SHARK REEF spring issue goes online

SHARK REEF magazine, a homegrown literary compilation featuring predominately local writers, just released its spring 2009 edition, available now online.

“The stories and poems bring welcome light after a long winter,” co-editor Jill McCabe Johnson said.

Johnson, who is executive director of Artsmith on Orcas Island, worked with Lorna Reese on the issue.

Johnson describes the featured work as: “Idle observations at a ferry landing; thoughts that surface when we try to sleep; a young woman’s unhappy visit to a radiologist’s office; the sensation of floating after a strong dive; a hilarious tale of chickens as weapons; and the musings of a self-described middle-aged woman in the throes of a new love affair – with Montana and fly fishing.”

Reese founded the magazine in 2001 with Alie Smaalders, Laurie Parker and Leta Marshall under the auspices of the Lopez Writers Guild and works with a different co-editor on each edition. The main mission of Shark Reef is to provide an online literary magazine that features the writing and art of San Juan Islands residents and visitors. Visit www.sharkreef.org to find the current offerings and archived issues.

The spring issue features fiction from Sharon Wootton and Lindy Reese, memoir from Ann Bodle Nash, drama from Lynn Aliya and poems from Oak Boesky, Lisa Lawrence, MollyBee Welkin and Janet Yang. The featured visual artist is Susan Slapin. Wootton is the first-ever Shaw Island writer in SHARK REEF; Nash and Yang are from Lopez; Welkin and Slapin from Orcas Island; Boesky and Lawrence from San Juan; and Aliya and Reese are occasional visitors to the San Juans.

“We feel privileged to bring the diverse voices of new writers to the reading public in SHARK REEF,” Reese said. “We give careful attention to every single submission so that readers of the magazine can count on a first-class reading experience. Soon, we plan to bring these voices to the air in Writers Read programs on KLOI Radio.”

SHARK REEF publishes two issues a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Submission deadlines are June 30 and December 31. The magazine considers solicited and unsolicited material, published previously or unpublished, fiction, non-fiction prose, poetry and dramatic writing. It also features artwork by visual artists in each issue. Anyone living in the islands or who has visited is eligible to submit.