English Department Launches Online Literary Journal Journal, which celebrates quality works of new literature, is first online literary journal associated with a university in New Jersey Map Literary Map Literary, a new online literary journal designed to provide a forum for writers and artists as well as complement the English Department’s curricular offerings, launched online on February 27. The inaugural issue, which also includes a boutique print run of 250 copies, includes poetry, prose, and nonfiction by twenty-two authors, including Pulitzer Prize winning-poet Franz Wright, as well as a wide variety of new and up-and-coming writers. The selections were chosen by the journal's editorial board, composed of English department faculty, from more than 250 submissions. The journal is dedicated to celebrating quality works of new literature, including poems, prose poems, short stories, self-contained novel excerpts, essays, author interviews and reviews of current books. “In general, we are positioning ourselves as literary cartographers who are mapping the contemporary textual landscape—what’s currently being written,” says editor John Parras, professor of English, who founded the journal with fellow English professors Christopher Salerno, managing editor, and Linda Hamalian, who is a nonfiction editor. “Yet we also seek to influence the literary landscape in the very choices of the writing and authors we publish.” In all, eleven English department faculty members are involved in the project. Map Literary, which will be published twice a year, also is the first online literary journal associated with a university in New Jersey. Designed to strengthen the professional dimension of the University’s master of fine arts degree in creative and professional writing, plans include internship opportunities for M.F.A. students seeking to learn the ins and outs of publishing an online literary periodical. Submissions for the fall 2012 issue are currently being accepted. For additional information, or to submit a manuscript, visit the journal’s website at www.wpunj.edu/mapliterary.
