The year was 1956 and post-war American youth were rocking to “Heartbreak Hotel” – Elvis Presley’s first chart-topper – while their parents were enjoying cocktails to the lounge sounds of Doris Day and Patti Page. That same year, James Baldwin’s novel “Giovanni’s Room” and Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl and Other Poems” blazed brave new trails in the nation’s consciousness. And here at The University of Tulsa, students founded and published the first issue of the literary journal Nimrod.
“In the relentless manner of its biblical namesake, a great hunter, for nearly 70 years Nimrod has been going after the very best local and international writing,” said Boris Dralyuk, the editor in chief. According to Dralyuk, the journal’s “hunting grounds expanded in the 1960s under visionary editor Francine Ringold. In the 2010s, her successor, Eilis O’Neal, took Nimrod from strength to strength. As we approach our eighth decade, we’re celebrating their accomplishments and reaffirming our commitment to the journal’s central mission, which is to seek exciting, enlightening work by writers of all backgrounds.”
Greatness and potential between the covers
Since its inception, Nimrod’s pages have included both emerging voices as well as an array of poetry and prose by celebrated authors. The latter include W.H. Auden, Mahmud Darwish, Ursula K. LeGuin, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and Rita Dove. The journal has also published interviews with and profiles of figures such as Ezra Pound and Toni Morrison.
For Oklahoma audiences, one of the most memorable short stories to have turned up in Nimrod is S.E. Hinton’s (BA TBC) “Rumble Fish.” This appeared in 1968 in a special issue under the byline Susan Hinton, when the author was a student at UTulsa. “The Outsiders” had been published the year before, bringing the then-19-year-old immediate fame. Nimrod gave Hinton the opportunity to experiment with a new, shorter form of fiction that eventually grew into her third novel, explained Dralyuk.
Steady hands at the helm
Dralyuk became Nimrod’s editor in chief in summer 2024, two years after joining UTulsa as a presidential professor of English and creative writing. A noted poet, translator, and scholar, Dralyuk served for six years at the helm of the Los Angeles Review of Books. “While that publication publishes a much higher volume and wider range of material than Nimrod, its editors look for the same things we seek: surprising, well-crafted, deeply rewarding writing,” he remarked.
Dralyuk has also edited and co-edited several literary anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry. Noting the intersection between those experiences and his current role, Dralyuk regards each issue of Nimrod as a “miniature anthology.” Like an anthology, he said, “it should stand on its own and invite repeat visits.”
One of Dralyuk’s priorities with Nimrod is to continue its legacy as a training ground and launchpad for UTulsa students and recent graduates. To that end, Stasha Cole (B.A. ’22, M.A. ’24), a doctoral student in English as well as a poet and photographer, is working as a graduate assistant with the journal. In September, Dralyuk brought on board Hachi Chuku (B.A. ’24) as managing editor: “Hachi shone in English and creative writing courses as an undergraduate and now she dazzles as a member of the journal’s staff.”
Chuku’s role is multifaceted. It includes overseeing Nimrod’s budget, handling communications and social media, supervising the graduate assistant, and planning events.
“I’m also the primary editor for fiction,” she noted. “This is enabling me to build on the creative writing foundation I gained as a UTulsa student while also expanding my tastes and growing as a writer.” Among Chuku’s major goals for 2025 are to weave Nimrod even further into the local creative community through outreach and special events, including author readings. One of the new events Chuku is most excited about is a hands-on and social media experiment with blackout poetry she is developing for Earth Day in April.
Fresh design, inspiring voices
The first issue of Nimrod under Dralyuk’s leadership appeared in January. “Our winter 2025 issue marks a new beginning that’s also firmly rooted in our history,” he commented. Visually representing these trajectories is the fresh cover design by M. Wright, a dynamic associate professor of graphic design in the School of Art, Design & Art History, who took inspiration from the midcentury-modern designs of the journal’s earliest issues.
“The names our winter issue contains, however, are anything but retro,” Dralyuk glossed. Between its blue-and-white covers, readers will find prose and poetry by the winners of Nimrod’s annual prizes, judged this time by Paisley Rekdal and Kelly Link. The issue also includes poems by Ange Mlinko, a leading poet-critic; a story by Yiru Zhang, a young, bilingual Chinese-American author; and an essay on poetry and social media by Katie Kadue.
Discover more and get involved with Nimrod at nimrod.utulsa.edu!