[An introduction to the first print issue.]

What does it mean to be a nonconformist today? Curiously enough, I only began to ask myself this rather crucial question when I got down to write this introduction to the first printed issue of our magazine, almost three years after the online version of it has been launched. This question did not manifest itself, or at least not conspicuously, at the time when I scribbled down, without much thought, without a moment’s hesitation, that one word, “nonconformist,” immediately making it the title of this publication. I had no doubts. It also had no competitors; it was the first and the only choice, which, I already felt instinctively, would speak to, and resonate with, the hearts and the minds of our future readers—in which bond I saw a unity of nonconformist souls.

But what does it mean to be a nonconformist these days, in the times when from every social media post, from every ad in a glossy magazine, and from every billboard we pass on the street, we are assailed by, and bombarded with, slogans and content designed to appeal more or less directly to our most basic desire to be unique, unrepeatable, one of a kind, to be an eternal individualist, to be an undaunted nonconformist? Is it still possible to claim the noble title of a true nonconformist in a society that prides itself on the rampant commercialization of our inner, insatiable need to stand out from the crowd—invariably presented as gray and insufferably boring? Can you still be a nonconformist in a mass of people, no longer gray, and for a long time at that, but vibrant and dynamic? In a word, how to be a genuine nonconformist in a crowd in which everyone believes they are none other than a nonconformist? Is it even remotely possible?

What struck me the most, and what I did not expect at all, was the fact that in this seemingly simple title our readers and authors, who considered us a potential home for their work, would see themselves like in a mirror, that each of them, regardless of their cultural background or country of origin, would be able to read and decode and interpret this one word in their individual, that is, nonconformist, way, and that each of them would come to drastically different conclusions, thus painting a full breathtaking picture of the present literary landscape, populated by iconoclasts, defiant minds, and people of exciting sensitivities, whose range and diversity exceeded all expectations.

Some of them saw nonconformity as writing stylistically sophisticated and impeccably structured stories, with the help of which they opposed the stream of shallowness and mediocrity pouring out, at every step, at every click, of the screens of our endlessly buzzing and blinking devices. Others used nonconformity to combat stale narratives and deeply entrenched prejudices. There were also those for whom nonconformity was, paradoxically, a calmer, more reflective response to this hectic, mechanized age. In short, as many people, as many readers, so many interpretations.

With time, I have begun to perceive this title, this one innocent word, as an extremely economical counterpart of a poem that anyone can look at and see in it whatever one wishes to see, whatever one hopes to become, and can find in it the fulfillment of one’s deepest nonconformist desires—whatever they may be.

Therefore, it is a fascinating experience to observe the various reactions this word, this title, provokes in our readers. And it is thrilling to wait for further submissions from authors, containing their own interpretations of it.

Meantime, this word, nonconformist, has attracted numerous remarkable writers to our publication over the last three years, whose works have been presented on an ongoing basis on our website, and from which collection, with great difficulty, we had to select the material that was to enter the first printed issue.

I believe there will be more issues like this, and the pandemic that delayed the release of the first one will no longer stand in our way. For I am convinced that in this world, even in this superficially nonconformist world, there is no shortage of real nonconformists looking for their literary home.

[An introduction to the first print issue.]

Photo by Dina/Adobe Stock