On February 9-11, The Northern Virginia Review represented NOVA at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference and Bookfair at the Washington Convention Center. The largest literary conference in North America, if you are writer, small press, M.F.A. program, or literary journal publisher, the AWP Bookfair is the place to be.

One of over 800 exhibits, TNVR’s table was staffed by board members Adam Chiles, Jen Daniels, Indigo Eriksen, Meredith Reynolds, Nicole Tong, LeeAnn Thomas, and editor Ruth Stewart. A steady stream of visitors stopped by to chat and pick up information about TNVR. Over 100 signed the guest book and left requests for notification of the next submission period and subscription information when it becomes available. (Read more . . . )

TNVR is delighted to announce the publication of The Fawn Abyss by award winning poet and TNVR 2016 contributor Adam Tavel.

“The Fawn Abyss explores the emotionally fraught terrain of family, belonging, and injustice against the pastoral backdrop of the Delmarva Peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay. Steeped in memory, Tavel’s poems conjure a cast of cultural ghosts—from Abraham Lincoln to Sam Cooke—in their documentary investigations of the past, including the poet’s own youth. These retrospections, buoyed by wry wit and cinematic detail, sustain the collection and anchor it in our own whiplash age. . . . ” — From Salmon Poetry 

“Adam Tavel’s vision of life is so generous and large that I am taller having read this book, a full foot above my given height, which means I am able to see just a bit more of the everything he would have me see.”   — Bob Hicok

To purchase The Fawn Abyss, go to: http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=415&a=302

Poetry:

A Sparrow’s Death by Jennifer MacBain-Stephens

Lighthouse Brick by Bill Glose

Cicadas Browned in Olive Oil by Eric Forsbergh

Mallows by Pamela Murray Winters

Prose:

I Am the Tule Tree by Kelly Ann Jacobson

Like with Like by Ellen Boyers Kwatnoski

See the 2016 issue to read these outstanding works

The Book Fair, held on Saturday, April 16, was part of Split This Rock’s 2016 Poetry Festival, featuring poets from all over the country, including U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera. Hosted in collaboration with the at the Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives, the Book Fair featured over 30 socially engaged organizations, progressive presses, literary magazines, and independent newspapers.

Alexandria Liberal Arts Division Dean Jimmie McClellan

The 30th volume of The Northern Virginia Review (TNVR) was launched with a celebration attended by faculty and staff from all campuses on March 24 in the Ernst Center on the Annandale Campus.

Manassas Campus Professor of English Ruth Stewart, who took up the reins as TNVR editor-in-chief last year, welcomed guests and singled out several of her colleagues who were in attendance for special recognition, including Annandale Campus Assistant Professor of English Adam Chiles, who served as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2015, and Annandale Assistant Professor of Information Systems Technology Steven Drasner, the longtime TNVR managing editor.

Both of them, Stewart said, raised the bar for what TNVR has accomplished from its humble beginnings as a journal of faculty, staff and alumni submissions when Volume 1 was issued in June of 1985 to a literary magazine showcasing works produced by poets, writers and artists throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. She displayed a copy of Volume 1 with a cover drawing titled “Reaching for the Moon.”

Stewart also mentioned two Annandale professors emeriti, Dorothy Seyler, who served as TNVR editor-in-chief from 1998 to 2009 and won approval to open submissions to the region, and Terry Alford, who served as 1986 board of editors chairman. Seyler and Alford helped to make the progression possible.

Notable authors who have addressed the launch events, she added, were poet laureate of Virginia Claudia Emerson, Sidney Blumenthal, and David Baldacci.

Stewart presented awards to the best-in-genre winners for Volume 30.

Ruth Stewart and poetry contest co-winner Eric Forsbergh

Kelly Ann Jacobson for best prose for “I Am the Tule Tree”

Rosemary Gallick for best art for “Fire on Water”

Eric Forsbergh for best poetry for “Cicadas Browned in Olive Oil” tied with

Pamela Murray Winters for best poetry for “Mallows”

Alexandria Campus Liberal Arts Division Dean Jimmie McClellan, a longtime TNVR contributor, discussed the origins of what would later become TNVR, including his efforts as College Senate chair in the early 1980s. “Although we are here to teach,” he said of the NOVA faculty, “we also are a very creative group.”

