THE MOCKINGBIRD, the East Tennessee State University Literary Arts Magazine

The Mockingbird is now accepting literary submissions for its 2009 issue. Go to our "submissions" page for more information.

The Mockingbird is the student literary/arts magazine published as a partnership between the East Tennessee State University English and Art & Design Departments. The Mockingbird staff and contributors are all students, some submitting their creative works for the first time. During the fall semester, these departments call for student submissions. The editor in chief, usually an English major, brings together a reading staff who prepares the literary submissions for judges. At the same time, the Art Department arranges for digital images to be made of submissions ranging from traditional painting to cloth sculpture and other three-dimensional pieces. National and regional judges determine prize winners. In late November, judges evaluate the work, making their determinations by the beginning of the spring semester. Starting in January, students of graphic arts develop the look of the new issue, which usually has publication in late March or early April. The Mockingbird premiere party provides staff, contributors, and our community an opportunity to celebrate ETSU student creativity. We encourage all ETSU students to participate in creating The Mockingbird.

The first issue of The Mockingbird appeared in the spring of 1974; it began months earlier, when the English Department chair, John Tallent, assigned the task of faculty advisor to Robert J. Higgs. The Mockingbird received additional funding and support from Dan Teis, the Art Department chair at the time. The Mockingbird, however, has always been a student publication; its editorial staffs, art staffs, and contributors must be ETSU students. The magazine has, therefore, provided an outlet for the creative talents and applied skills they have developed at ETSU students.

The Mockingbird welcomes its new editor-in-chief, Adam Pacton, and announces our 2008 literary contests for student submissions. Adam Pacton is a second-year graduate student in the English M.A. program. He has published on subjects in anthropology, postcolonialism, and writing center studies, and he has been active in making conference presentations all over the United States. His current research interests include Romanticism, Abolitionist discourse, and Composition. 2008-2009 marks his second year of involvement with the Mockingbird.

Beginning with the 2008 edition, The Mockingbird expanded its genre features by encouraging drama submissions to join its competitions in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction prose. Entry forms for literary submissions will be available from the ETSU English Department. Details about art submissions are forthcoming.

Jeff King has been the literary editor for the 2008 issue, and his editorial assistants were Bethany Hall, Adam Pacton, Jamie Merriman-Pacton, and Caleb Robinson; Art Director Dana Alston and her team of Meranda Burd, Valerie Childer, and Ryan Johnson created the look of our magazine. The 2009 premiere party will take place in April, 2009; look for announcements to come.

We are pleased to announce the winners of 2008’s Mockingbird contests.

Art Categories

1^st Prize: And the Birds of Appetite, Daniel Marinelli
2^nd Prize: Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast, Jessica Augier
3^rd Prize: Figure No. 1, Christine Buchanan
4^th Prize: Tree of Life, Fletcher Dyer

Literary Categories

Fiction
1^stPrize: Marshall Parrent, "The Corpse of Anthony Edlemeyer"
2^nd Prize: Mary Tapp, "Brickston Mill"
3^rdPrize: K. Hawkins, “Beyond the Gate”

Non-Fiction Prose:
1^st Prize: Amber Nixon, "Desert Sand Blows Away Army Wife's Dreams of Marriage"
2^nd Prize: Ellie Rinehart, "Mule Day: A Little Homespun Fun for the Good Ol' Boys and Girls of Columbia, Tennessee"
3^rd Prize: Jamie Merriman-Pacton, "The Cruise Will Go On: Cuban Refugees and M Vacation in Wonderland"

Poetry:
1^st Prize: Jennifer Osborne, "The Azores"
2^nd Prize: Karen Ankabrandt, "Morning Prayer"
3^rd Prize: T. M. Williams, "Pine Mountain Road"

The current faculty advisors for The Mockingbird are Lisa Jones (Art & Design) and Thomas A. Holmes (English).

Over the years, The Mockingbird has benefited from the generosity, time, and talents of the East Tennessee State University English and Art Departments, the ETSU School of Arts and Sciences, The Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the ETSU Honors College, the ETSU Student Activities Allocation Committee, the Carroll Reese Museum, the Friends of the Carroll Reese Museum, and the ETSU Press (managed by the incomparably talented Susie McLeod). We offer special appreciation to the students who have devoted their creativity and energy to this project.

Please click on these hyperlinks to learn more about the ETSU Art and English Departments.

We are currently in the process of developing a much more comprehensive site, including archival material, Mockingbird history, and printable submission forms. Please bear with us.

Contact Information

Send mail to mockingbird@mail.etsu.edu with questions or comments about this web site.