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By Simmons Buntin, December 17, 2010 11:07 pm

As the Terrain.org editor-in-chief, there’s little that feels better than putting the finishing touches on the issue and getting the work of the publication’s many contributors out into the world. But there’s another good side to editing that has little to do with publishing.

Shura Young with her dog Toby at the Tar Pits in the 1950s.

I have to decline far more submissions than I accept (that’s not the good part). Occasionally, however, a submission is close, and if I can find the time I’ll provide critical comments on the essay, poem, or story. That doesn’t happen as often as I’d like, of course. But just the other day I received an email from the writer Shura Young that really made my day. Here it is, with her permission to reprint:

To Simmons Buntin,

In May 2007, you emailed me a page of suggestions in response to an early version of my essay, “Tar Pits.” With that encouragement, I continued two years of revising. “Tar Pits” was published in the 2009 Flyway, A Journal of Writing and Environment, and was selected as Notable in The Best American Essays 2010. Flyway recently interviewed me on their blog [read the interview here].

Although I’ve had nothing else so far that I felt would fit Terrain.org, I wanted to express appreciation for the useful feedback you took the time to give me.

Best,
Shura Young

~~~

Though I admit some envy that Flyway, a lovely print journal, got the opportunity to consider the revised essay when we didn’t, I am delighted to learn that Shura continued to work on it and that it found a home and recognition even beyond that. As an editor, it is very gratifying to know that I had a small part in the essay’s success.

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By Simmons Buntin, April 17, 2010 11:06 pm

The Tivoli at Auraria Campus, site of the Terrain.org / Hawk & Handsaw reading. Photo by Lisa O'Neil.

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) annual conference in Denver April 7-10 was, as expected, fantastic. Not only did the majority of Terrain.org’s editors get together (a rarity given their geographic ranges), but we also met many contributors (and hopefully future contributors) at the Terrain.org table at the AWP bookfair, and got to rub elbows with the good folks at Hawk & Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability and The LBJ: Avian Life, Literary Arts.

The highlight for us was the Terrain.org / Hawk & Handsaw “Wild Lives / Raucous Pens” reading at the Tivoli, a historic brewery near downtown. Many thanks to Jake Adam York, University of Colorado – Denver, and Copper Nickel for helping us with the space, which was a beautiful room with a wrought-iron balcony, exposed brick walls, large copper vats in the back, and a bank of windows overlooking downtown behind the readers.

We’ve posted a slideshow of 27 photos recapping our visit to Denver. Check it out at:

http://www.terrain.org/img/2010/awp/

And don’t forget about our inaugural contests in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry with an August 1 deadline!

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By Simmons Buntin, February 28, 2010 12:44 pm

We’re just over a month away from the nation’s largest literature conference: the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ annual conference and bookfair, April 8-10. AWP 2010 will be held this year in Denver, at the Colorado Convention Center, and you’ll be able to find Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments there, as well.

Here’s what’s going on for us:

Table at Bookfair

Join us at Exhibit Hall A, H9 from Thursday through Saturday. We’ll be right next to the table for Hawk & Handsaw: The Journal of Creative Sustainability, and we’re also dedicating a corner of the Terrain.org table to The LBJ: Avian Life, Literary Arts, a great little literary bird journal that wasn’t able to get a table of its own.

Wild Lives / Raucous Pens: Readings from Terrain.org and Hawk & Handsaw

Join us Thursday evening, April 8, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. for a joint reading held at the Tivoli at Auraria Campus (Adirondacks Room).  Facilitated by Hawk & Handsaw editor Kathryn Miles and Terrain.org editor Simmons Buntin, the reading features Patrick Burns, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Scott Elliott, James Engelhardt, Suzanne Frischkorn, Andrew Gottlieb, Luisa Igloria, John T. Price, Ben Quick, Suzanne Roberts, Jeffrey Thomson, and Arianne Zwartjes.

We hope to see you in Denver!