The sixth edition of Arts & Letters

An essay on the life and work of Gwendolyn Brooks, plus the winners of a prestigious new literary prize, are just a few of the many literary works featured in the sixth edition of Arts and Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture, which premiers on Saturday, Oct. 27.

The journal will also present E. Ethelbert Miller on Friday, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. in the GC&SU Welcome Center on 200 West Hancock Street and Peter Ho Davies on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Arts and Sciences Auditorium. This presentation will be followed by the annual Arts and Letters Prize in Poetry and Fiction reception. This event is free and open to the public. Arts & Letters will also be available to purchase.

Davies and Miller were the final judges for GC&SU’s third annual Arts & Letters prizes in poetry and fiction. The winners of that contest, Peggy Ann Tartt and Rachel Pastan, will also be at these events. Each one received a $1,000 prize and publication in this issue of Arts & Letters.

“I was having lunch with one of my students a couple of days ago, and she asked me why so few people seemed to want to read good literature. I told her that, really, more people read good poetry and fiction today than ever before. But most people–whether today or in the past–are looking for ‘diversions’ in their books and other means of entertainment,” said Dr. Martin Lammon, professor of English and editor of Arts and Letters. “I told my student that literature, like other forms of art, challenges us to work a little harder, to become thinking participants in what we read. The rewards are greater, too: You will be moved more deeply, your mind will be more awake, and your heart will be stronger. I told my student that she was perhaps a little more special because she liked to read good books, not the potboilers and beach novels that her friends preferred.”

According to Lammon, the new issue of Arts & Letters includes an important new essay about the life and work of Gwendolyn Brooks, who died earlier this year. The other important continuing series in the journal is the World Poetry Translation Series, which features Alexandra Newton Rios translating Nestor Groppa of Argentina, and the Mentors Interview Series.

This issue’s interview highlights two poets from New England, Margaret Gibson and Marilyn Nelson, both recent visitors to GC&SU, who interview each other. The new issue will also include GC&SU alumnus Keith Hendrix’s essay-review of new books in the W. W. Norton Poetry Series. Hendrix, a former graduate assistant editor with the journal, is currently working on his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

According to Lammon, Arts & Letters also publishes stories, poems, artwork, and essays on contemporary culture. For example, in the new issue, Dinty W. Moore writes about the continuing popularity of the Beatles, and Janice Eidus writes a moving essay on health care for the elderly, focusing on her mother’s experience during a recent, nearly fatal illness.

The spring issue, Arts & Letters 7, will feature our 2001 drama prize winner, Janet Burroway. She will also receive a $1000 prize and have her play published in the journal. Her play will be produced at the fourth annual Arts & Letters Festival.

According to Lammon, Arts & Letters published its first issue in April 1999.

“I named the journal ‘Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture’
for a reason- to make a distinction between ‘popular culture’ and ‘contemporary culture,’” Lammon said. “The performers of popular culture–Stephen King, Jennifer Lopez, and Denzel Washington–offer us diversions from our daily grind.”
“Pop Culture makes us scared or happy or excited,” said Lammon. “Pop Culture is fun. But Pop Culture simply is not able to evoke that deeper grief, deeper joy, or deeper passion that Contemporary Culture can. Pop Culture entertains us but is not designed to enlighten us.”

The journal is published twice a year, in the fall and in the spring.
Single Issues are $8, and one-year subscriptions are $15. In its first two years, the journal has won two national Pushcart Prizes and had an essay reprinted in the national magazine “The Utne Reader.” The journal’s contributors are among the most accomplished new and distinguished writers and artists in the world. Contributors have included Robert Bly, Ernest Gaines, Margaret Gibson, Donald Hall, Maxine Kumin, Bret Lott, Bobbie Ann Mason, Ethelbert Miller, Heather Sellers, Charles Simic, Virgil Suarez, Jean Valentine, and Miller Williams. For more information about the journal and its sponsored programs, please visit their web site: al.gcsu.edu.

“Arts & Letters strives to bring readers the best of what Contemporary
Culture has to offer,” said Lammon. “Students who are looking for deeper experiences, and not just diversions from school and the daily grind, may find a few surprises in our journal.”

If you have any questions about Arts and Letters, please contact their office at 445-1289 or visit their web site at al.gcsu.edu.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 26 2001. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry