When Paul Marion and I launched The Lowell Review three years ago, we wanted to create a print product that contained original prose and poetry from writers from or connected to the Merrimack Valley. We were partly inspired by a two-part article called “In the Valley of the Poets” that Paul had published in 2019 in Merrimack Valley Magazine, but also because of this region’s long heritage of literary magazines.

We recently published our third issue, The Lowell Review 2023, which is available in print form for $15 plus postage from the print-on-demand publisher Lulu.com. As of this weekend, TLR23 is available in its entirety for free as an electronic book on richardhowe.com. (The Lowell Review 2021 and The Lowell Review 2022 are also available electronically and in print from the same locations.)

Much of the content of The Lowell Review has already appeared in blog post form on richardhowe.com, but other entries appear for the first time in the publication.

We also cluster articles and poems around bigger themes. For instance, in this issue, there are many articles on climate change and sustainability, most written by authors associated with UMass Lowell. In recognition of the 60th anniversary of the first appearance of the Beatles in America, we have a group of essays about the group including two by people who saw the band play in person. Then there is Part II of our observance of the centennial of Jack Kerouac’s birth. This edition includes never-before-seen photos from Kerouac’s 1969 funeral taken by David Brow.

There is much, much more. Please check it out.