Shenandoah Internship/ English 453 Fall, 2016
English 453: Internship in Literary Editing will again be offered (for juniors and seniors) by Shenandoah editor R. T. Smith during the fall term of 2013. Class meetings and individual office work will take place in our new suite of offices in Early Fielding Building.
If you were already taking 453, what might you be doing this week as an intern in the magazine’s office? You might be helping out with proofreading or logging in and examining manuscripts submitted for publication. You’d certainly be participating in a weekly seminar, discussing the literary community and the history and possibilities of the literary journal, both print and on-line versions. You’d be discussing the purposes and formats of book reviews and preparing to write a book recommendation of your own. You might also be reading and assessing short stories and poems submitted by both novice writers and well-known figures from Robert Wrigley and Claudia Emerson to Joyce Carol Oates. You might be polishing up a news release or some creative work of your own.
Other activities for interns include making presentations on literary journals, reading articles in which editors explain their choices and copyediting accepted manuscripts. You might be helping to choose finalists for prizes and actually discussing which work will appear in the spring, 2013 on-line edition of this sixty-year-old source and archive of literary art. And you’d take your turn posting Poems of the Week on the campus notices, contacting bloggers about new features in Shenandoah, corresponding with contributing writers, spreading the word about Shenandoah’s new digital profile on social networking sites. You would be blogging from our Snopes site, posting your ideas and responding to readers on matters ranging from the language controversy of Huckleberry Finn, the supposed shrinking audience for the short story, chick lit and chuck lit, the poetry of political engagement, poetry slams, movies made from books and the many crazy things writers say.
In short, an internship at Shenandoah is valuable to anyone interested in the writing and publishing world, anyone who wants to refine his or her own writing and anyone who wants to make a difference at a crucial moment in the evolution of an established and respected but evolving literary journal.
This course may be applied to the English major or Creative Writing minor or serve as an elective credit. For further information about how to sign up, contact the editor at rodsmith@wlu.edu or drop by the Shenandoah offices in Early Fielding. We promise you the grand tour, and you can touch our Virginia Governor’s Award for Achievement in the Arts.
- *NEW COURSE*
English 293 Topics in American Literature: Introduction to Literary Editing
An apprenticeship in editing for one or more students with the editor of Shenandoah , Washington and Lee’s nationally prominent literary magazine. This is a course for anyone interested in editing literary journals, writing for the literary community (blogs, news releases, two book reviews, features, business correspondence) and just how both print and on-line journals operate. Often a stepping stone to a publication career, the course involves an introduction to the creation, design and maintenance of WordPress web sites, as well as a survey of current magazines. The course also offers opportunities for each student to practice generating and editing her or his own texts and those of his/her peers. Each intern will oversee one facet of the journal (Poem of the Week, blog, submissions management, contests, social media), and each makes presentations to the class on the nature of other current literary journals. Interns often work in pairs for peer editing and other assignments. For more information see shenandoahliterary.org, especially its INTERN page, or contact rodsmith@wlu.edu. May be applied once to the English Major or Creative Writing Minor.
English 293 Topics in American Literature: Introduction to Literary Editing
An apprenticeship in editing for one or more students with the editor of Shenandoah , Washington and Lee’s nationally prominent literary magazine. This is a course for anyone interested in editing literary journals, writing for the literary community (blogs, news releases, two book reviews, features, business correspondence) and just how both print and on-line journals operate. Often a stepping stone to a publication career, the course involves an introduction to the creation, design and maintenance of WordPress web sites, as well as a survey of current magazines. The course also offers opportunities for each student to practice generating and editing her or his own texts and those of his/her peers. Each intern will oversee one facet of the journal (Poem of the Week, blog, submissions management, contests, social media), and each makes a presentation to the class on the nature and practices of two other current literary journals. Interns also work in pairs toward an understanding of the role journals play in contemporary literature and engage in peer editing. 293 is an excellent opportunity for students who wish to work with a widely admired journal, which is 24-7 accessible to all at shenandoahliterary.org. For further information visit the website, especially its INTERN page, or contact rodsmith@wlu.edu. May be applied once to the English major or Creative Writing Minor.