Editor's Note

Sophia Lee
Editor-in-Chief

I am pleased to announce that The Penn Review's Spring 2016 issue is finally here.  You may have noticed, when you first picked up this magazine, the odd square shape of the pages, or the fact that the cover is actually a composite of other covers, representing the history of the magazine from its founding in 1966 as The Pennsylvania Review to the book you are holding right now.  This is our 50th anniversary issue.

I would very much like to say that this issue represents 50 years worth of our devotion to the literary and visual arts (and in some ways it certainly does), but for the most part, we are simply a group of people who share a love for stories, who like to think about poetry, and who are moved by art.  This issue is the culmination of exactly that, but it is also an acknowledgment of the editors, authors, and artists—past and present—who have contributed to The Penn Review and without whom this issue would not exist.  For this reason, we have merged design elements from our earliest and latest issues, printing on square paper as did our predecessors in 1966, while maintaining some of the modern typography that we have used over the last few years.

In this issue you will find works that probe at violence and gender; personal essays about family and writing; images of nature, and nature reimagined; poetry in the form of a graphic novel; worlds on fire; a sonnet; and moments of peace.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.