESS ME, ULTIMA, published in 1972, was attracting national attention. I met a wonderful group of teachers who were teaching creative writing classes, mostly prose and poetry. The group included Gene Frumkin, David Johnson, Patricia Smith, Tom Meyer. At our regular meetings Gene, David, Pat and I often discussed the idea of starting a literary magazine for the program. At that time, I was on the national board of the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines (CCLM), and I was learning about the importance of literary magazines in the literary and social life of the country. Where to get the money to start our own magazine was the big question. We spent meetings discussing possibilities for start-up cash. I made an appointment with the Dean of Arts and Sciences and explained our situation. He gave us $5,000.00 for our first issue. You can imagine our surprise.

Did you begin with a mission or goal for the magazine? What did you hope it would accomplish?

Starting BMR was exciting, we were in tune with what was happening all over the country, the birth of hundreds of literary magazines. Our goal was to make a home for SW authors.

What was that like for you—starting a new magazine?

A word about the title, Blue Mesa Review. My wife Patricia and I spent many weekends in Jemez Springs. Driving home, we enjoyed the spectacular New Mexico landscape. We passed through Jemez Pueblo and turned east. To the left is Zia Pueblo. Rising along the Jemez River north of the pueblo is a long mesa, a flat table created on the land by volcanic eruptions from an earlier age. At a certain time of day, the light reflects a bluish color on to the mesa. “Blue Mesa Review,” I said to my wife.

“Yes,” she responded.

Starting the magazine required coming up with an appropriate name. We had been thinking of a name for the magazine. There it was. I took the name to my fellow editors and all agreed: Blue Mesa Review it was.

How did the department support that vision? What support did you have from readers, the faculty and students?

The department was very supportive. Literary magazines have often found a home in university departments. The faculty and students were excited. Students volunteered to help.

How long were you EIC? Who helped you to organize the magazine? Read/select contributions? Publish the first few issues?

I was EIC for about ten years, then Gene Frumkin and David Johnson took turns at being editors. All of us read contributions. Gene, David and Pat were excellent poetry editors.

What did you request from contributors for the first few issues? What kinds of submissions did you receive?

We sent letters, at first to friends. Once the word got out, we had a wonderful variety of submissions.

What was the process of publication like for those issues?

We read submissions, selected those we wanted to publish and turned them over to a student who organized them. Robert Masterson was our Managing Editor. He did excellent work.

What did you think of following issues of BMR? How have you seen the original goals met?

That issue # 40 will soon be published is a testament to the quality of BMR. There are so many talented authors out there who have a home for their work.

What do you hope for BMR’s future?

In 1983 I had a fellowship from the Kellogg Foundation. A group of my fellows planned a trip to China to study the society. In the evenings my wife and I went out to explore life in the cities we visited. One early evening in Shanghai we came upon an artist doing finger paintings. We bought one of a horse and that became the cover for the first issue in 1989 of BMR. Looking back on the first issue I feel extremely proud. It is a beautiful book. The Table of Contents glows with the names of all the fine authors we published. All of this was accomplished by the efforts of the group. The editors and students worked as a team. I hope the same collaboration continues as issue #40 is published, and beyond.