Issue Pre-Release Party

The Journal, The Ohio State University’s award winning literary magazine of poetry and prose, is hosting a pre-release party for the upcoming fall/winter issue at Rumba Café on Saturday, October 10th at 8:00 p.m. The evening will feature readings by OSU Alumni Don Pollock, acclaimed author of Knockemstiff, and poet Maggie Smith, author of Nesting Dolls and The Lamp of My Body. The New York-based musical group, Gracious Sakes Alive, is also scheduled to perform.

The Journal has been published biannually since 1973, printing the best work by new and emerging writers around Ohio and the nation. Literary journals nationwide have seen their funding slashed in recent months, and The Journal is no exception. The magazine and its staff are committed to continuing The Journal’s literary tradition; thus all money collected will go towards covering the costs of paying contributors, in addition to production and advertising costs.

The Rumba Café is located at 2507 Summit Street. There is a $5.00 donation at the door. For more information on the pre-release party, and for other ways to donate to The Journal, call 614-292-4076 or go to http://english.osu.edu/research/journals/thejournal.

The Journal Short Story Contest

The Journal is pleased to announce that Lee K. Abbott has chosen a winner for this year's contest. That winner is: Stacy M. Tintocalis for her story "Too Bad About Howie." Lee K. Abbott said of this story:

One of the facts of literary life that so frustrated the late novelist Stanley Elkin was the dearth of a species of narrative he adored: the “sad” funny story (The Dick Gibson Show) or the “funny” sad story (Stanley Elkin’s Magic Kingdom). First, you need feck-free protagonist, like the narrator of “Too Bad About Howie,” a hero too innocent to understand the conflict between the head and the heart: the one proposes, the other disposes. You need, too, a dramatic situation where the stakes are high: anything involving a boy and a girl will do nicely, thank you. And, if you can manage it, you need a style as peppy as it is poignant. Tone, of course, is the devil in all these details: season with rue, in other words. To my mind, “…Howie” satisfies perfectly: I am tickled as much as I am touched.

"Too Bad About Howie" will be published in the upcoming autumn/winter issue of The Journal. Congratulations Stacy.

Journal Cover Artist In Chicago

Amy Cheng, cover artist for The Journal's latest issue, has an installation up in the Howard St. El Station in Chicago.

Alumni Writing Contest

THE JOURNAL, OSUs prizewinning, nationally distributed literary magazine, wants to encourage YOU to get back to writing!

THE JOURNAL, which has been publishing the work of both well-established and emerging fiction writers, poets, and creative nonfiction writers since the 1970s, reserves space once a year for the work of an OSU alum--the winner of our annual alumni writing contest.

Michelle Herman, THE JOURNAL's longtime editor and Professor of English at OSU, established the award in 2005, to provide a nudge to alumni who "once wrote" or "always wished to write" (or for that matter who have continued to write, but could use a deadline, an incentive, guidelines, and a little added push).

Each year THE JOURNAL awards a prize of $500 and publication to the best piece submitted by an OSU graduate (any discipline, any degree, any year). Submissions may be fiction, nonfiction, or prose poetry, but must be under 1000 words. The winning entry this year will appear in the Spring/Summer 10 issue.

All submissions will be read by Michelle Herman, and all entries are read blind. (Thus, all submissions must be anonymous, with the author's name and contact information, year of graduation and degree, and title of work, on a separate cover page. There's no need to indicate genre, though you may if you choose to.)

Deadline: Postmark September 30, 2009

Entry fee: A donation of any amount (no amount too small-and no amount, it should go without saying, too large) is the entry fee for this contest. Please make checks payable to The Ohio State University, and put THE JOURNAL, fund # 312729, on the memo line.

Send to:

THE JOURNAL
Alumni Writing Contest
Department of English
The Ohio State University
164 W. 17th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210

New Email Address

The Journal has a new email address. Drop us a line at: thejournalmag@gmail.com. We'd love to hear you thoughts on the new issue.

The Journal Spring Issue

The new issue is out. You can subscribe here.

Kathy Fagan Interview

Check it out here.

Literary journals continued...

More on lit mags and university presses from VQR

More on literary journals...

VQR on the future of university presses and journals and why we need to save them: http://tinyurl.com/p4yexk

Britain's Poet Laureate

Carol Ann Duffy is Britain's first female Poet Laureate. Read more here.

On Lit Mags...

A short article on the future of literary journals. Read it here.

The Journal's Short Story Contest

THE JOURNAL’S SIXTH ANNUAL SHORT STORY CONTEST

The Journal, the literary magazine of The Ohio State University, would like to announce the Sixth Annual Journal Short Story Contest.

This year’s judge is Lee K. Abbott, author of the short story collections Dreams of Distant Lives, Strangers in Paradise, Love is the Crooked Thing, The Heart Never Fits Its Wanting, and Living After Midnight, and All Things, All at Once.

The Journal Short Story Contest offers $1000 and publication of the winning story in The Journal’s Autumn/Winter 2009 issue. All styles, subject matter, and forms are welcome. Simultaneous submissions are accepted provided immediate notice is given if work is accepted elsewhere. Please submit only previously unpublished fiction up to 7500 words. All manuscripts will be considered for publication.

Deadline for postmark of manuscripts is May 1st.

A reading fee of $10 must accompany each manuscript (please make checks payable to The Journal).

Manuscripts should be submitted anonymously with the title of the work and all contact information listed on a separate cover letter. Manuscripts will not be returned. Please number pages and double-space all entries.

Send previously unpublished story along with reading fee to:

Short Story Contest
The Journal
Department of English
The Ohio State University
164 West 17th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210

For a list of winners, please include an SASE. Faculty and students of The Ohio State University are ineligible to enter this contest. If the judge deems no story prize-worthy, The Journal reserves the right not to award the prize.

For complete details, please visit our website at www.english.osu.edu/journals/thejournal/

Michelle's Idolatry

Michelle Herman, The Journal's prose editor, has an essay in the new double issue of River Teeth (a special best-of release). Click here.

Kathy's Lip

Kathy Fagan, The Journal's poetry editor, has a new book...
Order it.

The New Issue

The Journal's new issue is now available.
Find out more here.