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LEAN magazine

@leanmag.bsky.social
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Magazine for less-protagonist-centered fiction // Contributors get paid // Sign up for the newsletter here: tinyurl.com/nhbn53kn

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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🚨A LEAN Magazine Announcement🚨 LEAN is devoted to "non-protagonist-centered-writing" but this has always been a misnomer, not accurately reflecting the work published in the magazine, or the conceptual gist, and so a change is necessary: Less-protagonist-centered writing
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
non-protagonist-centered writing now means, as it always should have, an extreme response to protagonism, while protagonist-centered writing represents the other extreme... LEAN is all about Less-protagonist-centered writing!
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The concept was prompted by the reflection that a lot of contemporary writing locates itself formally closer to the protagonist-centered poll. What LEAN calls for is writing that formally goes in the other direction, because that other direction has been relatively unexplored...
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Fundamentally, it means keeping the presence of any one character (human or otherwise) in check so that no one character dominates the text. And less-protagonist-centered writing accurately reflects that orientation.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"non-protagonist-centered writing" is a provocative, absolutist concept that suggests a mission to eliminate the protagonist. But this does not reflect the concept's actual scalar and relative quality (as demonstrated in essays outlining the concept and the stories in LEAN)...
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🚨A LEAN Magazine Announcement🚨 LEAN is devoted to "non-protagonist-centered-writing" but this has always been a misnomer, not accurately reflecting the work published in the magazine, or the conceptual gist, and so a change is necessary: Less-protagonist-centered writing
131
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
LEAN is back again with issue #12! J S Khan takes us on a 19th century British ship whose lively passengers are contained byt a looming event @carlterver depicts real uncanny change in modern Nigeria tuned to "the slappiness of sound" www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
031
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
LEAN is back again with issue #12! J S Khan takes us on a 19th century British ship whose lively passengers are contained byt a looming event @carlterver depicts real uncanny change in modern Nigeria tuned to "the slappiness of sound" www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Hi, thanks for responding. ALA redistributes resources to libraries in need and should do more of that. Pursuing sponsorships involves staff labor as well as professional fundraising services. And as far as priorities, have you seen the front page of American Libraries? It's all about the celebs.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Rachel Maddow's like - "you paid me 100k to speak at a library conference and I know nothing about a fundamental role of librarianship hahaha"
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Jill Biden charges around 50k for an event, Rachel Maddow closer to 100k...that's what ALA members are increasingly paying for... this celebrity-worship that has little-to-nothing to do with libraries which if you haven't heard are having a hard time out there...ALA is so profoundly out of touch!
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Jill Biden charges around 50k for an event, Rachel Maddow closer to 100k...that's what ALA members are increasingly paying for... this celebrity-worship that has little-to-nothing to do with libraries which if you haven't heard are having a hard time out there...ALA is so profoundly out of touch!
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Reposted by LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Jill Biden charges around 50k for an event, Rachel Maddow closer to 100k...that's what ALA members are increasingly paying for... this celebrity-worship that has little-to-nothing to do with libraries which if you haven't heard are having a hard time out there...ALA is so profoundly out of touch!
111
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Jill Biden charges around 50k for an event, Rachel Maddow closer to 100k...that's what ALA members are increasingly paying for... this celebrity-worship that has little-to-nothing to do with libraries which if you haven't heard are having a hard time out there...ALA is so profoundly out of touch!
111
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
None of ALA's featured speakers are librarians or connected to libraries in any meaningful way. It's all about booking celebrities, paying them huge honoraria and then passing that along to members in the form of obscene conference fees. What a racket!
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
None of ALA's featured speakers are librarians or connected to libraries in any meaningful way. It's all about booking celebrities, paying them huge honoraria and then passing that along to members in the form of obscene conference fees. What a racket!
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Matt Leibel @mattleibel.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Pleased to have a new story about life in a very odd small town in @leanmag.bsky.social the magazine for “non-protagonist-centered fiction”
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
We are officially LEANing into spring over here with issue #11! Matt Leibel's "Town" describes a sort of place that's bigger and smaller than the sum of its parts. Meanwhile Selen Ozturk's story "Aurora" is all about the push-and-pull between a story and its writer. www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
In the spirit of practicing what I preach here's a non-protagonist-centered short story about Vikings, Christianity and what happens when the present meets the past. clereviewofbooks.com/if-the-vikin...
clereviewofbooks.com
If the Vikings - Cleveland Review of Books
None of them had wallets or cell-phones or any ID. Just Viking stuff.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
In the spirit of practicing what I preach here's a non-protagonist-centered short story about Vikings, Christianity and what happens when the present meets the past. clereviewofbooks.com/if-the-vikin...
clereviewofbooks.com
If the Vikings - Cleveland Review of Books
None of them had wallets or cell-phones or any ID. Just Viking stuff.
011
Reposted by LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Here's an essay I wrote calling on lit mags to use their about pages to tell us about the kind of writing they publish. litmagnews.substack.com/p/what-are-o...
litmagnews.substack.com
What Are Our Literary Magazines All About?
