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Photo By Jymi Bolden
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Andrea Engels (far left) conceived the idea of the Blue
Writer, but the literary quarterly is a true arts collective
equally incorporating the talents of (L-R) Cynthia Nitz
Ris, Blaise Weller and Ryan Fardo.
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It's there, quietly lurking in local bars and businesses along with copies of ArtSpike, X-Ray and, ahem, CityBeat. Without any of the smoke and mirrors likely to be employed by The Cincinnati Enquirer's new weekly due later this month, the Blue Writer made a graceful bow onto the scene Oct. 9.
Setting the Blue Writer apart is rather elementary.
"First of all, there's no communication platform. We're going to have the focus on literature," explains Andrea Engels, the literary quarterly's proud yet reluctant publisher. ("I don't really give too much to titles," she notes.)
For Engels, the Blue Writer is a collective, four individuals equally sharing in workload and responsibility. No one person has final say in the ultimate product. It's a point Engels hits home continually throughout conversation. One would think she's merely modest if she weren't so sincere -- and insistent.
The most credit Engels will give herself is the Blue Writer began as her idea, and she concedes to that with something akin to embarrassment. If she could just fade from view, she probably would.
Unfortunately for her, she's an introverted extrovert. She strikes quite a presence in a room. Her tussled hair is movie-star quality. A black tie falls against her skin below her black pin-striped blouse with a camel-colored skirt both contrasting and uniting the ensemble. A silver, stud-like piercing above her lip makes for a shiny, sexy mole.
Now that I've written this description, I'm fairly certain Engels is blushing, possibly contemplating mock threats of violence and a ritualized burning of said outfit.
Engels' personality is every bit as dynamic. She chats up (and teases) a reporter like an old friend. She shares personal asides, respectfully left off the record. She displays a wicked and smart sense of humor, most in favor of using herself as the source of jokes.
And, while talking about the Blue Writer, she effuses an intelligent and serious passion, full of opinions and dead-on insights into Cincinnati, the life of a writer and making this publication work.
"I know that there were attempts out there. I know that," she concedes. "I think what the major problem of those publications is the PR aspect, not getting the word out there."
So she networks. She e-mails. She takes meetings at the Northside Tavern, home to the Blue Writer's launch party Thursday night where donations will be accepted.
"Put more emphasis on the donation," she says, laughing. "I can do it. It's covered. It just would make my life easier."
As she speaks, Engels' German accent clicks above the low din the Tavern serves up in the early evening hours.
"Well, I'm German, obviously. Can't hide it," she jokes. She moved to Cincinnati, where she teaches German at UC, a little more than a year ago. It's been just long enough for her to draw comparisons between Cincinnati and her hometown of Aachen, Germany, which she constantly refers to as "my city."
"In my city, the art scene is not so big," she says. "The art scene here, there's not just one magazine devoted just to the writing. The effort is there, the motivation is there."
She recalls a conversation with a writer who honestly believed he couldn't charge for his writing. "I nearly fell under the table," Engels recalls as her frustration and anger over the sentiment spills out in her hand gestures.
"(I want to) give something back to the low self-esteem I felt from this writer," she says. "That's what I hope this magazine will be: some motivation."
Seeing such a lack of self-esteem in a writer motivated Engels to begin work on the Blue Writer. She fiercely protects her own writing and wants to do so for others.
She began by talking to people who turned her on to other people until she found Cynthia Nitz Ris, Blaise Weller and Ryan Fardo. Ris and Weller are the magazine's co-editors; Fardo is its designer.
"What I love about the people I work with is the devotion," Engels explains. "That's what I like. At the beginning it was my baby, and it's turned into everybody's baby. We're all very different. We're all very strong characters as well. We don't know yet if that's a good thing or bad thing.
"Every one of us have different literary preferences. I'm into romanticism. I think we cover a wide range of what (is needed) to evaluate an issue. We never set a straight line. We don't really set anything. The first issue is going to be more German-based. I don't know why (she virtually rolls her eyes with her last comment)."
Keeping in the collective work ethic behind the Blue Writer, Engels serves on the editorial board examining submissions, ranging from short stories and poems to essays and reviews. "We're very democratic about it. We rip 'em apart," she remarks only half-joking.
They use that mentality on one another as well.
"We talk about it," she says. "If any one of us wants to submit something, it goes to the other two. We don't want to form an elite. We're really tough to one another."
Engels and her team are tough. They need to be. They're preserving literature by looking for the best. They want to do so, however, in a supportive, constructive fashion.
"We want to keep people interested," she says, her excitement carrying her. "We want to keep them involved. We want them to keep submitting because there'll be this one submission where we'll be like. 'Oh, my God!'
"I want every writer to feel like this is theirs, too."
THE BLUE WRITER holds a launch party at Northside Tavern at 8 p.m. Thursday, with music by Viva La Foxx and IfIhAdAhIfI starting at 10:30 p.m. To submit work, e-mail editor@thebluewriter.com
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