Santa Monica College has announced the release of the Fall 2015 issue of Santa Monica Review, SMC's esteemed national literary arts journal. To celebrate, a launch party/reading event - "Santa Monica Review Presents..." - will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25 in The Edye at the SMC Performing Arts Center (Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street, Santa Monica).
Tickets - available now through Brownpapertickets.com - cost $10. Refreshments will be served, and books will be available for purchase and author signing. Abundant free parking available on premises.
"Santa Monica Review Presents..." will be introduced by PEN Center USA and Rattling Wall editor Michelle Franke and feature readings by four current and recent contributors to the journal: SMC creative writing student Susan Berman, Michael Guista (Brain Work), award-winning memoirist Vicki Forman (This Lovely Life), and short story writer and John Fante biographer Stephen Cooper.
The latest issue of Santa Monica Review - edited by Andrew Tonkovich, also host of the weekly show "Bibliocracy" on KPFK (90.7 FM) - features 14 short and long pieces from new and frequent favorite contributors, and showcases work by recent award winners, acclaimed novelists, and first-time-in-print and SMC creative writing student writers.
Frequent contributors Michael Cadnum (The Book of the Lion), Michael Jauchen, and Jeffrey Steven Moskowitz elevate language and voice in stylized, voice-driven narratives. Novelist Andrew Porter (The Theory of Light and Matter) shares a love story by way of a Loz Feliz landmark. Canadian Ann Lohner links a war at home to those abroad. Skye Annica engages life in a nursing home.
Jonathan Keeperman and Julian Smith-Newman, both recent grads of the UC Irvine creative writing MFA program, share gorgeous and self-conscious short stories, as does meta-funny Geoff Wyss (How), a magazine favorite.
Peter LaSalle (The City at Three P.M.) considers the writing life, Michael Guista (Brain Work) offers a realist heartbreaker, and MFC Covina (The Off-Season) just plain goes for it in a hilarious, digressive take-apart of duplicity and bravado.
The issue also presents the work of SMC creative writing workshop student Susan Berman, and of first-time-in-print retired Los Angeles paramedic Philip Rowe, whose gritty, wry, and gentle short story previews his work writing a novel.
The fall 2015 cover art is by Southern California artist and teacher Andrea Bowers. The magazine's launch party, says Tonkovich, "brings the best Southern California writers to a smart, appreciative, literate audience in one of the best intimate black-box theaters in the region. It's a great opportunity to celebrate writing and creativity in an intimate setting."
Santa Monica Review, published twice yearly as part of Santa Monica College's commitment to encouraging literacy and engagement with the literary arts, showcases established authors and emerging writers. The Review has presented works of fiction and nonfiction, including writing by authors Alan Cheuse, Diane Lefer, the late James Houston, and Gary Soto. Recent works from the Review - the only nationally distributed literary magazine published by a U.S. community college - appears in the annual Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories, and PEN/O. Henry anthologies.
Santa Monica Review is available for sale online and at the SMC Bookstore, Beyond Baroque in Venice, Skylight Books, and other area booksellers. Copies are also available by mail and by subscription through Santa Monica Review, Santa Monica College, 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica 90405.
The publication costs $7 per issue or $12 for the two issues each year.
For more information, visit www.smc.edu/sm_review or call (714) 649-9051.
- Submitted by Grace Smith Public Information Officer at Santa Monica College
