The cover of the latest “Stone Canoe”
The eighth issue of Stone Canoe, A Journal of Arts, Literature and Social Commentary will be unveiled at a book launch celebration and awards presentation on Saturday, Jan. 18, at Syracuse’s ArtRage Gallery, 505 Hawley Ave.
The launch celebration also marks the official opening of the eighth annual Stone Canoe art exhibition, “Vein 8,” featuring the work of 24 artists included in the current issue of the journal and curated by Melora Griffith. The exhibition is open from Jan. 8 through Feb. 11. For more information, see http://www.artragegallery.org.
The celebration event is from 5:30-8 p.m., and is open to the public. The awards presentation will be at 6:30 p.m.
Stone Canoe, published annually by University College, was founded in 2007 for the purpose of showcasing Upstate New York’s best artists and writers. The journal’s mission has expanded over the years to include occasional contributors from elsewhere in the world who have significant ties to the region, but the emphasis continues to be on promoting the creative excellence and diversity of the broader Upstate artistic community.
The 76 artists and writers featured in the current issue were chosen by a distinguished team of editors whose own creative achievements add immeasurably to the richness of the region’s cultural life.
The fiction editor for Stone Canoe Number 8 is Patrick Lawler, author of four poetry collections and an award-winning novel, who teaches at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Le Moyne College.
The current poetry editor is Stephen Kuusisto, author of two acclaimed memoirs and two collections of poetry, who directs the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University, where he holds a university professorship in the Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies.
The current nonfiction editor is Stephen Yao, professor and chair of the English and creative writing department at Hamilton College, and author of two important books on cross-cultural literature and politics and numerous scholarly articles.
The current visual arts editor is Melora Griffis, an established New York City-based painter, performance artist and actor, originally from Buffalo, who is also the curator for the “Stone Canoe” art exhibition, “Vein 8.”
Each of these four visiting editors also chose the 2014 prize winners in their respective categories.
The winner of the Allen and Nirelle Galson Prize for Fiction is Jennifer Case from Binghamton; the winner of the 2014 Bea Gonzalez Prize for Poetry is Sarah Jefferis from Ithaca; the winner of the 2014 S.I. Newhouse Prize for Creative Nonfiction is Christopher Gonzalez from Ithaca; and the winner of the 2014 Hedy and Michael Fawcett Prize for Visual Arts is Megan Biddle from Croton-on-Hudson.
The fifth prize awarded this year, the 2104 Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Families Prize for writing by a veteran, is awarded to Tom Mille Juvik from Port Orchard, Wash. This is the only Stone Canoe prize that is open to any veteran, regardless of location. The co-editors for this year’s veterans writing selections, who also chose the prize-winning story, are Brian Turner, an Iraq veteran and award-winning poet, and Matthew Zeller, an Afghanistan veteran, security analyst and memoirist.
Each prize winner gets a cash award and an original stone carving by noted native American sculptor Tom Huff.
Other returning Stone Canoe editors for the current issue include Kyle Bass, playwright, fiction writer and current dramaturg at Syracuse Stage, who also teaches at Goddard College; Doran Larson, fiction writer and essayist who teaches at Hamilton College; Neva Pilgrim, well-known recording artist and founding director of the Society for New Music, who teaches at Colgate University; Nancy Keefe Rhodes, writer on the visual arts who teaches at Syracuse University; Steven Stucky, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who teaches at Cornell University.
According to Robert Colley, executive editor of Stone Canoe, the contributors to this issue are, “as in issues past, remarkably diverse in terms of age, experience and current circumstance, and the collective impact of their offerings makes us newly aware of the ongoing miracles of creative inspiration that surround us on a daily basis and help define us as a community. “
Copies of Stone Canoe Number 8 will be available at the ArtRage opening, and thereafter at the Syracuse University Bookstore, or from the Stone Canoe office at University College, 315-443- 4165.
