timeline (1958-1981)

Click on covers to see issue details. Use arrows and dots to navigate through the years.

* Indicates contributors to Vol. 24, december‘s revival issue.

December Magazine Volume 1

VOL 1

Vol 1.1 – 1958
First Issue!
Editors:  Richard Schechner, Deborah Trissel, James Trissel, Louis Vaczek
Poetry Editor: Raeburn Miller
Associate Editor: Jeff Mark
Content highlights:
“Self Portrait” by Mauricio Lasansky
“Ship of Fools” by Frank Sampson
Two poems by James Wright, poems by Frederick Eckman, Barbara FitzGerald. E.G. Skellings, and Sydney Wolff.

December Magazine Volume 1.2

VOL 1.2

Vol 1.2 – May 1958

Poetry Editor: Raeburn Miller
Staff Assistant: Jeff Marks
Content highlights:
“Quia Amore Langueo” by Robert Mezey*
“On the Blank Card” by Donald Justice
“What is a Short Story?” by Sidney Landau
Two Poems by Robley Wilson*, poems by Martha GrimesJeff Marks, and Robert Sward.
Art by Jean Rush, Phyllis Shevelov

December Magazine Volume 2

VOL 2

Vol 2 – May 1959
Art Editor: Frank Gallo
Fiction Editor: Sidney Landau
Poetry Editor: Robert Mezey
Nonfiction Editor: Jeff Marks
Content Highlights:
“Criticism and the Individual Talent” by Donald Hall
“After the Peace in a Military Hospital” by Philip Levine
“A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Asthmatic” and “Closed Couplet for the Body and the Soul: for Robert Mezey” by Stephen Berg*
“The Riding Masters” by Robert Mezey*, Donald Justice, and Stephen Berg*
“The Rape of the Lock” by Robert Mezey*
“To Wayne Burns” by James Wright

December Magazine Volume 3.1

VOL 3.1

Vol 3.1 – 1960
Editors: Jeff Marks, Allan Davidson, Arthur LeGacy
Poetry Editor: Robert Mezey*
Art Editor: Nick Nichols
Content Highlights:
“The Long River” by Donald Hall
“The Hound” by Peter Everwine
“Anaconda” by Jerry Bumpus
“Orchard Run” by Ron Levin

December Magazine Volume 3.2

VOL 3.2

Vol 3.2 – Winter 1961
Editors: Jeff Marks and Allan Davidson
Poetry Editor: Vern Rutsala*
Content Highlights:
“That Same Pain, That Same Pleasure,” an interview with Ralph Ellison and Richard G. Stern
Poems by Jack Anderson*, Kenneth O. Hanson, Richard F. Hugo, Lawson Fusao Inada*, Morton Marcus, Vern Rutsala*, William Stafford, Lewis Turco*
Woodcuts by Peter Gourfain

December Magazine Volume 3.3

VOL 3.3

Vol 3.3 – July 1961
Editors: Jeff Marks and Allan Davidson
Poetry Editor: Vern Rutsala*
Associate Editor: Marge Piercy*
Content Highlights:
“The Tragical History of Gavin Randall” by R.C. Day
“Reflections on Foreign Policy” by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
Three poems by Pablo Neruda, translated by Clayton Eshleman
Poems by Jack Anderson*, Annette Basalyga*, Michael S. Harper, Lawson Fusao Inada*.

December Magazine Volume 4

VOL 4

Vol 4 – Winter 1963
Editor: Jeff Marks
Poetry Editor: Vern Rutsala*
Associate Editors include Curt Johnson, Marvin Bell*, and Marge Piercy*
Content Highlights:
Five poems by Richard Hugo
Three poems by William Stafford
Three poems by Vern Rutsala*
Four poems by Michael S. Harper
“Bole and Blossom and Briar,” from “Maud Awake” by Marge Piercy*
Poems by Jack Anderson*, Lawson Fusao Inada*, Ralph J. Salisbury*, Warren Slesinger*, Lewis Turco*
Nude, photography by Marvin Bell

December Magazine Volume 5

VOL 5

Vol 5 – Fall 1963
Editor: Curt Johnson
Content Highlights:
“The Furious Seasons” by Raymond Carver
“Winner’s Take” by Robert Wilson
Three poems by Gena Ford
Poems by David Etter, Vi Gale, Jeff Marks, Charles Philbrick, Ruthven Todd,
Drawings by Dean Vietor

December Magazine Volume 6

VOL 6

Vol 6 – 1964
Editor: Curt Johnson
“The Fat Guy” by Henry Roth
“The Bastard’s Lament” by Jerry Bumpus
Three poems by Warren Slesinger*
Poems by Claire Burch, Barbara Drake, David Etter, Jerry Figi, Vi Gale, Eugene Garber

December Magazine Volume 7

VOL 7

Vol 7 –  1965
Editor: Curt Johnson
Poetry Section Editor: Vern Rutsala
Movies Editor: Robert Wilson
Content Highlights:
“Sam’s Land” by Henry Roth
“Vernal Equinox” by Ian MacMillan
Poems by Marvin Bell*, James Crenner. Kenneth O. Hanson, Michael S. Harper, Richard Hugo, Lawson Fusao Inada*, David Ray*, Vern Rutsala*, Ralph J. Salisbury*, William Stafford, Lucien Stryk, Lewis Turco*

