Ironically named after the blurb in an advertisement for short story reading, Young Fresh and Relevant is a biannual journal of art writing that has no interest in any of the previous adjectives. Its bias is towards texts exploring the boundary between conventional story telling and art writing, and work that may not be shown in a gallery setting.
This first instalment of the journal is a beautiful book, from its 300gsm Bordeaux front cover (with gold letter pressed title!) right the way through to its back counterpart every single page is a pleasure to read – clearly real attention has been paid to the textual layout and its relevance to the story it contains. The journal contains 10 new pieces of writing ranging from flash fiction to poetry and art writing; while each of the pieces clearly demonstrates their own individual merits and worthiness of publication – the standard is incredibly high – they also all hang together in a curiously cohesive whole, despite the differences and range of work here.
Highlights for me have to be Clinic favourites Becca Voelcker and Paul Wasserman and a new discovery for me (which fast became my favourite piece in the journal) David Berridge's 'Stories for a condition of (w)reading in public'.
At the miniscule price of £3 you'd be a fool not to buy one, it is literally cheaper than a pint, and provides infinitely more pleasure. Also with an extremely limited run of only 60 copies, I'd get in as soon as possible; I keep finding myself reading and rereading the journal and can't think of better use of £3. Head over here to purchase your copy!
