Illinois Literary Awards

Recent 9L contributors Jill Summers and Kathleen Rooney received 2008 Literary Awards from the Illinois Arts Council for their work appearing in our most recent issue. Summers's story "Cohabitation" and Rooney's essay "Natural Is Not In It" both appeared in the Fall/Winter 2007-8 edition of 9L. Previous 9L contributor Joe Meno also received an IAC Literary Award for his story "Frances the Ghost" which appeared in Triquarterly. Congrats!

Design Awards

Ninth Letter Vol. 4, No. 2 was selected for the "365: AIGA Annual Design Competitions 29" for outstanding design produced in 2007.

Ninth Letter will become a part of a permanent historical record of graphic design — the AIGA Design Archives. The physical artifact will become a part of the AIGA Design Archives housed at the Denver Art Museum. In 2008, Ninth Letter will be part of a public exhibition at the AIGA National Design Center in New York.

AND...

Three issues of Ninth Letter--Vol. 3, No. 2 and Vol. 4, No. 1 and--received awards of excellence (Gold Communicator Awards) from the International Academy of Visual Arts and the Communicator Awards out of over 8500 entries for outstanding overall design.

Congrats to our fabulous designers!

New Novel from John Domini

A Tomb on the Periphery, a new novel by 9L contributor John Domini, is now available from Gival Press. A Tomb on the Periphery was a finalist in the 2005 Gival Press Novel Award, and has been called "an edgy, richly peopled and thoroughly absorbing novel" (Margot Livesey) and named by the Emerging Writers Network as "one of the books we're looking forward to in '08."

Note for Subscribers and Other Fans...

Are you wondering where the latest issue of 9L is hiding? Never fear, we got a little behind schedule during production time, but the Spring/Summer 08 issue is at the printer as we speak, and should be shipped in a couple of weeks. It will be worth the wait, we promise!

Pilcrow Literary Fest

Guess what you don't want to miss this weekend in Chicago? If you said, the Pilcrow Lit Fest, you were right. Pilcrow is four days (May 22-25), that brings authors, writers, poets, librarians, booksellers, and publishers from around the country together in support of small presses and independent media through small workshops, panel discussions, lectures and author readings.

All events are free and open to the public. Check out the events schedule and join us in the Windy City.

Audacity of Desperation Exhibit in Urbana

The Audacity of Desperation is an art exhibition, political action, and on-going dialogue. This show confronts, expresses and unravels states of desperation. Artworks by activists, artists, enthusiasts, and very concerned people, are made in editions of 100 with the intention of free distribution to audiences. In this way, these artworks will be activated outside of the exhibition space and in domestic spaces, on bodies, clothes, bags, and in public spaces.

The exhibit is housed at the Independent Media Center (202 S. Broadway, Suite 100, Urbana, Illinois), and runs May 7th through June 15, 2008.