{"id":32108,"date":"2025-11-13T17:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T22:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/?p=32108"},"modified":"2025-11-13T17:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T22:23:17","slug":"event-to-celebrate-launch-of-21st-edition-of-the-tusculum-review-and-winner-of-the-2025-fiction-chapbook-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www3.tusculum.edu\/news\/news\/2025\/event-to-celebrate-launch-of-21st-edition-of-the-tusculum-review-and-winner-of-the-2025-fiction-chapbook-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Event to celebrate launch of 21st edition of “The Tusculum Review” and winner of the 2025 Fiction Chapbook Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREENEVILLE<\/strong> \u2013 High-quality writing and illustrations from established authors and artists, bolstered by a creative partnership with Tusculum University students, will again enthrall readers as they absorb the pages of the 21st edition of \u201cThe Tusculum Review<\/a>.\u201d<\/h3>\n
\"This

This is the cover of \u201cThe Tusculum Review.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

The prose and artistry will also captivate readers as they pour through the chapbook, a short stand-alone book, written by Robin Lee Lovelace and illustrated by Daeja Sutherland. This book, called \u201cSnakebite,\u201d is the winner of the 2025 Fiction Chapbook Prize presented by \u201cThe Tusculum Review,\u201d the university\u2019s international literary journal.<\/p>\n

Tusculum University will launch the journal and chapbook Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. in Behan Arena Theatre and invites the community to attend this free event. It will feature a live reading followed by a question-and-answer session with Lovelace, Sutherland and writer G.W. Currier. In addition, students who have interviewed authors and artists featured in the journal and chapbook will give brief presentations. The concluding activities will be a reception and book signing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoy this evening of recognizing outstanding creative writing by exceptional authors and excellent behind-the-scenes work by our students, both of which continue our tradition of providing a voice to compelling literature,\u201d said Kelsey Trom, editor of \u201cThe Tusculum Review\u201d and professor of English<\/a> at the university. \u201cWe take pride in producing a journal and honoring a chapbook each year that reflect our rich history of supporting strong writing and visually striking artwork. This year\u2019s products continue that tradition in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tusculum Review\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s edition of \u201cThe Tusculum Review\u201d presents the writing of 23 authors in 24 works in the drama, essay, fiction and poetry genres. Trom said the 21st edition will provide an extra helping of fiction because of the submission of so many stellar entries for the Chapbook Prize. The journal will feature six of the entries, including Lovelace\u2019s. In addition, it will spotlight the illustrative talents of Amuri Morris, whose work in the publication consists of the cover and a folio of her paintings of Black women. Sutherland\u2019s full-color illustrations appear with \u201cSnakebite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kelsey

Kelsey Trom<\/p><\/div>\n

Trom said a strength of this year\u2019s volume is incredible variety in age, style and subject matter among the writers. That includes a new story, \u201cBasic Training,\u201d by legendary author Janet Burroway; Jamie Cortez\u2019s newest story featuring his beloved character Gordo; and a new play by Texas playwright Straton Rushing. The edition also has two poems from Nate Marshall about his baby daughter, a poem by Ace Boggess about the aesthetics of addiction and pieces from two talented high school-age poets \u2013 Alexander Lee and Zack Lam.<\/p>\n

In addition, \u201cThe Tusculum Review\u201d will reprint best-selling author Ethel Morgan\u2019s 2007 essay “Love Means Nothing,” which discusses tennis, middle age, teaching and the\u00a0treatment of Venus and Serena Williams when they were new stars on the professional tennis circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a testament to the reputation of our journal that so many writing heroes are publishing with us,\u201d Trom said. \u201cBut I\u2019m equally thrilled to be introducing readers to writers they may not have heard of yet \u2013 essayist Cynthia Liu, Canadian writer Jacob Scheier, Georgia fiction writer Connie Corzilius, West Virginia poet Ace Boggess and South Korean poet Alexander Lee. When it\u2019s working, this is what literary journals get to do \u2013 bring exciting, of-the-moment work by both established and emerging writers to a new readership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trom said Morris\u2019 paintings contribute significantly to the quality of \u201cThe Tusculum Review.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re thrilled to include Amuri Morris’ incredible oil paintings of Black women in the style of the old\u00a0masters and modern masters like Kehinde Wiley,\u201d she said. \u201cAmuri\u2019s about to graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, but her figures have the gravitas, solidity and energy of portraits created by much older artists. Her intention and singular vision are also advanced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris shared her perspective in her artist statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cPainting Black women is an act of reverence and resistance \u2013\u00a0reverence for the histories, cultures and lineages that shape us and\u00a0resistance against centuries of erasure, distortion and misrepresentation,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cEach canvas becomes a mirror, a place where Black women can see\u00a0themselves centered, celebrated and worthy of attention without\u00a0condition or compromise.”<\/p>\n

