Launching a new magazine is tough under the best of circumstances, but Ann Kjellberg has rallied some of the biggest names in the literary world to a new journal that already has potential to be an enduring beacon for great writing. Kjellberg, a part-time editor at the New York Review of Books, created Little Star two years ago, choosing the title from a poem by Joseph Brodsky. Using digital publishing tools, she's been able to produce a high-end magazine on a shoestring budget and deliver an engrossing collection of serious literary prose and poetry in each issue.

Kjellberg started with a roster of the writers she wanted to work with, and then began reaching out to them. The first issue of Little Star, published in early 2010, was filled with all-star talent: poems by Mary Jo Salter, Seamus Heaney, and Paul Muldoon; stories by Tim Parks and Padget Powell; and five short pieces by Lydia Davis that earned the magazine its first Pushcart Prize, an annual award for the best American writing from small presses.

The second issue of Little Star just came out, with more great content like Jamaica Kincaid's "The Dean and Mrs. Hess," which re-imagines the Greek hero Heracles as a little boy in the suburbs. Kjellberg is already putting together the next issue, and hopes to have it ready by the fall. "I'm calling it an annual," she says. "People encourage me to publish more often, but... I want every piece to be stellar, to give people something special on every page."

While the barriers to entry into publishing have been lowered, making it easier to put out a magazine, it's also a challenge to create one that grabs people's attention. So far, Little Star has met the challenge in true Character Approved fashion. Until the next issue comes out, you can always find new pieces on the Little Star blog.

[Image: Author's own]