Spring/Summer Issue Has Arrived!

We here at The Journal would like to announce the spring/summer issue, volume 31.1 for those keeping score. We are very excited about this issue, as we are about all issues. They are like children to us, and we don’t play favorites. This is the second issue to sport our new full-bleed cover configuration, and featuring artwork by Felicia van Bork. Between these beautifully rendered covers, you’ll find many literary treats to savor, including the contest winners of the William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize and the OSU Alumni Flash Writing Contest. And it just gets better with several pieces of short fiction, and a number of excellent poems. If you are lucky enough to subscribe to The Journal, it should be in your mailbox shortly, oh so shortly. If you don’t subscribe, why not? Give us a try. You can write us a nice letter, or you can subscribe on-line:

http://english.osu.edu/research/journals/thejournal

Visiting Writer

On May 16th, John Edgar Wideman will be reading at the Wexner Center Film and Video Theater. Mr. Wideman is the author of twenty books, and most recently God’s Gym. He has won numerous awards and prizes including an O’Henry Award, and the Rhea Prize for short fiction. We are very excited to have Mr. Wideman here, and can’t wait to hear him read. We here at The Journal really like his writing. If you are in the area, and by area we mean same time zone, you should stop in. The Journal will be there, and if you see us you should say hello. The reading begins at 7:30. It is sure to draw a big crowd and will no doubt fill up quickly.

– xo The Journal

Congrats, Steven Wingate!

Journal contributor Steven Wingate’s short story collection Wifeshopping has won the 2007 Bakeless Award from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference (judged by Amy Hempel). Wifeshopping, which includes the Journal’s 2006 short story contest winner, “Me and Paul,” will be published by Houghton Mifflin in 2008. Well done, Steven!

And The Winner Is…

We here at The Journal have an important announcement to make, and that announcement has to do with the William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize. Our judge, Robin Hemley, had an exceptionally difficult time choosing the winner, seeing as there were so many fine essays. But in the end he selected Connie Vaughn’s essay, “Finding Oz,” as the champion.

And this is what Mr. Hemley has to say about “Finding Oz”:
“One of the things I admired about ‘Finding Oz’ was its technical control. I also admired the subtle turns in the piece and the way in which it combined research with a personal narrative, how it went from a public/personal disaster to a story about a father/daughter relationship. Really a strong piece!”

The Journal would like to congratulate Connie Vaughn on her wonderful essay. We would also like to congratulate the seven finalists, and two honorable mentions of this year’s creative nonfiction contest.

Honorable Mention:
Deborah Thompson, “The Half-life of Hope”
Ashley McCullough, “Zero Tolerance

Finalists:
Jean Braithwaite, “Time Slices: My Body Fat and Thin”
Joseph L. Ozment, “A Moment in Time”
Sunshine O’Donnell, “Placement”
Gwen Weerts, “The Greatest Show on Earth”
Elizabeth Browne, “Nonpersons”
Edgar Martinez Schulz, “Thanksgiving”
Andrew D. Cohen, “7G”

We would like to thank all of the writers who entered this year’s William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize, and encourage you to enter next year’s contest as well.

And just as a side note, May 1st is the deadline for The Journal’s Short Story Prize judged by the venerable Lee K. Abbott.