The student editors of ABSENCE: Penn State Greater Allegheny’s Literary & Visual Art Review have announced a call for submissions for a special section of the Review. The section will be devoted to all creative work with an international/global inspiration or perspective and especially the two Teaching International themes for 2014-15 at the Greater Allegheny campus: the Balkans and gender. The special section will comprise 40 pages in this year’s 124-page issue, scheduled to be published in paper on April 30 and republished digitally. All Penn State students, staff and faculty at all campus locations are invited to submit creative work.
Up to five creative works per person may be submitted for consideration for the Teaching International special section to ABSENCE.psuga@gmail.com. The submission deadline is Monday, March 30. Submissions should be sent as email attachments, using submission titles as file names, with all identifying information (author name, PSU email, postal address and campus location) only on an attached cover page.
“ABSENCE, including the special global section, gives the entire Penn State community an opportunity to showcase their visual and literary artistic talents. The art is always beautiful, and the artists have their now-published work on permanent display,” said Cliff Manlove, associate professor of English and senior faculty adviser and publisher of ABSENCE. “The student editors work hard to create a professional quality publication.”
ABSENCE -- in its 17th year of publication by the student-run Penn State Greater Allegheny Press -- is an annual review of the best literary and visual art produced by the students, staff, faculty and alums of the Greater Allegheny campus each academic year. Using a blind-review system of evaluation, the student editors seek to publish all creative forms — literary and visual — from poetry, short stories and photography (color and black/white) to essays, creative nonfiction, graphic/digital design, painting, prints and drawing. Approximately 90 percent of all work selected for publication is by students, and much of this is produced in the various creative-arts courses offered by the campus each semester (including courses in literature, photography, creative writing, digital arts, painting and drawing, sculpture and theater). Publication in ABSENCE is selective and, as a result, only about 20-25 percent of submissions can be accepted for each issue.
Save the date for the annual Celebration of the Arts: A Reading & Reception, featuring the creative work of each year’s authors and artists performed live. Copies of Volume 17 will be available for the first time at this event from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 30, in the Ostermayer Room of the Student Community Center.
Contact Manlove at manlove@psu.edu for any questions about ABSENCE, the 2015 Teaching International special section or to receive a paper copy of this year’s issue.