December Magazine Volume 8

VOL 8

Vol 8 – 1966
Editor: Curt Johnson
Content Highlights:
“Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?” by Raymond Carver
“From New York On” by Richard Hugo
“The Winner” by Eleanor Hyde
Poems by Ann Darr, Stephen Dunn, David Ignatow, David Lunde, David Ray*, Warren Slesinger*, William Stafford, Lewis Turco*
Prints by Kay Cassill

December Magazine Volume 9

VOL 9

Vol 9 – 1967
Editors: Curt Johnson and Robert Wilson (movies)
Poetry Editors: Stephen Berg and Jeff Marks
Special Editor: Gordon Lish
Associate Editors include Raymond Carver
Content Highlights:
“Dear Sister Jane” by Henry Roth
“Letter to Certain Whores” by Gordon Lish
Poems by Stephen Berg*, Douglas Blazek*, Raymond Carver, Richard F. Hugo, Michael Lally*, Vern Rutsala*, Dennis Schmitz*, C.K. Williams

December Magazine Volume 10

VOL 10

Vol 10 – 1968
Editors: Curt Johnson, Robert Wilson (Movies), Gordon Lish (West), Jeff Marks (East)
Associate Editor: Raymond Carver
Content Highlights:
“The Father” by Raymond Carver
“By The River” by Joyce Carol Oates
Poems by Floyce Alexander, Ann Darr. Alvin Greenberg, Joyce Carol Oates, Alicia Ostriker, Joyce Carol Oates, Lewis Turco*,

December Magazine Volume 11

VOL 11

Vol 11 – 1969
Editors: Curt Johnson, Robert Wilson (Movies), Gordon Lish (West), Jeff Marks (Young Philadelphia Writers), Warren Slesinger* (Special Poetry Section),
Associate Editor: Raymond Carver
Content Highlights:
Richard Hugo interviewed by David Smith
“Shake the Dew” by Gary Gildner*
“The Way Things Are” by Henry Roth
Poems by Douglas Blazek*, Albert Drake, Lawson Fusao Inada*, Michael D. Lally*, William Minor*, Roger Mitchell*, Vern Rutsala*
Art by Manny Farber

December Magazine Volume 12

VOL 12

Vol 12 – 1970
Editor: Curt Johnson
Content Highlights:
“The Red Room” by William Kittredge
“A Night Out” by Raymond Carver
“in the bronx with poliakogg” by Henry Roth
“The Seduction of Lelia Warren” by James Drought
“from The Auschwitz Ballads” by Chaim Mendelson
“Leah” by Norma Klein
Poems by Gary Gildner, Alvin Greenberg, Ann Darr, David Etter
Editorial remarks by Joyce Carol Oates

December Magazine Volume 13

VOL 13

Vol 13 – 1971
Editor: Curt Johnson
Poetry Editor: Dave Etter
Content Highlights:
“The Rule of Power, Corruption, & Repression” by Richard Kostelanetz
“Trying to Forget the Self” by Charles Baxter
“Cheerios” by Gary Gildner*
“I” by Michael Fedo*
“The Loser” by Ian MacMillan
“Making It and Faking It” by Jack Conroy
Poems by Wendell Berry, Charles Bukowski, Stephen Dunn, Albert Goldbarth*, Robert Hahn*, Ted Kooser, Colleen McElroy, Leonard Neufeldt*, Peter H. Sears*

December Magazine Volume 14

VOL 14

Vol 14 – 1972
Editor: Curt Johnson
Special issue of december devoted to ‘The Bonnyclabber,” a novel by George Chambers

December Magazine Volume 15

VOL 15

Vol 15 – 1973
Editor: Curt Johnson
Content Highlights:
“Once in Ordos” by Henry Roth
“The New York Literary Mob” by Richard Kostelanetz
“Sentence Passed” by Donald Barthelme,
Poems by Rita Mae Brown, Grace Cavalieri*, William Childress, Ann Darr, Lee Lally, Michael Lally*, Linda Pastan*
Drawings by R. Crumb

December Magazine Volume 18

VOL 18

Vol 18 – 1976
Editor: Curt Johnson
Poetry Editor: Ron Offen
Content Highlights:
“Five by Hugh Fox”
“The Morphadite” by Jack Conroy
“The Pleasures of Merely Circulating” by Gary Gildner*
“All Rightie” by Otis Ferguson
Poems by Blythe Ayne, Norbert Blei, Alvin Greenberg, Sam Hamod, Stanley Kiesel, Greg Kuzma, Michael Lally*, G.E. Murray*, Ron Offen

December Magazine Volume 23

VOL 23

Vol 23 – 1981
“The Feminist Issue”
Editor: Curt Johnson
Poetry Editor: Diane Kruchkow
“Women, Feminism, and the 1980 Elections” by Christine R. Riddiough
“The Kimberly Toughs” by Jack Conroy
Poems by Diane Kruchkow, Colleen McElroy, Joyce Odam, Eleanor Risteen. Craig Sautter, Lynne Savitt, Marjorie Touzjian, Christina Zawadiwsky