Back Issue Special - Vol. 7, no. 1

Phew. I know people are still trying to get back into the swing of things post AWP, so luckily you have a year to recover. Again, thanks to everyone who stopped by the Ninth Letter table during the bookfair!

As I mentioned over the weekend, we completely sold out of our AWP stock rather early on Saturday, so some of those who attended "The 1960 National Book Award Revisited: What Makes Fiction Last?" panel were unable to pick up a copy of the issue, where the original feature first appeared. To help correct this, vol. 7, no. 1 is on sale this week for $5.95 (regular price: $14.95).

You'll just need to follow this simple instructions to get the discounted price: Head on over to our webstore and choose "sample issue, editor's choice" and put "VOL71" in the instructions box.

Here's some background on "The 1960 National Book Award Revisited: What Makes Fiction Last?" Based on a special feature originally appearing in Ninth Letter (vol. 7, no. 1), the panel, including 9L editor Jodee Stanley with Steve Almond, Brock Clarke, Michael Griffith, Peter Grimes and Sarah Shun-lien Bynum discussed, per the AWP description, "what values in fiction endure? In 2010, we formed a committee of fiction writers and looked back fifty years to rejudge the 1960 National Book Award. We read, haggled, named a winner, and each of us wrote an essay -- to take up arms for a favorite, reassess the year's anointed books, reflect on the ebb and flow of reputation, explore the politics of awards. This panel will ask, What do we value most highly in fiction, and what gets cast aside by the way we define 'ambition'?"

Whether you were at AWP or not, the questions posed by the panel and the related essays in vol. 7, no. 1 are fascinating (here's an excerpt from Michael Griffith's essay), so be sure to pick up a copy of the issue today.