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.