Reception for spring issue of ABSENCE set for April 21

ABSENCE: Penn State Greater Allegheny's Literary & Art Magazine will hold its spring 2010 reception, which will feature the work of 42 authors and artists, at 7 p.m. on April 21, in the Ostermayer Room in the Student Community Center on campus. The event also will celebrate the arts, with performances that include live music, excerpts from the spring theatre production, the screening of a short film, and the presentation of the fifth annual Chancellor?s Prizes for the Best Literary & Visual Arts by Curtiss E. Porter, Penn State Greater Allegheny chancellor.

All faculty, staff and students of the Penn State community are welcome to attend; the event is free and is open to the public. The magazine, in its 12th year of publication by the Penn State Greater Allegheny English department, is an annual publication which showcases campus talent. Copies of Volume Twelve will be available for the first time at this event.

The mission of ABSENCE is the annual publication of a high-quality literary and arts magazine for the Greater Allegheny community. The magazine?s goal is to provide all full- and part-time Greater Allegheny students, faculty and staff, and alumni with a shared venue for their creative endeavors, and to generate interest in the arts in the Greater Allegheny community. The magazine also provides students the opportunity to prepare for professional careers in publishing and document design.

Clifford Manlove, associate professor of English, ABSENCE senior faculty adviser, invited faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the campus to submit their poetry, short fiction and nonfiction, essays, photography, visual art and more for consideration. A ?blind submission? process was used by the student editorial board to evaluate each work. In total, 291 submissions were received -- more than in any previous year -- but fewer than 90 could be published in the 120 page magazine.