Nat. Brut

Nat. Brut is an American biannual^[1] literary magazine founded in 2012.

Its stated goal is "advancing equality and inclusivity in all creative fields."^[2] Nat. Brut is a nonprofit publication sponsored in part by Fractured Atlas.^[3]

Nat. Brut Issue Five Cover

Publication

Nat. Brut offers its content both online and in print,^[4] after a successful Kickstarter project to print the magazine in 2014. The fundraising drive was a Kickstarter staff pick.^[5]

Nat. Brut publishes twice a year, and contains fiction, poetry, nonfiction, interviews and art, with previous issues including a comics section as supplementary material.^[6]

The magazine aims to produce intersectionally feminist content and to welcome a broad range of writers, including those with disabilities.^[7] Nat. Brut publishes multimedia content, including art.^[8] The magazine also runs a blog with more frequent and shorter content on the platform Tumblr.^[9]

^[10]

The magazine's current editor-in-chief is Kayla E., a designer and comics artist.^[11]

Part of the magazine's goal is to change the public's perception of literature. Kayla E. told Time Magazine that “Audiences who mainly consume the white, male narratives that dominate these arts seem to have difficulty empathizing with writers and characters whose narratives are different. Focusing on voices and stories that are traditionally pushed to the margins or completely left out of mainstream art and literary culture allows us to address this empathic disparity.”^[12]

Its Fall 2015 issue included an interview with artist Jayson Musson.^[13]

In 2014 and 2015, Nat. Brut ran a flash fiction contest, judged by Kathleen Hale^[14] and Amy Hempel,^[15] respectively.

Name

Associate editor Tyler Richard stated in an interview with the Harvard Advocate that the magazine's name is "a piece of purposeful nonsense"^[16] that nonetheless echoes the Art Brut movement.

References