Second Slippery Elm Issue to be Published

The second issue of Slippery Elm, The University of Findlay’s national literary journal, will be available at a release party scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4 in the upper room at Logan’s Irish Pub in Findlay.
The event will also feature readings from some of the authors whose works were selected for inclusion, and a sneak peek of the magazine’s redesigned website at http://slipperyelm.findlay.edu/
The journal, published annually, had a total of 416 submissions from all over the world, but primarily from North America, said Editor Dave Essinger, associate professor of English at UF. A total of 240 submissions were entries for the poetry and prose contests. The acceptance rate was about eight percent.
Authors Edie Clark and Stephanie Pushaw were this issue’s contest winners, garnering $1,000 each and publication in the journal. Clark, who lives in Michigan, won for her story, “Singing Grass.” Pushaw, from Los Angeles, California, won for her poem, “Second Person.”
Bluffton University English professor Jeff Gundy judged poetry category entries. David James Poissant was the prose judge.
Travis Wolph, a senior digital media major at The University of Findlay, won the cover contest for this issue. His work has also appeared in From the Writers’ Kitchen, a student literary journal at the University.
Slippery Elm copies will be sold for $10 at the release party. After that, copies can be purchased by check sent to Slippery Elm, The University of Findlay, 1000 N. Main St., Mail Box 1615, c/o David Essinger, Findlay, OH 45840.
Ohio authors who are featured in the journal include:

David Oestreich
The Findlay resident is the author of the forthcoming chapbook “Cosmophagy.” His work has appeared in various online and print venues, such as Ruminate, Chagrin River Review, Tar River Poetry and Eclectica.
Hannah Stephenson
The poet, editor and instructor lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she also runs a monthly literary event series called Paging Columbus. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Atlantic and The Huffington Post. Her collection, In The Kettle, The Shriek is available from Gold Wake Press.
Kerry Trautman
Also of Findlay, Trautman is the founding member of Toledo’s Ohio Almeda Street Poets and is often seen at local readings and events such as Artomatic 419, 100 Thousand Poets for Change and the Columbus Arts Festival. Her second chapbook, To Have Hoped, is available at www.finishinglinepress.com.
Paula J. Lambert
The Dublin, Ohio resident is the author of “The Sudden Seduction of Gravity” and “The Guilt that Gathers.” She is a residency artist for the Ohio Arts Council Arts Learning Program, and has published her work in numerous journals and anthologies. She and her husband, Michael Perkins, operate Full/Crescent Press, a small but growing independent publisher of poetry books and broadsides.
Sharon Short
Short is the author of the literary coming-of-age novel “My One Square Inch of Alaska” and has published other fiction and essays. She is the executive director of the Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio and is the Literary Life columnist for the Dayton Daily News. She was named the 2014 John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus.
For more Slippery Elm information, contact Essinger at (419) 434-4893 or at slipperyelm@findlay.edu.

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