What is the Open Doors Review?

Open Doors Review is the literary branch of Unlock Italy. It’s a seasonally published literary & arts magazine founded and edited by Lauren Mouat with the assistance of local editors, authors & occasional guest judges. We feature short fiction, essays, poetry, visual art and interviews with authors and local artisans. We publish work submitted in Italian and in English.

Open Doors Manifesto

In popular culture, Italy is frequently seen as two things: a soap opera Mafiosi video game or a picture postcard tourist dreamland of the Dolce Vita

Let’s add more stories to this picture. Let’s look under the surface. Let’s highlight the creativity and skill of the people in Italy. Now. Today. The point is not to produce something Italy-focused. It’s to create a collection of writing and visual art that is Italy-grown. 

Who do you love? What do you believe in? What do you know? These days, truth is under attack. Reality means different things to different people. While language is increasingly black and white the issues, like our hearts, never are. Art lives in these spaces between. 

We are cracking open, evolving, breaking up with the old world, breaking down the new. That’s where art grows. That’s where conversations happen. There, in that space, we find our humanity when we share and connect with each other.

I challenge you to step into that place and create. Come on in, the doors are open.