This is The Minison Project
Home of TMP Magazine, the Sonnet Collection Series,
the minison zine, and MiniPress.
Give us a read:
the
minison zine
The second volume of our ever-popular Mythological Minison issue is here! We are ecstatic to present to you modern creativity meets ancient mythology! Enjoy!
Sonnet Coll’n
Series
The fourth volume of our Sonnet Collection Series is here! Our contributors for this volume really made us proud with these fourteen sonnets! Happy Publication Day, Sonneteers!
TMP
Magazine
This issue is HOT off the presses! Get your marshmallows and bug spray ready, issue 2 of TMP Magazine is here! (You can read Campfire Stories in front of an A/C, we won’t judge.)
access all issues here.
About Us
What is The Minison Project?
Tom Snarsky and Jo Ianni are credited with popularizing the form of a minimal sonnet, or “minison”, which is a very small poetic form with only one rule (and as with any poetic form, we use the word “rule” loosely): make a poem with only fourteen letters total. For example: « cobalt sea glass » (6 + 3 + 5 = 14). The sonnet is, of course, a classic and highly respected form in English poetry, and there is precedent for this kind of idea in Seymour Mayne’s word-sonnets, as well as in the work of Noelle Kocot.
When Tom and Jo collaborated on a micro-chapbook using this 14-letter format, they decided to share their work, and it invited other inventive poets to create beautiful art in this wonderfully small space (cf. Michael O’Brien’s collection of minisons). That’s when the two decided that it was time to start a passion project.
It started out as a simple call for minimal sonnets, which led to an informal zine release, and then another, and now, although not run by Tom and Jo, The Minison Project is alive and ready to go! We can already see the format blossoming into new, related forms, such as the minison coronet mentioned in our Issue #0, and the 14 letter/14 line poem that our EIC is so very fond of.
A bit over a year later we introduce our literary magazine, TMP Magazine, and two years after our journey began we introduced our printing press, MiniPress. We are excited to see how we continue to grow and we are so grateful that you’re along for the ride!
Melissa Ashley Hernandez
Founding Editor-in-Chief
Melissa (she/her) has her BA in Acting and Directing and is currently working towards her MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing from DeSales University. She is the founder of The Minison Project and heads all three projects as Editor-in-Chief.
Her prose can be found in two short stories published in 2021, “The Rum Keg Girl” in the Cemetery Gates Media collection, Paranormal Contact: A Quiet Horror Confessional, and “Lady Killer” in Volume 4 of Kandisha Press’ Women of Horror Anthology, Don’t Break the Oath.
Her poetry can be found in the first two issues of the minison zine, The Daily Drunk Magazine, Fahmidan Journal, and Bandit Fiction, among others.
Jocelyn Luizzi
Social Media Manager
Jocelyn Luizzi (she/they) is a writer currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. They are the founder and editor of Write Through the Night, an online magazine dedicated to sharing its writers opinions on books, tv shows, movies, culture, and more. She is an avid reader and writer of both poetry and prose. Their writing can be found in Issue 15 of the minison zine, and Snowflake Magazine.
Follow her on Twitter!
Bel Wolf
Poetry/Nonfiction Reader
Bel Wolf is an undergraduate psychology student whose work has appeared in The Quarry and Sledgehammer Lit. Despite being born in San Francisco, Bel never finished Howl.
Olly Nze
Poetry/Nonfiction Reader
Olly Nze (he/him) is a Nigerian writer, poet, and editor. When he isn’t tending to his cacti, he writes decent poetry and acceptable prose to keep himself sane. He has been published in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity, Serotonin Poetry, and others. You can read his work here.
Follow Megan on Instagram!
Megan Ridgway
Poetry/Nonfiction Reader
Megan Ridgway is a British poet and writer currently studying an Mlitt in Creative Writing. Megan’s work can be found in Storyteller’s Refrain (Issue 2) and Alchemy (2022 Issue).
Emma McCoy
Poetry/Nonfiction Reader
Emma McCoy (she/her) is a poet and essayist with love for the old stories. She is the assistant editor of Whale Road Review and co-editor of Driftwood. She is the author of “In Case I Live Forever” (2022), and has poems published in Flat Ink, Paddler Press, and Jupiter Review. She is an honorable mention for Craft Literary’s CNF contest, and a nominee for the AWP Intro to Journals project.
Follow her on Twitter!
You can follow them on social media @loredropout!
Mara Franzen
Fiction Reader
Mara Franzen (they/them) is a writer, editor, actor, and nerd! You can find their work on Book Riot and Warmer, as well as a few other nerd-related sites. If they aren’t writing, they can be found playing Dungeons and Dragons on the internet.
Liam Al-Hindi
Fiction Reader
Liam Al-Hindi (he/him) is a graduate of UNO’s English and Creative Writing programs. For him, essays, poems, and stories are all handholds to grip tightly, to escape the violence of our present circumstances. His work can be found in 13th Floor Magazine, and Touchstone Literary Magazine.
Melissa Martini
Fiction Reader
Melissa Martini (she/her) is a short fiction writer and Capricorn from New Jersey. She studied Creative Writing in both undergrad and graduate school at Seton Hall University. Currently, she serves as Founding EIC of Moss Puppy Magazine. She has three dogs, all of which are fluffballs.
The Minison Project 