Debby DeRosa
Twice a year during the Converse College Low-Residency MFA student residencies, I meet with current students of the program to tell them about the opportunity to work on the journal. At the meeting this past January, I walked away with a page-long list of people interested in being on staff – possibly because my meeting this time happened at the main lunch table for the residency. If people wanted to eat, they had to listen to my talk.
Therefore, I am excited to announce the Masthead for the Spring / Summer 2016 issue, which will come out on June 15. I look forward to the fresh insight our new editors will bring as well as the wisdom that our more seasoned editors will contribute.
Returning to staff are:
● Melissa Sherrer (continuing as our Managing Poetry Editor)
● Anthony Reese (replacing Jacob Allard as our Managing Prose Editor and taking over the Social Media Director position)
● Aaron Dargis and Reed McFarlin (returning Poetry Co-Editors)
● Monica Torres (moving from the Non-Fiction Editor position to serve as a Poetry Co-Editor)
● Courtney McQueen (Artistic Director and Poetry Co-Editor)
● Shianna Whitner (returning Fiction Co-Editor)
● Kristi Hébert (continuing as our Blog Editor)
● Rick Mulkey (continuing as our Contributing Editor)
● Stephen Gray (continuing as our Webmaster)
We would like to welcome to staff:
● Gwen Holt and John Newlin (Fiction Co-Editors)
● Jonathan Burgess, Annette Sanders, and Kay Stewart (Non-Fiction Co-Editors)
● Angela Raper (Review Editor)
We are sad to say goodbye to a few retiring editors. Jacob Allard served our journal first as the Non-Fiction Editor and then Managing Prose Editor. Lisa Hase-Jackson served as Review Editor and will stay involved to help our new Review Editor transition into her position. Shea Faulkner served as one of our Fiction Co-Editors.
All three of these editors did fabulous work in their positions and have left a legacy for us to follow. Since they are all graduates of the Converse MFA program, they have graciously agreed to step down from their positions so that new people can experience working on the journal. We wish them the best and look forward to seeing what they will do next!
Thank you for your continued support of our journal – by reading our blog, submitting your work, and reading our issues. If it weren’t for our readers and contributors, we wouldn’t exist! We look forward to putting out our next issue in June.
In the meantime, write like mad, and if it’s good, we want to see it.
Debby DeRosa holds a BA in English from the University of South Carolina-Columbia and an MFA in Creative Writing from Converse College. In addition to being the Managing Editor of South 85 Journal, she is the Marketing Manager of Five Star Plumbing Heating Cooling in Greer, SC, and she freelances as a copywriter and content developer.