About Us
Lantern Review is closed. Thank you for celebrating Asian American poetry with us for so many years!
History and Mission
Founded by Iris A. Law and Mia Ayumi Malhotra in 2009, Lantern Review: A Journal of Asian American Poetry (ISSN 2474-2058) carved out a virtual space in which to showcase Asian American poetry and to engage with issues relevant to its production and dissemination. We started with our blog, which published roundups of new and forthcoming Asian American poetry titles, interviews, literary news, and more. The first issue of our magazine was published in 2010. Throughout the fifteen issues we released in the course of our magazine's tenure, we sought to highlight expertly crafted poetry in a variety of forms and aesthetics and welcomed submissions from writers across the diaspora who self-identified as Asian American. For a short while, we also published a quarterly newsletter, Lumen, through which we shared book recommendations, writing prompts, and other meditations on the writing life. After thirteen years of fruitful service, the founders chose to end Lantern Review's long run in 2022.
About the Name
Lanterns are cross-cultural symbols of aesthetic beauty, hope, festivity, and enlightenment. They have historically been a feature of community celebrations and are also linked with exploration, discovery, and the forging of new paths. By choosing a lantern as our emblem, we hoped to reflect our desire that Lantern Review would help to shed light on the multifaceted, ever-evolving creature that is “Asian American poetry,” as well as to be a stage on which the question,“What is contemporary Asian American poetry and where is it headed?” could be played out.
Past Editorial Staff
Iris A. Law, Cofounder and Editor
Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Cofounder and Associate Editor
Eugenia Leigh, 2021 Guest Editor
Indrani Sengupta, Senior Staff Reader
Karen Zheng, Staff Reader (previously Editorial Intern)
Pranaya S. Ayyala, Editorial Intern
Irene Hsu, Staff Reader (previously Editorial Intern)
Past Staff Writers (Blog)
Rachel Lu, Contributing Writer
Wendy Chin-Tanner, Staff Writer, Interviews
Monica Mody, Staff Writer, Reviews
Henry W. Leung, Staff Columnist
Kelsay Elizabeth Myers, Staff Columist
Jai Arun Ravine, Staff Writer, Reviews
Simone Jacobson, Staff Columnist
Ada Yee, Staff Writer, Interviews
Supriya Misra, Staff Writer, Reviews
Mrigaa Sethi, Staff Columnist
Kevin Minh Allen, Staff Writer, Reviews
Ly Chheng, Staff Writer, Reviews
Ben-Zhen Sung, Staff Columnist
