Posts By: Jennifer Luebbers

IR + Gulf Coast + Writers We Love + AWP 2012 = A Reading You Won’t Want to Miss!

Image: smartdestinations.com

As Barbie says, “Math class is tough,” and like Beyonce, I don’t know much about algebra, but I do know this: when you add together the collective energies of Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, and five writers that have been featured in recent issues of both journals, you’re sure to come up with exciting results. That’s why we are thrilled to announce our first GC/IR reading, which will take place on March 1, 2012, at AWP’s annual Conference & Bookfair.

Plan to join us for an evening of incredible readings by Michael Czyzniejewski, Ross Gay, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Leslie Parry, and D.A. Powell at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago (just around the block from Hilton Chicago & Palmer House Hilton), at 8:30pm. There is a suggested donation of $4.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Are MFA Student Editors Legit?

Recently, a friend and colleague drew my attention to a blog post on Passages North’s website. In this post, editor Jennifer A. Howard makes a point of assuring submitters their manuscripts are never, under any circumstances, accepted or rejected by MFA students at Northern Michigan.

Here, at Indiana Review, our editors, genre editors, and associate genre editors are all MFA students. We, as a journal, are committed to ensuring that our acceptance process is as painstakingly meticulous, exhaustive, and democratic as possible.

What does this process look like? Well, each week, our staff of MFA student editors spends hours combing through hundreds of submissions—reading, re-reading, and making difficult decisions as to which poems, stories, and essays to select for further consideration. Then, graduate students—first-, second-, and third-years alike—are responsible for reading and giving careful consideration to the work selected for discussion. At the end of each week, we gather together to engage in a thoughtful, thorough conversation about this work. After a piece has been discussed at length, each reader casts his or her vote as to whether she or he would like to see the piece in Indiana Review. Majority rules.

While Howard does emphasize the importance of a collective readership at Passages North, saying that, no submission gets “sent back (or accepted) based on any one person,” she makes it clear that those who have the final say are the “actual editors,” rather than those MFA “kid[s].”

As someone who is so fortunate as to meet each week to listen to the intelligent comments and questions contributed by a group of invested, passionate, and informed readers, I can’t help but take issue with the notion that graduate students are incapable of making informed decisions. I believe our ideas, aesthetics, and opinions matter; I believe we can—and should—play a significant role in shaping the contemporary literary world.

Readers, what do you think? We’d love to hear what you have to say!

Steve Scafidi and Michael Martone

Martone, One Poet’s Notes

What do Steve Scafidi and Michael Martone have in common, aside from both being published in Indiana Review and having alliterative names? Don’t worry; we won’t keep you guessing… Next week, these writers will both give readings in Bloomington! Steve Scafidi will read Tuesday, October 4 at 7 p.m. in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Faculty Club Room. Michael Martone will read Wednesday, October 5th at 7 p.m. at Boxcar Books.

Scafidi, How a Poem Happens

Steve Scafidi is the author of Sparks from a Nine Pound Hammer, which was nominated for the 2001 National Book Award and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, and won the Fifth Annual Larry Levis Reading Prize. For Love of Common Words, his second book, was published in 2006.  He occasionally teaches poetry at Johns Hopkins University, and he works as a cabinet maker in West Virginia, where he lives with his wife and two children. In case you can’t make it to the reading, or if you want a little sneak peek, listen to him read select poems here.

Michael Martone is the author of five books of short fiction, including Seeing Eye published in September of 1995 by Zoland Books, as well as Pensées: The Thoughts of Dan Quayle (Broad Ripple Press, 1994), Fort Wayne Is Seventh on Hitler’s List (Indiana University Press, 1990), Safety Patrol (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), and Alive and Dead in Indiana (Alfred A. Knopf, 1984). He has edited two collections of essays about the Midwest: A Place of Sense: Essays in Search of the Midwest and Townships: Pieces of the Midwest (University of Iowa Press, 1988 and 1992). He edits Story County Books, and his newest book, The Flatness and Other Landscapes (University of Georgia Press, 2000), a collection of his own essays about the Midwest, won the AWP Prize for Creative Nonfiction in 1998. Martone is currently a Professor at the University of Alabama, where he has been teaching since 1996. He lives with poet Theresa Pappas and their two sons, Sam and Nick.

Fall for Banned Books!

Image: Six Chix

Oh hey; it’s that time of year again! In honor of Banned Books Week, which kicks off this Saturday, September 24, and runs through Saturday, October 1, the American Library Association and fellow cosponsors will be hosting the first virtual Read-Out. Videos under two minutes that include a reading from a banned or challenged book can be submitted by anyone and will be featured on the Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out Youtube Channel (see instructions for how to upload your video here).

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a forbidden fave of Editor Deborah Kim, Fiction Editor Rachel Lyon expresses an ardor for D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love, and I can’t imagine how I would’ve made it through adolescence without Judy Bloom’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.

What is your favorite banned book? Let us know!