StorySouth
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StorySouth is an online quarterly literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, criticism, essays, and visual artwork, with a focus on the Southern United States. The journal also runs the annual Million Writers Award to select the best short stories published each year in online magazines or journals. The journal has been named a "hot site" by USA Today and profiled in books such as Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.
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[edit] History and mission
StorySouth was founded in the autumn of 2001 by fiction writer Jason Sanford and poet Jake Adam York. While StorySouth focuses on the traditional genre of southern literature, the journal generally attempts to expose the newest generation of writers from the American South.
The journal has published pieces on such prominent authors such as Forrest Gander and Charles Wright, historical figures like George Wallace, and topics ranging from the trivial to the sociological. Stories, essays, and poetry published in StorySouth have been honored by the Chronicle of Higher Education's Arts and Letters Daily, selected for anthologies of best web-published fiction, and received other awards and reviews.[1]
The journal is listed as a contributing press by the Pushcart Prize and is among the American literary journals listed in Best American Short Stories.[2] StorySouth reaches on average a 1,000 individual readers every day. [3]
[edit] Million Writers Award
StorySouth also runs the annual Million Writers Award, started in 2003, which honors the best online short stories of the year. The award has become one of the premier online literary awards and was named a Hot Site by USA Today.[4] The award was also profiled in a six-page feature interview with editor Jason Sanford in the 2005 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market[5] and mentioned in The 100 Best Trends, 2006: Emerging Developments You Can't Afford to Ignore as an example of the emerging online literary movement.[6]
[edit] Influence
StorySouth's growing influence in the publishing world was evidenced by a feature interview with Jason Sanford in the 2005 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market in which the role of the Internet and the influence of the Million Writers Award was featured.
Part of the growing influence of StorySouth has been the sometimes combative nature of its editors. An essay of Sanford's called "Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust"[7] sent repercussions through the online literary community, as it ripped into the claimed incestuous nature of Master of Fine Arts programs and creative writing workshops. The essay prompted a large amount of online discussion on the merits of Sanford's claims.[8]
In addition, the journal's editors were heavily involved in the debate around the alleged plagiarism of Southern author Brad Vice. Both of StorySouth's editors defended Vice's action[9] and their essays on the affair were mentioned in the subsequent press coverage[10] and on numerous blogs.[11] StorySouth editor Jake Adam York is one of the critics whose epigraph will be published in the upcoming reprint of Vice's book.[12]
[edit] Notable contributors
- Jacob M. Appel
- Forrest Gander
- Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
- Maryanne Stahl
- Natasha Trethewey
- Charles Wright
- Greg Downs
[edit] References
- ^ StorySouth's award page, accessed Feb. 4, 2007.
- ^ The Best American Short Stories series, Katrina Kenison (series Editor), 2005 and 2006 editions.
- ^ "Introduction to Online Markets" 2007 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market Writer's Digest Books, 2004, page 343.
- ^ WebGuide: Hot Sites, USA Today, March 9, 2004.
- ^ "Personal Views: Jason Sanford On the Million Writers Award" by Mary Cox, 2005 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market Writer's Digest Books, 2004, page 23.
- ^ The 100 Best Trends, 2006: Emerging Developments You Can't Afford to Ignore by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, Adams Media Corporation, 2005, page 55.
- ^ "Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust" by Jason Sanford, StorySouth, fall 2004, accessed Feb. 4, 2007.
- ^ http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/37141 Short shorts, Meta Filter discussion, November 22, 2004 February 4, 2007; MFA: Many Fools Available on The Grumpy Old Bookman, February 25, 2005, accessed February 4, 2007.
- ^ The literary lynching of Brad Vice StorySouth November 4, 2005, accessed February 4, 2007; and [http://www.storysouth.com/comment/2005/11/fell_in_alabama_brad_vices_tus.html Fell In Alabama: Brad Vice's Tuscaloosa Night by Jake Adam York] StorySouth November 13, 2005, accessed February 4, 2007.
- ^ "A Charming Plagiarist: The downfall of Brad Vice" by Robert Clark Young New York Press, Vol 18, Issue 48, November 30-December 6, 2005. Accessed February 4, 2007; and "The Strange Case of Brad Vice: In defense of a destroyed treasure" by Michelle Richmond, The Oxford American, Issue 55.
- ^ The Brad Vice affair on The Grumpy Old Bookman, December 7, 2005, accessed February 4, 2007; Sifting Through Information by Dan Wickett. Emerging Writers Network, accessed February 4, 2007; and American Views Abroad, accessed February 4, 2007.
- ^ "The Strange Case of Brad Vice: In defense of a destroyed treasure" by Michelle Richmond, The Oxford American, Issue 55.
