Pitching Brink: A Quick Guide

Brink is a triannual magazine of culture, art and politics based in New Haven. Established in 2017, our goal is to create a space for young readers to think carefully about a wide range of subjects through one of the most incisive modes of critical engagement there is: the book review.

Each issue of Brink contains six review essays. Our essays run between 1,500 and 4,000 words, and often engage with at least one newly-released book. Rather than stop at a traditional review, we encourage our contributors to view books as an invitation to approach a larger topic: campus affairs, American and international politics, science and technology, and literature and the arts.

We are currently accepting pitches for our winter issue. The deadline is December 1st, 2024 at midnight. Please email us a two- to four-paragraph pitch and a writing sample, preferably nonfiction. In your pitch, please tell us about the book (or other media) you will be reviewing and your argument. If the book is not recent or forthcoming, make a case for why readers should care about it now. We’ll get back to you promptly.

We want
Long-form reviews with bold, original arguments that reframe the stakes or cut against the grain of a wider conversation; surprising cultural criticism, historical explorations or first-person narratives that interrogate under-examined phenomena, essays that give us new context or perspectives on often-discussed texts, reviews of things-other-than-books, idiosyncratic, sharp and funny voices, a pan of a professor’s book.

Photography or visual art portfolios with distinct, thoughtfully crafted perspectives; interviews with relevant writers, artists, and thinkers.
We don’t want
Personal essays, New Journalism, op-eds, the book review you had to write for your seminar, gratuitous academic writing (“zeitgeist,” “ontological,” and, for the love of God, “dialectic”), ungenerous readings, anything related to secret societies or extracurricular culture, “takes,” arguments that begin and end with “Yale bad,” “phone bad,” or “late-stage capitalism bad,” shitty undergraduate versions of The New Yorker or n+1 (shitty undergraduate versions of the London Review of Books are OK).
Convince us of
Short fiction, poetry, letters to the editor.
Shoutout The Drift bc this is inspired by their “About” page

Pitching Brink: The Details

  1. We are currently in the market for pitches on longform reviews on new and forthcoming books and other media for our winter issue. We’re looking for lively, personable, and clear prose. We promise extensive and collaborative editorial engagement.

  2. Over Winter Break, you’ll work closely with your assigned editor. The first draft of your review is due on January 6th, 2025. Revisions will continue until early February.

  3. On choosing your book: the ideal book is set to be published in the next three to five months. Click here for a list of recent and upcoming releases. We are happy to help you access a galley or advance review copy. 

    1. For a review of an older work, make a case for why readers should still care about it now, and why you should be the one to review it. Was it recently translated into English? Is it the book’s publication anniversary soon? Has it suddenly become relevant to the Discourse? 

    2. If you choose to review multiple books, tell us why. What does the act of comparing these books tell us? 

    3. Same goes for reviewing things-other-than-books. In the past, our writers have reviewed art exhibits, albums, films, concerts and concepts: as long as you make a strong argument, we’ll give you carte blanche. 

  4. The best way to get a sense of what we’re looking for is to read the magazine. We really like:

  • Reviews that look at multiple works to craft a novel literary or moral argument.

  • Deep dives into economic, social or intellectual history that also make a political case. 

  • Confident, sharp voices asking wide questions about our current crises. 

  • Personal narratives that segue into a book’s pitfalls and successes. 

  • A good, generous takedown. 

  • A pan of a professor’s book.