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| * Sycamore Review |
February 8, 2008
Purdue literary magazine celebrates 20 years
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Sycamore Review, Purdue University's nationally recognized journal of literature, opinion and arts, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a gala on Feb. 29."For two decades Sycamore Review has consistently published a lively mix of established and emerging writers and visual artists," said Patrick Nevins, managing editor of the Sycamore Review and a graduate student in creative writing.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is 7:30 p.m. at the Wells Center, 638 North St., Lafayette. Music will be provided by jazz artist Danny Weiss. Complimentary beverages and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Participants can enter a raffle to win prizes from area businesses. Funds raised will benefit the Sycamore Review and help expand its Looseleaf Writing Workshop Series, which offers creative writing sessions to adults and children. Writing topics include fiction writing, character development and poetry.
These community workshops take place at Lafayette’s Southside Community Center and the downtown branch of the Tippecanoe County Public Library, as well as the West Lafayette Public Library. The next workshop will run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 21 at the West Lafayette Public Library. Registration is available at each location, and a complete schedule of workshops is available online at https://www.sycamorereview.com.
The same graduate students in the master of fine arts creative writing program also instruct the workshops and participate in the editing process of the Sycamore Review, which is published twice a year. The students screen hundreds of submissions a year. The journal is affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of English.
The Sycamore Review has an advisory board composed of Purdue faculty members David Blakesley, Marianne Boruch, Patricia Henley, Bich Minh Nguyen, Donald Platt, Porter Shreve, Sharon Solwitz and Patricia Sullivan. The graduate student staff has control over the content and managing of the journal.
Early Sycamore Review contributors included John Updike, Mary Oliver and Charles Bukowski, and recent issues have featured interviews with novelists Charles Baxter and Nick Hornby. Poet Paul Muldoon selected Amy Gerstler’s poem "Watch" -- first published in Sycamore Review -- for inclusion in "The Best American Poetry 2005."
"Beginning with the Winter/Spring 2006 issue, Sycamore Review started publishing in a striking eight-inch square format, distinguishing it from other magazines of its kind," Nevins said.
In that same issue, the staff launched the Wabash Prizes in Poetry and Fiction, which award a $1,000 prize and have been judged by such well-known authors as Richard Bausch, Eavan Boland and Ellen Bryant Voigt.Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Patrick Nevins, (765) 494-3783, pnevins@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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