Richard Bausch (photo by Jebb Harris)

The keynote speaker at the launch event was the celebrated author Richard Bausch, who read from his upcoming book, Living Under the Weather of the World. The winner of several literary awards, including the $30,000 Rea Award for the Short Story in 2012, Bausch has written 12 novels, eight collections of short stories, and a volume of poetry and prose.

Notable authors who have addressed previous launch events are Pulitzer Prize winning poet and poet laureate of Virginia Claudia Emerson, journalist and historian Sidney Blumenthal, and New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.

To conclude the launch event, refreshments were served and included a cake decorated with an image of the cover of TNVR Volume 30 that included cover art titled, “Blue Ridge Mountain” by poet and painter Michal Mahgerefteh.

Copies of TNVR Volume 30 can be purchased at the Barnes and Noble Annandale campus bookstore.

Click the following link to watch a video of the complete event: The Northern Virginia Review 30th Anniversary Launch

Terry Alford’s acclaimed biography Fortune’s Fool: The Life and Times of John Wilkes Booth has been nominated for a National Book Critic’s Circle award. The awards, determined by a jury of critics and book review editors, honor excellence in six categories – autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. The winners will be named on March 17. Terry is one of the founders of The Northern Virginia Review.

Kelly Ann Jacobson’s first book of poetry, I Have Conversations with You in My Dreams, was published by Alabaster Leaves in January 2016. Ms. Jacobson is TNVR’s Vol. 30 best fiction winner for “I AM the Tule Tree.”

“Kelly Ann Jacobson’s poetry reminds me that not everything in life has to be about the dark side to be engaging. This collection introduces a new narrator into the medium, full of style, full of substance. Always authentic. Read it in a field. Read it on the train. The poems bring a sense of nostalgia, and like something nostalgic, you’ll walk away feeling like you belong to a world and words you probably haven’t stopped and thought about for too long.” -
- Scott Laudati, Hawaiian Shirts in the Electric Chair



“In I Have Conversations with You in My Dreams Kelly Ann Jacobson writes of her journeys across oceans and back again—from London to New York, Lancaster to Rome. Even though she stamps her words all over the globe, these poems feel like home: accessible, intimate and deeply moving.”

 — Marie Abate, The April Sonnets

“Kelly Ann Jacobson’s I Have Conversations With You In My Dreams is a wandering intersection of past and present, of sense and memory. Her lyricism wraps the reader into a micro-narrative with each poem, recording the passing of multitudes of single moments that score a sweeping range of times and places. Much like a pointillist painting, each is vivid, immediate, and precise on its own, but form a dazzling and poignant whole when taken in together, at the end leaving us wondering, as the first poem ruminates, what we are, and where.” 
– Shenan Prestwich, In the Wake

For more about Ms. Jacobson and her work, visit kellyannjocobson.com.

Terry Alford

On November 10, the Annandale Languages and Literature Division concluded their Emeriti Reading Series

with a presentation by Dr. Terry Alford, a recently retired history professor, on his new book, “Fortune’s Fool: The Life and Times of John Wilkes Booth.”

English Associate Professor Memuna Sillah introduced him and told the story of his worldwide fame, when she was traveling in Africa, she encountered three scholars and one student in three different countries who praised Alford’s first book, “A Prince Among Slaves.”   

During the fascinating presentation on his newest and well-reviewed book, Alford discussed the 20 years of research he conducted and shared photos of Booth and his family, their homestead, and historical artifacts connected to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

You can see those photos and watch the rest of the presentation online, thanks to NOVA-TV’s Gene Ertel, who recorded the event.

Posted December 14 in Intercom

2015 TNVR poetry prize winner Carina Yun wins Charlotte Mew Chapbook Contest!

Carina Yun

“The results of the first annual Charlotte Mew Poetry Chapbook contest are in! The poetry we received was of such high quality that the editors’ selection of a short-list of finalists was extremely difficult. Among these gems, a winner and two finalists were selected anonymously by the wonderful poet, Meg Day.”

Posted August 26 on Headmistress Press