ABSENCE: Penn State Greater Allegheny's Literary and Art Magazine announces its spring Celebration of the Arts, featuring the work of each year's authors and artists at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, in the Ostermayer Room in the Student Community Center. The event will features performances that include live jazz, excerpts from the spring play, acoustic guitar, a stand-up comedian and screening of short films. The event is free to the public. The magazine, in its 10th year of publication by the Penn State Greater Allegheny Department of English, is an annual publication which showcases campus talent. Copies of volume 10 will be available for the first time.
Clifford Manlove, associate professor of English and Lori Hepner, assistant professor of integrative arts, ABSENCE faculty advisors, invited faculty, staff and students to submit their poetry, short fiction, essays, photography, visual art, etc. A blind submission policy was used by the student editorial committee to evaluate each work. Some 200 submissions were received; less than 40 percent of submitted work can be accepted for publication.
All ABSENCE submissions are eligible for consideration for the Third Annual Chancellor's Awards. Two student winners for the Best Literary and the Best Visual Arts submissions will be awarded $200 each. Two second-place award winners will each receive $75. The Chancellor's Award was instituted in 2006 to promote the growth of an active creative community in and around Penn State Greater Allegheny.
The student editorial staff and faculty advisers reviewed submissions; final decisions about publication rested with the student editor-in-chief. ABSENCE is published in April of each academic year, and is unveiled at its annual Reading and Reception, which features the work of each year's authors and artists. The publication is supported by: the Chancellor's office, Academic Affairs, Institutional Advancement, Admissions, Continuing Education, the Student Activity Fee and Student Affairs.