Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the history of Shenandoah?

Shenandoah was founded in 1950 by a group of Washington and Lee University faculty members and undergraduates, Tom Wolfe among them. For a brief time it was primarily an undergraduate magazine, but under the leadership of student editor Tom Carter Shenandoah became a quarterly, publishing a cast of international writers including e e cummings, Dylan Thomas, W. H. Auden, James Merrill, Ezra Pound, William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. From the 60's to the 80's, Washington and Lee faculty member James Boatwright expanded the journal and published occasional theme issues, including a 35th anniversary anthology. In 1995, R. T. Smith was selected as the first full-time editor of the journal, which is now published triannually.

What is the relationship between Shenandoah and Washington and Lee University?

Shenandoah is funded and supported by Washington and Lee University through the Office of the Dean of the College and is located in Mattingly House on the Washington and Lee University campus. The magazine maintains a board of university advisors who offer guidance and advice, and the current editor maintains an intern program in which undergraduate students work for the journal and learn the craft of editing as an academic course in the English Department.

The current editor regularly teaches in the Washington and Lee University English Department and organizes Poetry Month events for the university. He also represents the university at conferences and workshops such as the Sewanee Writers Conference, Writers @ Work, the Appalachian Writers Workshop and the Vermont College MFA program.

Like the university which sponsors it, Shenandoah strives to encourage imagination, precision, prudence, diversity and daring.

How often does Shenandoah publish "new" writers?

It's difficult to define "new" in this context, but at least 40% of the contributors to each issue in the past twelve years have been new to Shenandoah.

How many manuscripts does Shenandoah receive and publish annually?

We receive about 15,000 poems and 6,500 stories and essays annually. We publish 80-100 poems and three-dozen prose selections in an average annual volume.

What happens to a typical manuscript when it arrives at Shenandoah?

Manuscripts are opened, sorted, dated and logged in according to genre by work-study students and interns. The editor reads all submissions and divides them into two categories: those which seem strong possibilities for Shenandoah and those which seem less strong. In a second round of reading, the editor selects the work which he believes Shenandoah should publish. Once a manuscript has been eliminated as a possibility, it is returned to the interns, who place the manuscript in its SASE, along with a form expressing regret that the work has not been selected. The manuscript is then mailed back to the sender. Sometimes the editor writes a note on the rejection slip; occasionally he writes a letter asking to see more work. The entire process usually takes six to eight weeks. Due to the current volume of submissions, Shenandoah asks that writers not submit more frequently than twice a year.

What if there's no SASE?

We recycle the manuscript.

How many poems or stories should a writer send at a time?

Up to five poems, one story (or two short shorts), one essay.

What is Shenandoah's policy concerning simultaneous submissions?

If your work is under consideration elsewhere, be sure to inform us in your cover letter. And if it is accepted elsewhere, inform us by e-mail, fax or telephone immediately. Really: IMMEDIATELY.

Does Shenandoah consider previously published work?

Absolutely not.

What about submissions through electronic means?

We're not equipped to handle e-mail submissions at this time.

Does Shenandoah prefer that work be accompanied by a cover letter? If so, what is considered appropriate for such a letter?

Yes, we like cover letters, because they become useful once a manuscript moves into serious consideration. Since a cover letter is a pretty basic business communication, we recommend a tone appropriate to business. If you've been published before, mention three or four places. We don't mind hearing about a couple of awards or fellowships which might be recognizable to us. Where you live, what work you do and where you studied are also pertinent. It is worth remembering that no cover letter will boost the chances of a poem or story, while a hyperbolic or self-congratulatory letter might conceivably damage the reception a work would receive. We don't want to see catalogues of publications, vitas, lists of former teachers, quotations from other writers about your work, personal photographs, flyers advertising books or readings or explanations of the submitted work.

How are writers remunerated by Shenandoah?

We pay $2.50 per line of poetry ($200 maximum) published and $25 per page of prose ($250 maximum). Cover artists receive $300. The contributor also receives a free copy of the issue, the opportunity to purchase additional copies at a modest rate and a free one-year subscription.

All poems published in our pages in a given year are eligible for consideration for the annual James Boatwright III Prize for Poetry ($1000) and stories are eligible for the annual $1,000 Goodheart Prize for Fiction. The Thomas H. Carter Prize for the Essay ($1,000) is awarded for the best non-fiction worked published in a calendar year. There is no "submission" process per se.

Who chooses the winners?

The editor appoints the judges.

How is the editor of Shenandoah selected?

A committee of W&L faculty members conducts an open national search, gathering credentials, selecting finalists, conducting campus interviews, then offering the job to the candidate who seems most suited to the position.

What is the Glasgow Prize?

The Glasgow/Shenandoah Prize for Emerging Writers is a $2,500 award for the author of a first book. Even old books by those who have not yet published a second in the genre are eligible. The award, once funded by the Arthur Glasgow Foundation, is now funded and administered by the staff of Shenandoah. The editor selects the finalists and appoints a judge, who then selects the winner. The competition alternates between the genres of poetry and short fiction.

How does Shenandoah acquire its reviews?

Most are solicited. We ask particular writers to give us brief reviews of specific books, and occasionally we ask a proven critic to write a retrospective of a writer's work. We are not averse to publishing reviews from those other than our regulars, but we recommend reviewers send us a query and sample review first. Christopher Matthews currently writes an annual poetry round-up for us.

Does Shenandoah consider manuscripts throughout the year?

No. We stop reading May 15, and manuscripts received between then and August 31 are returned unread. We may also temporarily suspend consideration of particular genres for administrative reasons. When we do so, we return the submissions swiftly with information about resumption of standard practices.

Where does the cover art come from?

Over the half century of Shenandoah's existence, covers have come from a wide spectrum. In fact, in the 70's and 80's a dozen covers featured photographs by Sally Mann. Some recent cover artists we've discovered in magazines, others are local artists or people whose work we've seen in galleries. We have used three paintings by the late Mississippi artist Walter I. Anderson and four by Virginia resident William Dunlap. A few have come from art submitted through the mail. We seldom use non-representative images and rarely use black-and-white photos or drawings.

How would you describe the mission of Shenandoah?

Shenandoah's mission is to bring the most accomplished and stimulating writers and writing to the Washington and Lee University community and to our wider audience.

We want to publish work which has its sources in acutely observed personal experience but which also aims to bear witness to something larger than the individual. Miller Williams said that a poem must begin as the writer's but end up as the reader's, or it is a failure. We concur. Regarding fiction, we are not drawn to stories whose interest in particular topics overwhelms an interest in the language. Stories are, after all, made of words, not emotions, ambitions or ideals, and the words must do the work. Former Shenandoah contributing editor James Dickey once said he wanted to say things in a such a way that they could not easily be unsaid. We'll stand by that.

Do you have any principles or creeds to guide your selection?

No schools of thought, really, though lately that we are more interested in experiments in fiction than in "experimental poetry." The Book of Isaiah says, "Butter and honey shall he eat that he may refuse the evil and choose the good." That claim provides some comfort, though we find a mouthful of briars now and then keeps our view balanced.

The Washington and Lee University Review
Mattingly House / 2 Lee Avenue
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450-2116
(540) 458-8765 / FAX (540) 458-8461
shenandoah@wlu.edu