Friday, October 28, 2011

Wilmington, N.C. - Ecotone, the award-winning literary magazine of the University of North Carolina Wilmingtons's acclaimed creative writing program, will celebrate the release of its Fall 2011 "Happiness" issue with a reading on 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3 in WHQR's MC Erney gallery. Proceeds from the ticketed event will support future Ecotone publications.

The evening will feature selections from past Ecotone issues, as well as the new issue. Readers will include UNC Wilmington faculty authors Karen Bender, Clyde Edgerton, David Gessner and Robert Siegel; Cape Fear Literary Council executive director Linda Lytvinenko; and WHQR's own George Scheibner. Guests will enjoy wine, hors d'oeuvres, and live music. Copies of current and past Ecotone issues, as well as two-issue subscriptions, will be available for purchase. Tickets for the fundraiser are $15 and can be purchased at the door or reserved by emailing meg@ecotonejournal.com .

The "Happiness" issue features new work from Jonathan Lethem, Denise Duhamel and Ander Monson; poems by children; new translations from Denmark, the "happiest country on earth;" a long-form essay on Don DeLillo by Steve Almond; and a host of other talents, old and new. In addition to providing an outlet for some of the most vibrant and essential writing being published today, Ecotone provides valuable publishing experience to its staff of student readers, editors and designers.

Renowned novelist Salman Rushdie noted Ecotone is one of a handful of literary magazines on which "the health of the American short story depends."

Four of the past sixteen short stories published in Ecotone have won a prestigious O. Henry Award. The magazine won two 2011 Pushcart Prizes for a short story and a poem, as well as the John Burroughs Award for Most Outstanding Natural History Essay, joining the ranks of other recent winners from magazines including The New York Times, Smithsonian, Orion, and Audubon.

In 2006, a year after its founding, Ecotone became one of only two magazines in the country to have works reprinted in "Best American Short Stories," "Best American Poetry," "Best American Essays," "Best American Science and Nature Writing," "The PEN / O. Henry Prize Stories" and "The Pushcart Prize."

Media contacts:

Meg Reid, meg@ecotonejournal.com or 910.465.4605

Joy Davis, UNCW media relations, 910.632.3903 or davisjc@uncw.edu