The chapbook<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"This

This is the cover for the chapbook \u201cSnakebite.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSnakebite\u201d is an energetic and intense tale of childhood fear, helpless addiction, relationship distrust and release. In a profile she wrote about Lovelace, Tusculum sophomore Haley Cain said the author\u2019s story shares the captivating narrative of a relative and that person\u2019s lived experience. Cain said Lovelace\u2019s ability to artistically detail this story moves the reader through the parallel story lines before concluding with a final culmination of the piece.<\/p>\n

\u201cI based the story on a real incident that happened to one of my relatives, but I did include in the story a sort of flashback about why the protagonist was so scared of snakes,\u201d Lovelace said. \u201cI have three close relatives that are first responders, and I have another one that’s an ER nurse, so you can imagine the stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lovelace said she includes a flashback about the reason the protagonist in the story was so scared of snakes, but Cain said readers will feel immersed as if they were in the room with first responders.<\/p>\n

Cortez, who served as the judge for the prize, sang the praises of \u201cSnakebite\u201d in Cain\u2019s profile<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of got me at a visceral level,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cThe action that was happening, both the physical action that was happening but also the emotional experience that the characters were going through, was very visceral for me. I really appreciated the writer\u2019s ability to invoke that viscerality. Not just any writer has the gift to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cain, whose profile of Lovelace will be published on the website of \u201cThe Tusculum Review,\u201d https:\/\/ttr.tusculum.edu\/<\/a>,<\/u> also commended \u201cSnakebite.\u201d She called the chapbook \u201cthe epitome of the art of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Trom reflected on Sutherland\u2019s illustrations, she gave them high marks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer\u00a0approach to illustrating \u2018Snakebite\u2019 was exceedingly professional, original and magical,\u201d Trom said. \u201cHer figures are anatomically meticulous but also animated with energy and motion. She sometimes sent us corrections of, to my eye, already marvelous illustrations because she was dissatisfied with the anatomy. These illustrations are drawn, inked and painted by hand in a multilayered process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mini-biographies of Q&A participants<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Robin

Robin Lee Lovelace<\/p><\/div>\n

Lovelace is a mixed-race African American author who usually writes short fiction. Her novella, \u201cSavonne, Not Vonny,\u201d won or was short-listed for numerous awards, including the Etchings Press Novella of the Year in 2019 and the CIBA in 2021. Her short story \u201cUncle\u201d won the Marguerite McGlinn Short Fiction Award in 2021. She was recognized as an honoree by Indiana Humanities for her work in fiction in 2020 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Currier’s fiction, drawn from his Rust Belt childhood and the stories of his Hungarian-American family, has appeared in publications such as \u201cThe Table Review,\u201d \u201cSaranac Review,\u201d \u201cNimrod International Journal,\u201d \u201cThe South Dakota Review\u201d and \u201cWaxwing.\u201d He is the recipient of The Tulip\u00e1n Foundation’s 2025 Arts and Culture Award, which funds Hungarian-Americans influenced by traditional folk-craft.<\/p>\n

Sutherland is a Canadian illustrator, comic artist and writer. She relishes exploring cultural, political and social questions through illustration and writing and has a particular obsession with fantasy creatures like orcs. She works primarily in traditional media \u2013 graphite, ink and watercolor. During her studies at Parsons School of Design, she completed \u201cThe Back of the Orchard,\u201d a 20-page graphite and digitally colored comic, which inspired her to pursue a career in comics and illustration.<\/p>\n

Editors of The Tusculum Review<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to the writers and artists who contribute to \u201cThe Tusculum Review,\u201d the journal thrives on the leadership of multiple editors. Besides serving as the editor of the whole publication, Trom is the fiction editor. The others are Dr. Josh Martin, poetry editor; Abby Seethoff, nonfiction editor; and Matt Shvyrkov, drama editor.<\/p>\n

Helping the authors and editors are Tusculum students from many majors who read submissions, perform the layout of the ones being published, correspond with the authors and write profiles of them. Those who served on the editorial staff this year are:<\/p>\n