News
-
0
read more
EMU Crossroads focuses on Literature
September 21, 2010The Summer 2010 issues of Eastern Mennonite University's Crossroads Magazine focuses on Mennonite Writers and publishers who are alumnae of that institution. To view the issue on line, go to
http://issuu.com/easternmennoniteuniversity/docs/crossroads-summer-2010
The issue includes poems by such writers at Debra Gingerich and Juanita Brunk, along with excerpts and articles by Kirsten Eve Beachy, Omar Eby, Merle Good, Valerie Weaver-Zercher and others.
-
0
read more
New novel by Omar Eby, Mill Creek, just published
September 21, 2010A new novel published by Omar Eby, Mill Creek, is set in Lancaster County in the 1950s.
"Mill Creek tells the story of the age-old struggle of an adolescent's attempts to understand himself and his world. Peter Martin, the brainy, shy, farm-boy narrator, pious beyond his years, fights a private war: whether to remain with his strict farm people or whether to embrace his best friend's anarchic approach to Mennonite life. . . An almost amorous friendship, the threat of the draft (Korean War), the lure of art, a pregnancy and a tragic drowning aid Peter to make compromising moves … -
0
read more
David Bergen makes Giller Prize Long List
September 20, 2010The Canadian Press
David Bergen has made the long list for the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize.(Thomas Fricke/McClelland & Stewart)
For someone whose novels have been described as "downbeat," "grim" and "moodily existential," Winnipeg author David Bergen is surprisingly light-hearted when discussing his latest work of fiction,The Matter with Morris.
On the phone from his home in Winnipeg, Bergen laughs easily and answers just about anything thrown his way. He had even more reason to cheer Monday when the book was shortlisted for the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize, an award the author won in 2005 for his …
-
0
read more
Tongue Screws and Testimonies--release reading!
September 18, 20107:30 Thursday, November 18: A release reading for Tongue Screws and Testimonies will take place in Harrisonburg, Va. Eastern Mennonite University’s Martin Chapel, hosted by the department of Language and Literature.
Tongue Screws and Testimonies: Poems, Stories and Essays, edited by Kirsten Beachy, will be published by Herald Press in early December, though rumor has it that the books are ahead of schedule. Contributors include a long list of Mennonite writers from Di Brandt and Rhoda Janzen to Julia Kasdorf and Rudy Wiebe.
For the publisher's website about the book see: http://store.mpn.net/productdetails.cfm?PC=1501
For information on the editor and a list …
-
0
read more
Jeff Gundy is Image Artist of the Month
August 12, 2010Jeff Gundy, featured poet in the current issue of the CMW Journal (see our home page), is the Image "Artist of the Month." See this link for details on Image Update:
http://imagejournal.org/page/artist-of-the-month/jeff-gundy-2
From the article: [Gundy's] poetry and essays are rooted in the Mennonite tradition, which he credits with giving him “the sense that things outside of my pathetic life matter, and that I ought to think about my own problems and ambitions in the context of something much larger.” From these roots he draws both a sense of humility and a prophetic impulse—forces that hold each other in …
-
0
read more
Todd Davis on Poetry Daily
July 30, 2010Poetry Daily will feature poems by Todd Davis on August 3 and August 10.
On August 3rd, in their "features" section, they will be featuring "The Girl Who Taught a Chicken to Walk Backwards," as part of a highlight for the 60th anniversary issue of Shenandoah.On August 10th they will feature "None of This Could Be Metaphor" as the daily poem while highlighting The Least of These, Davis's most recent collection, published by Michigan State University Press.
Check it out at http://poems.com -
0
read more
In Our Next Issues . . .
July 16, 2010November 2011 -- Playing at Peace. Memoir essays by Goshen College students on growing up Mennonite. Featured Poet: Vienna Wagner, Notre Dame student. Guest Editor: Sara Wakefield
January 2012 -- Creative Nonfiction and Memoir. Open submissions. Deadline for consideration: November 1, 2011.
March 2012 -- New Fiction. Deadline for consideration: February 1, 2012.
Forthcoming issues on Documentary film, the "Inkslingers," creative work from Mennonite/s Writing, "Visitors," New Playwrights . . .
Calls for Submissions:
Our mission is to publish work about Mennonite literature or literature by writers who have a connetion with Mennonite (in the broad sense of the term) …
-
0
read more
Serial Fiction Issue, Jeff Gundy Poetry
July 16, 2010Check out the creative and critical work in our biggest issue yet--on a best-selling, yet critically overlooked topic: serial fiction by and about Mennonites: Mystery, Science Fiction, Romance . . .
In the current issue of the Journal of CMW, edited by Ervin Beck, read excerpts of new work by mystery writer Judy Clemens and science fiction writer Karl Schoeder, as well as lively analyses of mystery and romance fiction by Beth Graybill, Kyle Schlabach and Michelle Thurlow. Also, a valuable guide to further reading is the first-ever bibliography of serial fiction by and about Amish and Mennonites by Ervin …
-
0
read more
Former Goshen College President J. Lawrence Burkholder dies
June 24, 2010In 1971 Burkholder left the Ivy League to lead the small college in Northern Indiana he knew intimately. He returned to Goshen College to serve as its 11th president with the conviction that "Mennonites had something to contribute to the world, and I wanted to be part of it," he said.
Burkholder, who served as president until 1984, began his presidency with a simple religious service and the planting of 138 trees around campus. "I wanted to bring beauty to a campus that seemed somewhat barren," he said. "And I hoped to soften and humanize the image of the …
-
0
read more
Inspiration for Mennonite Writers
June 24, 2010Old news for Mennonite writers from John Updike in 1951: "We do not need men like Proust and Joyce; men like this are a luxury, an aded fillip that an abundant culture can produce only after the more basic literary need has been filled. This age needs rather men like Shakespeare, or Milton, or Pope; men who are filled with the strength of their cultures and do not transcend the limits of their age, but, working within the times, bring what is peculiar to the moment to glory. We need great artists who are willing to accept restrictions, and who …