June 03, 2005

Literary magazine wins arts council award

by Paula Davenport

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Two Illinois fiction writers and a literary journal based at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are winners of 2005 Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards.

The state agency annually bestows prizes both to Illinois authors of quality new writing and gives companion prizes to the Illinois non-profit literary magazines that publish their works.

SIUC's "Crab Orchard Review" will receive $2,000 for recognizing the superb writings "La Villita" by Rafael Torch and "Ranji Loves Le Can Can" by Sapna Gupta. Both writers live and work in Chicago. Each will receive $1,000 in prize money.

The "Crab Orchard Review" publishes creative writing such as new fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction and book reviews of small press and university press titles.

Headquartered in the English department — in the College of Liberal Arts — the journal appears twice a year.

The literary awards celebrate top writers in the state and increase awareness of non-commercial publishing in Illinois.

Leading in research, scholarly and creative activities is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the long-range plan the University is following as it nears its 150th anniversary in 2019.