Sonora Review will release its 60th issue on Thursday — and welcome its arrival with a night of literary celebration and live reading.

The Review is the graduate student literary journal at the UA and remains one of only a few graduate student-run literary journals in which the students retain full editorial authority. The journal isn’t afraid to take full advantage of this privilege either.

The award-winning literary journal was founded in 1980 and publishes two issues per year. Graduate students from the UA’s creative writing program not only contribute to the journal, but also shape its content and production.

Whitney DeVos, a fine arts master’s candidate in creative writing and one of two editors in chief of the Sonora Review, explained that the journal is an opportunity for both established and emerging writers.

Likewise, the journal is a place where graduate students can take risks and showcase the innovation of their works.

“The editorial staff strives to feature work of high quality that leans toward the original, experimental and avant-garde rather than many of the run-of-the-mill literary journals that value highly crafted, obviously MFA workshopped pieces,” DeVos said.

Each issue of Sonora Review contains works of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, as well as artistic images.

Sonora Review 60, as the newest publication is called, features numerous writers from all different points in their careers. The newest issue in particular boasts writing by Sonora Review contest winners, as well as poetry by Aaron Kunin and Jennifer Denrow.

At 8 p.m., Sonora Review will kick off the release of this issue with a reading and benefit at the UA Poetry Center. Tickets are not required, but there is a suggested donation of $5.

The benefit will include live readings of excerpts from the new issue, as well as readings by literary power couple Kate Bernheimer and Brent Hendricks. There will also be Sonora Review Madlibs and the Poetry Center will sell copies of past and present Sonora Review publications.