Grassroots’ authors and editors celebrated the deadline of their next volume with the Devil’s Kitchen Literary Festival.
The annual festival brought established and student writers to campus to read their literary works, answer questions and sign books. The three-day festival was sponsored by Grassroots — the undergraduate literary magazine — Crab Orchard Review and SIUC’s Creative Writing Program.
The eighth annual festival drew a small crowd of students and authors Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Student Center Auditorium, by featuring several authors from Crab Orchard Review — a biannual journal of creative works.
Allison Joseph, editor of the Crab Orchard Review, said the journal receives more than 12,000 poems and 4,000 prose yearly. She said the journal is considering submissions for the next issue, which will be called “Land of Lincoln: Writing from and about Illinois. “
“This issue is all about Illinois, and I still haven’t received a Rod Blagojevich poem,” Joseph said.
Jane Alison, novelist from Miami, read from her book “The Sisters Antipodes,” a memoir about her life after her parents switched spouses. She said when she was 4 years old, her parents met a family almost identical to theirs and decided to trade partners, tearing her family apart.
“I’d rather have it in a book then in my head,” Alison said.
Amy McKenzie, Grassroots editor-in-chief, said the undergraduate journal should be published by the end of February. She said she has already received more than 50 submissions from students in different majors. She said available money would decide how many pages the journal could be, but she expects to publish a 200-page book. Grassroots receives a portion of the fine arts activity fee from the university, she said.
McKenzie said the festival was a good experience for undergraduates to spend time with authors. She said she hoped students found their own writing routine and were able to pick up tips on the writing process.
Christina Spakousky can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 258.
