Cover To Cover is the anchor program for GPB’s literary coverage. Cover To Cover features a collection of distinctive Southern voices interviewing Georgia writers, Southern writers, and writers dealing with the South. The GPB Southern Lit Cadre will provide you with a varied, weekly glimpse at fiction, non-fiction, history, poetry, and even the occasional ‘old school’ nod to Flannery O’Connor or William Faulkner.

Friday, July 20, 2007

We Get Mail...

It seems my plan for Cover to Cover's literary world domination (see my Tuesday, July 3 blog post) is now beginning to take shape [...maniacal laugh...]!

On July 12, my blog post concerned Stan Lindberg and the award named for him. Stan was a longtime editor of The Georgia Review, which is generally acknowledged to be one of this country's best literary journals. He died in 2000. During Stan's tenure the Review won a National Magazine Award and, in the post, I went on to say "Today, the Review is still regularly nominated for the National Magazine Award in competition with such publications as The Atlantic, Esquire, and The New Yorker."

Well, that comment elicited an email response. Hallelujah! People are reading the Cover to Cover blog...and responding to it! The response was from the Georgia Review's Business Manager, Brenda Keen, and although it took me to task for not being totally accurate, I like to think that, fundamentally, it was a nice reply. Here it is:

Hi St. John,
Thanks to Google Alerts, I just discovered your CtC blog. Very cool! Reading your July 12 entry, though, made me think that perhaps you didn't hear that The Georgia Review won a second National Magazine Award this past May for the essay "Russell and Mary" by Michael Donohue in our Fall/Winter 2006 issue. Carrie Fisher handed Stephen the award, so we're probably the only literary magazine ever to receive an elephant from Princess Leia! =)
Best,
Brenda
I need to explain that "Stephen" is Stephen Corey, the Review's longtime Associate Editor who is currently serving as Editor, and (I didn't know this) the elephant reference is to the "Ellie," the National Magazine Award Elephant statuette, designed by Alexander Calder, presented to winners.

I apologize for overlooking this most recent accolade, which is a very big deal, and I thank Brenda for bringing my oversight to my attention.

I should say, for the purposes of full disclosure, that for the last year The Georgia Review has been a Cover to Cover underwriter. I'm sorry for short changing it!

Of course, my embarrassment is overshadowed by my pleasure at having received a response to something posted on this new Cover to Cover blog. You can register your comments and reactions at covertocover@gpb.org.

I look forward to hearing from you.
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