We’ve been publishing Literary LEO — our annual call to action for the creative — for all kinds of a long time. It’s a tradition that has brought together thousands of writers, poets, artists and photographers in the shared pursuit of publication. It’s among our most-read issues, and we love doing it, even if a few long nights combing through boxes of entries is less desirable than the other available options.
This year we added a new category — “Something Different” — to build out the more traditional: short story, flash fiction, poetry, color and black-and-white photography. In the following pages, you’ll see examples of what wild, wide imagination and skill we have here in River City. As is the case every year, we find ourselves humbled by you.
LEO Weekly thanks our participants and judges, of whom you will also read in the following pages.
As is customary, we’re having a Literary LEO Party. Because of the snowstorm, we’ve changed our plans slightly: The party is Thursday, Feb.5 at the Green Building (732 E. Market St.) from 6-9 p.m. The winning photographs will be on display, and the winning writers will read from their pieces, accompanied by a jazz collective. It’s free, open to the public, and there’ll be food and booze (this last one isn’t free).
We sincerely hope you enjoy this as much as we do.
Meet the judges
Jennifer Woods — Short Fiction/Flash Fiction
Jen Woods is the founder and editor-in-chief of the award-winning literary arts and design magazine The Lumberyard (www.lumberyardmagazine.com), which is produced in conjunction with the Firecracker Press in St. Louis. She is also the associate editor for Sarabande Books, a nonprofit, independent literary press in Louisville.
Erin Keane — Poetry
Erin Keane is the author of “The Gravity Soundtrack,” a full-length collection of poems (WordFarm, 2007), and “The One-Hit Wonders” (Snark Publishing, 2006), a chapbook of poems about and inspired by rock ’n’ roll. Her new novel-in-poems, “Death Defying Acts,” will be published by WordFarm this year. She earned her MFA in creative writing at Spalding University and teaches a course on “Pop Music in American Literature” at Bellarmine University. In her spare time, Keane directs the InKY Reading Series and writes about local theater for LEO Weekly.
Sarah Lyon — Photography
A graduate of Miami University of Ohio with a bachelors of fine arts degree with a minor in interdisciplinary studies, Sarah Lyon has been an active artist in Louisville since 2003. Her work has shown in galleries in Louisville and around the region, as well as in San Francisco and Graz, Austria. She was a contributing editor and photographer for Pitch Magazine. Sarah has received grant support for various projects from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Kentucky Arts Council. Her work includes an ongoing series of large-format color prints of “Louisville Portraits and Spaces.” She is also the creator of the Female Mechanics Calendar, which features women mechanics photographed working in their shop environments around the country. Sarah is currently an adjunct photography teacher at Bellarmine University.
Hillary Harrison — Something Different
Hillary Harrison grew up in a quiet town in West Virginia. After high school, she hopped in a car and ended up in Louisville, where she earned a bachelors of fine arts degree from the University of Louisville. While in school, she assembled and distributed a photocopied zine called Bejeezus — now a full color, nationally distributed magazine dedicated to showcasing the work of Southern writers and artists. In 2006, she co-founded the short-lived, but fondly remembered Butcher Block Gallery. Her latest project — a collaboration with local artist Dan Davis — is Print is Dead, a press that will produce hand-printed books and art, as well as promote a love of all things print. Look for the first project from the two this year.