Lara Bernhardt

Conclave Lara Bernhardt

In this issue, Conclave presents "The Trickster's Song," literary work that defies genre definitions and conventional expectations. Michael Chabon introduced the idea of "trickster lit," in which "the highbrow and the lowbrow, once kept chastely separate, are now hooking up, [and] you can almost see the future of literature coming." The world is filled with voices, but some are infrequently heard because they don't conform to expectations. This issue presents a wide range of voices, hybrid work that focuses on originality and fresh perspectives. The common thread is innovation, genuine emotion, and plumbing the full range of human experience. These are the tricksters, the writers who combine the best of all forms to produce wonderful work regardless of sex, race, orientation, religion, or country of origin. In this way, Editor-in-Chief Lara Bernhardt writes, we "[c]ontinue bringing the divine into the world."