In Alumni News: Molly Tranberg (MAWP ’11, and former Ex Libris editor!) was recently hired as an Editorial Assistant and Assistant to the Publisher in the Reference Division at Oxford University Press in New York. She assists the publisher in day-to-day tasks and works to bring new online reference materials to life.

According to Molly, “It’s a great first job in publishing because it’s a very traditional print publisher, but the reference division is moving into an all-online territory.” She also has some encouraging words for current students and recent grads looking for a job: “The prestige of my M.A. in Writing and Publishing degree definitely helped me get the job.  It was really great to see the confidence the MAWP degree inspires in interviewers, especially in publishing.” Congratulations, Molly, and thanks for sharing your story with us!

If you’re an MAE or MAWP student or alum and have news about a job, publication, award, etc., that you’d like to share with fellow Ex Libris readers, email Maria at mhlohows@depaul.edu.

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DePaul’s Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse is pleased to announce a call for presentations for Spread the WoRD, WRD’s annual graduate conference. All graduate students in a writing-related discipline– including MAE and MAWP– interested in sharing your academic work with fellow students and faculty are invited to submit a proposal. Much like our own EGSA conference, Spread the WoRD is a great chance to gain experience presenting papers and receiving feedback from peers amongst professors and classmates right here at DePaul.

Possible topics could include, but are not limited to:

• teaching writing
• digital literacy
• editing and publishing
• genre analysis
• writing center pedagogy
• style in writing

Students (or groups of students) are encouraged to submit work in a variety of formats and modalities. In the past, students have presented PowerPoint presentations, multimedia projects, posters, and panels, as well as traditional conference presentations.

Proposals should include: name, contact information, degree program, and year of the presenter(s), and a one-page abstract of the presentation with title. Please note what format your presentation will take and what technological accommodations you’ll need.
Deadline for submissions is: Wednesday, April 18th, 2012. Please send proposals and inquiries to WRDgraduateconference@gmail.com. For more details, click on the flyer to enlarge it, or visit spreadtheWRD.wordpress.com.

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The Coffin Factory, a new, full-color, print literary and art magazine sold in Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores nationwide, invites submissions from emerging writers both for its regular issues, and its first annual poetry contest.

In their first two issues, The Coffin Factory has published exciting work by César Aira, Osama Alomar, Aimee Bender, Roberto Bolaño, Joyce Carol Oates, Edwidge Danticat, Milan Kundera, Bonnie Nadzam, José Saramago, Justin Taylor, Adam Wilson, and many others. Alongside these literary stars they also publish up-and-coming writers and poets. In fact, in every issue, they publish at least one “undiscovered” prose writer.

Each issue includes fiction, essays, poetry and art from around the world. The Coffin Factory is dedicated to perpetuating reading culture, and invites readers and writers to become part of the conversation and learn more about how they are partnering with writers, readers, book publishers and bookstores at The Coffin Factory website.

For information on the poetry contest, which has a deadline of April 1st, 2012 and an award of $100 and publication in The Coffin Factory, please visit the contest page.