EDITORIAL STAFF POSITIONS
After a year of rigorous expansion, MAYDAY seeks to share its updated format and expanded editorial vision with new audiences. To do so, MAYDAY will continue to expand and diversify its editorial staff to include new intellectual and cultural backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and points of view. MAYDAY is a volunteer organization composed entirely of unpaid volunteers who can work anywhere in the world where there’s an internet connection. Send questions to chase@newamericanpress.com.
We invite applications to be submitted until the following editorial positions are successfully filled:
- Culture Editors
- Translation Editors
- Visual Art Editors
Culture Editors
As social values, politics, technology, and other aspects of culture change at an ever-accelerating rate, we want to spend more time talking about what those changes mean. The ideal candidate for the Culture Editor may or may not have an educational background in cultural studies (or journalism or history or American Studies or another related area), but should demonstrate substantial culture writing online or in print and/or may have editorial or administrative experience at a culture blog or print publication interested in cultural commentary and critique. This is an exciting new area of focus at MAYDAY, and we look forward to collaborating with the candidate to further refine this role. In addition to reading submissions and selecting work for publication, the Culture Editor will also solicit work for the magazine and help develop feature series and other ongoing projects in collaboration with other editors on staff.
In your cover letter, please address the following prompts:
- Describe your participation in a community interested in cultural studies or cultural critique, whether academic, professional, or otherwise. Have you done editing or administrative work at a journal, magazine, blog, or similar organization? Which magazines, newspapers, publishers, filmmakers, musicians, blogs, and/or other sources of cultural artifacts do you admire?
- Describe some cultural texts of any genre or medium (books, documentaries, stand-up comedy, hip-hop albums, television series, etc.) that matter to you. These texts may be recent or not. Explain the impact each text had on how you think or what you think matters about culture.
- Describe the content you would like to publish; list some writers, artists, or others you might try to solicit; describe any ideas you may have for editorial features, such as writer or artist portfolios, columns written by regional correspondents, book review series, etc.
Translation Editors
MAYDAY intends to be a space where the art, values, histories, and perspectives of communities across the world intersect. Presenting work in translation is a crucial component of that mission. Competitive candidates may have backgrounds working in literary translation as a student, editor, or creative writer. In addition to reading submissions and selecting work for publication, translations editors will also be encouraged to solicit work and help develop feature series and other ongoing projects in collaboration with other editors on staff.
In your cover letter, please address the following prompts:
- Describe your background with works in translation and international cultures. Have you lived in places where languages other than English are spoken? Do you have an academic background in one or more languages other than English? Have you ever done translation work yourself, or acted as a translation editor for another publication? Have you worked in an editorial or administrative capacity for a small press, cultural/literary magazine, or similar organization?
- Describe some works in translation of any genre (novels, stories, poetry, nonfiction, memoir, etc.) that matter to you. These texts may be recent or not. Explain the impact each text had on how you think or what you think is important about the difficult work of translation.
- Describe the content you would like to publish; list some writers, artists, or others you might try to solicit; describe any ideas you may have for editorial features, such as writer or artist portfolios, columns written by regional correspondents, book review series, etc.
Visual Art Editors
MAYDAY has always been interested in the history, practice, politics, and aesthetics of visual art, and we want to do a better job of addressing those things. The ideal candidate for the Visual Art Editor position will have an academic background in art and/or substantial experience as a practicing visual artist. Such a candidate may also have experience writing about art online or in print, and/or doing editorial or administrative work related to art. We look forward to collaborating with the ideal candidate to further refine the projects and duties, which may include exhibit reviews, interviews with artists, artist portfolios and galleries, feedback and guidance on website format and appearance, and others.
In your cover letter, please address the following prompts:
- Describe your participation in the art community. Have you done editing for an arts journal, administrative work at a museum or studio, or similar work? Which journals, magazines, and other publications that discuss visual art do you admire? Which art blogs or other online culture spaces do you visit?
- Describe some examples of visual art that matter to you. Explain the impact each one had on how you think or what you think matters about art.
- Describe the content you would like to publish; list some writers, artists, or others you might try to solicit; describe any ideas you may have for editorial features, such as writer or artist portfolios, columns written by regional correspondents, book review series, etc.
Why Should You Apply?
Everyone at MAYDAY is an unpaid volunteer, and most of us work fewer than five hours per week. We all have day jobs. But you should apply anyway. These positions will actively contribute to the overall editorial vision of a publishing enterprise that is excited to embrace new perspectives, investigate new ideas, and discover new writers and artists. Candidates early in their careers will build valuable skills and develop their professional networks, and mid-career candidates will enjoy the freedom to reach out to the writers, artists, and thinkers they most admire to solicit work, invite to interviews, and pursue other projects of their own design. Our publishing schedule is extremely flexible, deadline pressure is minimal, and there are already dozens of helpful and passionate editors on staff who love writing, books, art, and ideas. But we especially look forward to meeting you. Should you be invited to interview for a position, we’ll be very interested to talk about how your work at MAYDAY might help you achieve your own creative and professional goals.
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTSHIPS
MAYDAY offers editorial assistantships each year. The eleven-month duration of the position provides the assistants an in-depth introduction to the publication of an online magazine and the wider literary world. Through this assistantship, MAYDAY provides recent graduates or college-level students with an opportunity not only to gain the crucial experience that comes from working at an online literary publication, but to make professional contacts as well.
MAYDAY seeks to provide space for the personal and professional development of its staff, contributors and readership. In the same vein, the editorial staff encourages our assistants to shape MAYDAY’s curatorial mission and write articles for the website. During their time at MAYDAY, editorial assistants will have the opportunity not only to proofread and fact-check articles for the website, but also participate in projects related to social media, production, and administration. The work our assistants do is critical to our mission, and we aim to provide guidance appropriate to their age and relative experience throughout their time with us.
The internship asks for a commitment of five hours a week and, like all our staff at MAYDAY, is not compensated. The application schedule for the 2022 editorial assistantship is as follows:
Term: March 7, 2022 – August 26, 2022
Applications Accepted: January 3, 2022 – January 21, 2022
Decision by: February 24, 2022
To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to chase@newamericanpress.com. We aim to respond to all applications regardless of acceptance. If you are invited for an interview, you will generally be contacted within three weeks of submitting your application.