"What do our literary magazines seek to accomplish?"
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Here's an essay I wrote calling on lit mags to use their about pages to tell us about the kind of writing they publish. litmagnews.substack.com/p/what-are-o...
litmagnews.substack.com
What Are Our Literary Magazines All About?
"What do our literary magazines seek to accomplish?"
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
don't you want to "burn this place down" lol - but in all seriousness the important thing is the viability of creativity and its independence from the creative industries
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Sophie Drukman-Feldstein @sophiedrukman.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Check out my short story “Economy of Language” in @leanmag.bsky.social! This one was arduous to write, by which I mean that I had a great time. Very excited that it found a home in a magazine I admire so much www.lean-mag.com/economyoflan...
lean-mag.com
Sophie Drukman-Feldstein
Economy of Language
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
LEAN magazine is here for the holidays with Issue #10 Sophie Drukman-Feldstein's "Economy of Language" depicts a world of exhaustible speech - you better watch what you say Meanwhile Owen Yingling's "Mene Mene" is a story of uncertain resurrection www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
LEAN Magazine is open for business! Please send along your work. LEAN has mostly focused on fiction but we're very interested in memoir, especially the kind that evokes the contexts and conditions of life, sidelining the individual for the sake of conveying useful information
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Rose Facchini @rosefacchini.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Another translation published! Check out my translation of Diego Lama’s story “The Silent City” in LEAN. A big thanks to Semyon Khokhlov for featuring us!
lean-mag.com
Diego Lama
The Silent City
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
I wonder how you can tell they didn't want to engage...because the exchange is awkward? I've lived in the Midwest, too, and you can talk to people, and sure there can be some awkwardness in any convo with a stranger but that's par for the course and often clears quickly
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
but isn't that a reason for talking to people and explaining? this is just a way of keeping walls up
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
LEAN magazine is back at it with issue #9! Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite. Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention. www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
041
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
LEAN magazine is back at it with issue #9! Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite. Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention. www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
041
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
thanks for the interest but I'm out of those copies...I'm planning on doing another print run sometime in the next month or so
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
The new LEAN Magazine - Issue 8 - is here! Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right. And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho. www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
The new LEAN Magazine - Issue 8 - is here! Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right. And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho. www.lean-mag.com
lean-mag.com
031
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Very excited to share this essay about the great German author Alexander Kluge whose unusual work is all about common human feelings and "happy endings that don't lie." www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
full-stop.net
The Human Situation in the Work of Alexander Kluge
All of Kluge’s books contribute to one large, ongoing project to build up a toolkit of resistant feelings that readers can use to plot their own ways out.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Thanks so much to @fullstopmag.bsky.social and @kailanthropy.bsky.social for editing!
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Very excited to share this essay about the great German author Alexander Kluge whose unusual work is all about common human feelings and "happy endings that don't lie." www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
full-stop.net
The Human Situation in the Work of Alexander Kluge
All of Kluge’s books contribute to one large, ongoing project to build up a toolkit of resistant feelings that readers can use to plot their own ways out.
152
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
"It's really not so easy to find sentences that explain who you are. But maybe it's not so important, either." ---Jenny Erpenbeck
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
There's nothing essential about narrative modes and that's especially true when it comes to their relation to protagonism. 3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
The deciding factor is often how much narrative attention a character receives, how present they are in the text, how much space they literally take up.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
There's nothing essential about narrative modes and that's especially true when it comes to their relation to protagonism. 3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
131
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Self-centered protagonism is a problem that demands formal solutions. It's not enough for a character to be "self-aware" or even to look out beyond themselves because such looking can easily turn into self-affirmation.
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Anyway, it's a really great work out recently from @spurleditions.bsky.social in a new translation by Dana Lupo
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The narrative does not present this primarily as a problem for the hero but rather as a problem for other people, and that's precisely because this novel does not subscribe to the modern dogma of protagonist supremacy
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The utopian novel The Known Southern Land (1676) is the kind of early work that can help us understand the blind spots of the modern novel's insistence on the supremacy of the protagonist...
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Anyway, it's a really great work out recently from @spurleditions.bsky.social in a new translation by Dana Lupo
031
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The narrative does not present this primarily as a problem for the hero but rather as a problem for other people, and that's precisely because this novel does not subscribe to the modern dogma of protagonist supremacy
131
LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
rather it results in a natural concern for the welfare of the people that come into the hero's life: "for it seems that I lived only by causing the death of those who were trying their hardest to save my life."
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The early life of the hero of this novel is marked by the loss of his parents and several other people attempting to take care of him. But this does not, as it would in the modern novel, lead to self-centered reflexivity (I'm cursed, I'm a problem, etc.)...
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LEAN magazine @leanmag.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The utopian novel The Known Southern Land (1676) is the kind of early work that can help us understand the blind spots of the modern novel's insistence on the supremacy of the protagonist...
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