2008 Pushcart Nominations

We'd like to offer our congratulations to the writers below, whose work our editors have selected for Pushcart nominations. In alphabetical order by author last name:

“All that Crawls beneath Me,” by Jericho Brown, Poetry (from IR 30.1, Summer 2008)

“Railway Killers,” by Anthony Farrington, Fiction (from IR 30.2, Winter 2008)

“Miss Thelma,” by Amaud Jamaul Johnson, Poetry (from IR 30.2, Winter 2008)

“Superstar,” by Joseph Kim, Fiction (from IR 30.1, Summer 2008)

“Archeology,” by Wayne Miller, Poetry (from IR 30.2, Winter 2008)

“Obit,” by Ted Sanders, Fiction (from IR 30.2, Winter 2008)

And thank you to all our contributors for your wonderful work!

Holiday!

You may have noticed that our posting has become a little bit spotty. That's because we're on holiday! We do hope to keep up with some posting over our break, but we can't make any promises. (We've got all the holiday obligations everyone else has.) We will be back with a regular schedule starting January 12.

If you're a subscriber, you should have your winter 2008 issue in your hands in the next week or two. Please do let us know if you haven't received your issue by the time we're back in the office!

Exciting cash prizes!

We're a little late spreading the word about this, although I'm sure many of you reading are already well aware. The 2009 NEA literary grant winners have been announced! And we're very excited to see a number of Indiana Review contributors on this list, some from way back in the day. We saw Xochiquetzal Candelaria (23.2), Bob Hicok (30.2, 28.2, 26.1, 24.2, 19.1), Julia Kasdorf (18.1), Michael McGriff (31.1), Orlando Ricardo Menes (30.1, 25.1, 19.1), Aimee Nezhukumatathil (31.1, 30.1, 27.1, 26.1), and Jane Springer (30.1). (I hope I didn't miss any of our former contributors!)

Congratulations to our contributors, as well as to all the NEA grant winners.

Extra, Extra! Read all about it!

Some exciting literary news has come to us via the New York Times. First, the NYT has released their "100 Notable Books of 2008" list, and we're happy to see so many short story collections included there, particularly in the top twenty. As many of you know, short story collections often don't get a fair shake as novels or memoirs do, so it's good to see that someone out there appreciates the short story. Check out the list here.

Second, Indiana University and the town of Bloomington--IR's home sweet home--are featured in this interesting and sometimes funny NYT article on book club culture and conflict. We never realized being in a book club could become so serious! Check it out.
--Chad

Bluecast: Ross Gay

In this edition of the Bluecast, Ross Gay reads and discusses "Some Instructions on Black Masculinity Offered to My Black Friend by the White Woman He Briefly Dated: A Monologue" featured in our Winter 2007 issue, 29.2. Remember, if you'd like to hear previous editions of the Bluecast, just click "posts" and select the one you want to hear.

We have a winner!

The results are in! Congratulations to Shelly Oria, winner of our 2008 Fiction Prize. Her story, "New York 1, Tel Aviv 0," will be published in our Summer 2009 issue (31.1).

Congrats also to Tara Cottrell whose story, "Post," was selected as runner-up. To find out who the finalists were, please check out the results on our website.

Thank you to everyone who submitted work--there were some amazing stories, and we had a tough time narrowing down our choices.

And a big thank you to our judge, Tayari Jones.

December 1st, 1st snowfall

Our first snowfall hit us in Bloomington this morning. I haven't been outside since the snow stopped falling, but I can see buildings and trees through my window. The snow just barely stuck to some branches. I should have left the office about a half hour ago, but I just don't want to get out into it, beautiful as it is.

Here's something that you should want to get into--beautiful as it is. Our winter 2008 issue, 30.2, is at the printers, and it should be shipped off to stores and subscribers in this most auspicious beginning of December. If you would still like to order one, a member of our editorial staff will lovingly envelope your issue with a wintry glow before we send it off to you.

--Jenny