May 2009 Archives

Reported by Poets & Writers:

The New England Review has until the end of 2011 to become self-supporting or it will lose its sponsorship, Middlebury College announced this week. The thirty-year-old magazine was included in a list of recommended cuts released on Tuesday by the Vermont college's Budget Oversight Committee, which is aiming to trim $20 million from the school's spending.

Full story here.

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Longer story at Inside Higher Ed, beginning thus:

With some university presses facing budget cuts that could effectively kill their operations, maybe it shouldn't be a surprise. But experts on literary magazines are nonetheless surprised -- and worried -- by the announcement this week out of Middlebury College that it will cease sponsorship of The New England Review by 2011 if the publication doesn't become self-supporting.

The problem, according to the editor of the Review and experts on literary magazines, is that they don't have business models that work, and so must rely on philanthropic support (which is hard to get going now) or the sponsorship of a college (as is the case for many of the top literary magazines). In recent years, no college forced a literary magazine to fend for itself -- a move that would effectively kill most such publications. In 2003, Washington and Lee University floated the idea of ending or sharply cutting support for Shenandoah; the university pulled back from its plan amid strong criticism from the literary world.

Congratulations to Julie Carr, contributor to Copper Nickel 10, for her selection as this year's Sawtooth Poetry Prize recipient for her manuscript 100 Notes on Violence. The book will appear next year, and we will be eager to see it in our offices, as we are sure you will be to see it in your hands.

Those of you who were following the story on the search for Craig Arnold probably learned late last week that the team of trackers who were following his path on the island have concluded that Craig likely fell from a cliff and probably could not have survived the fall, though Craig has not yet been recovered.

Our thanks to all of you who wrote your congress-persons requesting help for our friend.

This LA Times story may be of interest to some of you.

Nearly seventy-five years later, Southern Review remains one of the most important quarterlies in the country, and LSU Press has earned a reputation as one of the nation's most revered university presses. In the last three decades alone, LSU Press's literary titles have garnered four Pulitzer Prizes, a National Book Award, and a National Book Critics Circle Award, and its exceptional history list has won three Bancroft Prizes and the Lincoln Prize. Yet, LSU's new chancellor, Michael Martin, has targeted both Southern Review and LSU Press as entities within the university that, due to the economic downturn, will now need to contribute additional revenue to the university--or else. According to the preliminary budget report issued by the university, "it is very possible they cannot generate the revenue needed and will close." In a prepared statement released after the budget was made public earlier this week, Martin praised LSU's nationally recognized publications as "a very valuable asset to this university" but insisted that "we must protect the academic core of LSU first and foremost."

From VQR. You should read this.

As Chris Arnold endures his two-day journey to Kuchino-erabu, his wife said the family hopes "something will happen in transit and they will have good news, and he can show up to greet his brother."

"We told our 4-year-old daughter that Uncle Craig didn't hold anyone's hand," said Palmer. "My husband is taking that advice to heart.

"Clearly everyone is worried," she said. "Time is running short. But people survive for long periods of time even without food and water. He's a really tough person, and he's likely still out there."

More info here: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/MindMoodNews/Story?id=7483695&page=1