Mise En Place Publishing of Charleston is launching the debut issue of a new literary journal, Revisionist, on April 30. The imprint, established in 2025 by Kate Connor Boyette in partnership with local graphic designer F. Scott Long and Philip Rhodes, formerly of Garden & Gun, began as a cookbook publishing outfit.
The launch of Revisionist, an annual anthology–slash–magazine adds a new spin to the creative portfolio.
“This is a platform for female voices — artists, writers, culinarians, emerging authors and poets — to share meaningful stories that speak to the specific experience of being a woman,” Boyette said.
In an exclusive with the Charleston City Paper, Boyette shared her thoughts on everything from boutique publishing and the power of storytelling to the economics of attracting and incentivizing contributors.
City Paper: Tell us about the inaugural issue. How did it come together?
Kate Boyette: It’s pretty personal for me. Finding my voice again and coming back to myself — first after Covid-19, which first propelled me into writing, and, later while dealing with situations in my home life — opened up this whole other world for me. I got my Master’s of Fine Arts (M.F.A.), developed friendships with amazing female writers and found myself so moved by stories that were both unique and happened to intersect with these major moments in my life, as well.
CP: Give us a snapshot of what readers can expect.
KB: Sure! Here’s sort of a bulleted list of some of the pieces in the Table of Contents.
Artist Heather Jones uses fabric as a feminist nod to explore domestic space.
Artist Allison Gildersleeve showcases landscapes of home through nature and household objects.
Friendship is a proxy for a coveted home in “Burn,” by writer Beneth Goldschmidt-Sauer.
Memories of childhood residences and the figures feature prominently in Jessica Cuello’s poetry.
Artist Magnolia Laurie reflects on her childhood in Puerto Rico.
Writer Meg LeDuc’s “A Different Kind of Home” transports the reader into a young woman’s institutionalized experiences following a psychotic break.
Chef and co-owner of Harken Café and Harbinger, Greer Gilchrist, conjures nostalgia through a shared love of sweets with her grandmother.
CP: The theme of the first issue is “home,” but not just Charleston. You envision this as a platform for voices and readers from around the country (and the world, for that matter), right?
KB: The idea of home was a prescient thread in the world, and definitely present and foremost in my mind when I first had this idea. It still is, maybe even more so, today. I went through a divorce, broke a bone that rendered me immobile in a way that challenged my identity as a mother and suffered some mental health challenges that felt really existential.
On a global level, with the pace of life and major events happening all around us, all of the time, I think we’re all searching, reconstructing, revisioning what constitutes a home, both within our personal spaces and our communities.
Revisionist was about me initially, as selfish as that sounds. But it became something so much bigger quickly. Now, it’s about all of us, wherever we are.
CP: What did you identify as missing in the existing landscape of literary journals that drove this project?
KB: I’ve found the publishing industry not only daunting, but unrepresentative of women and female voices. It’s missing stories that speak to motherhood, women, our specific struggles. It’s also incredibly hard to access, to break into. Revisionist was created out of a desire to disrupt these trends and promote a more equitable model.
We operate as a platform for new voices, the people who get passed over by agents, publishers, the business-end of the publishing industry.
And the business model is more akin to that of a collective — paying contributors above what you might find at other literary journals and offering each artist the option to sell and profit off the magazine directly.
CP: What quote or excerpt stands out among the pieces published in the
first issue?
KB: Well, the magazine is named after the famous Margaret Atwood quote, “We were all revisionists; what we were revising is ourselves.” The idea of celebrating visionary voices pretty much sums it up.
Revisionist ($25) can be purchased online at miseenplacepr.com/store/revisionist, and locally at Buxton Books, Harken Café, The Harbinger Café and The George Gallery.
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