Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The special double-length "Evolution Issue" of Ecotone celebrating the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth and the sesquicentennial of the publication of The Origin of Species is now available.

Dozens of award-winning authors and scientists writing on the subjects of evolution and survival are featured in the special edition of the national literary journal. Produced by the University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Creative Writing, Ecotone re-imagines a new literature of place by focusing on the environment and the natural world while reaching across genre boundaries.

The evolution issue includes winners and finalists of the Pulitzer Prize, the Pen/Hemingway Award, the Booker Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the O. Henry Prize, the Barnes & Noble Discovery Award, and the National Magazine Award. Essays, stories and poems from past Ecotone issues have been reprinted and noted in Best American Essays, Best American Short Stories, Best American Poetry, Best American Science and Nature Writing, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and other publications.

In the evolution issue of Ecotone: 17 essays from authors including Tim Winton, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Jan DeBlieu, Sven Birkerts, Peter Nichols, Francisco J. Ayala, and Stephen Jay Gould;12 stories from luminaries like Ron Rash, Ben Fountain, Edith Pearlman, Arthur Phillips, Steve Almond, and Brock Clarke; poems from David Wagoner, Robert Wrigley, Pattiann Rogers, and Bob Hicok. The issue also includes multiple related maps, full-page color photos of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina from acclaimed photographer Barry Goldstein, an introduction by David Gessner, the work of contest winners chosen by Jennifer Ackerman and more.

In addition to provocative reading material, Ecotone features striking journal covers graphics which often capture unexpected and startling images from the natural world. The evolution issue's cover features a colorized image by noted cartoonist Ivan Brunetti depicting his vision of human evolution.

Issue/Number:

Ecotone Volume 4, Numbers 1 & 2, Winter 2008
Length: 464 Pages
Price: $12.95
www.ecotonejournal.com