Rain Taxi
Rain Taxi is a Minneapolis-based book review and literary organization. In addition to publishing its quarterly print edition, Rain Taxi maintains an online edition with distinct content, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts readings, and publishes chapbooks through its Brainstorm Series. Rain Taxis mission is "to advance independent literary culture through publications and programs that foster awareness and appreciation of innovative writing." The magazine is free on the newsstand. It is also available through paid subscription. Structurally, Rain Taxi is a 501 non-profit. It sells advertising at below market rates, much of it to literary presses.
History
The magazine was founded in 1996 by Carolyn Kuebler, Randall Heath, and David Caligiuri. Current editor Eric Lorberer joined the staff after issue one. The magazine is art-directed and business-managed by Kelly Everding.Rain Taxi has been lauded for its role in bringing to light books which might not otherwise be reviewed. The magazine publishes relatively few dismissive reviews. It has been awarded the 2000 Utne Reader Alternative Press Award for Best Arts and Literature Coverage and Best Literary Journal in City Pages. Editor Eric Lorberer was named to the Publishers Weekly "The Twin Cities Top 10".
An exception to the lack of controversy was David Foster Wallace's Summer 2001 review of The Best of the Prose Poem: An International Journal. The review, which took the form of a bullet-pointed index that "broke down the anthology into numerical components", inflamed many of the book's contributors. See responses in Fall 2001 print edition of the magazine.