Thank you all so much for your wonderful entries! We were able to expand the magazine to 72 pages this year thanks to a grant from the Foundation Alumni, so this year’s ZINE will be the biggest EVER! And we are very excited about it, as it is shaping up to be an EXCELLENT issue, thanks to the stellar quality of entries received. Below is a list (in alphabetical order) of the 31 people whose work will be showcased in ZINE 2013:

 1.      Nichole Alexander

2.      Joe Anonymous

3.      Robyn Brown

 4.      Kris Casella

5.      John Danielson

 6.      William Demick

 7.      Candice Ferrell

 8.      Erik Forsberg

 9.      Karen Herbert

10.  Jahn Kefa

 11.  Ron Leja

 12.  Tammara Leminen

 13.  Robin MacDonald

 14.  Meredith McMillian

 15.  Mary Kate McTeigue

 16.  Philip Medina

 17.  Lizzie Morehouse

 18.  Janet Notarfrancesco

 19.  Ellen Orell

 20.  Danika R. Padilla

 21.  The Phantom Poet

 22.  Brittnay Polito

 23.  Songmei Robinson

 24.  Travis Santolin

 25.  Nancy Shmulsky

 26.  Julian Stanton

 27.  Joey Stracener

 28.  Miguel Tirado

 29.  Tyler Trepania

 30.  Lyndsey Turner

 31.  Miles Weber

Please note that even at 72 pages and 31 contributors (both records; the most we’ve ever published before was 64 pages and 24 contributors!), there wound up being entries we would have liked to print but were unable to do so. Very rarely this is due to content; more often than not, it is a question of space. We deeply encourage those whose work wasn’t chosen this year to submit again next year!

Prose and Poetry contributors will hear from our Faculty Advisor, Hilary Russell, concerning edits and revisions at some point after the Spring semester starts.

Everyone on campus is invited to the Publication Reception in April. This will be your first opportunity to receive a printed copy of ZINE 2013; it will also be when the winners in our Submissions Contest are announced. Everyone is encouraged to bring guests! There will be live entertainment, free refreshments, public praise of the accomplishments of our submitters, and the opportunity to watch me make a fool out of myself in front of a large audience. BCC Students will also get Forum credit.

Congratulations to you all, and thank you submitters again for sharing your talented work with the BCC community through ZINE!

The Good Purpose Gallery

& Starving Artist Café present:

Writers Read is a monthly series of established poets and writers reading from their works.

Friday December 21st @ 5:30

Writers Read presents:

Hilary Russell – poet

& Lisken van Pelt Dus– poet

Hilary Russell’s poems have been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including the Country Journal, the Beloit Poetry Journal, Poet Lore, Ploughshares, Appalachia, the Carolina Quarterly, and Holding True, an anthology of Berkshire County poets.  His chapbook “Giving up the House” was published by Mad River Press.  Mr. Russell teaches creative writing at Berkshire Community College, is a freelance writer, and directs the Berkshire Boat Building School.  He and his wife live in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

Lisken van Pelt Dus is a poet, teacher, and martial artist raised internationally, in England, the US, and Mexico, and now living in Pittsfield. She arrived in the Berkshires in 1980 when she came from London to Williams College, where she earned a BA in Religion. Subsequently, she earned a Masters from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Comparative Literature. She now teaches writing and languages at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington, and is co-owner and one of the chief instructors, with her husband Bob, of Elm Street Martial Arts in Pittsfield, where she teaches classical Okinawan karate and kobudo (weapons). Her poetry can be found in Conduit, Main Street Rag, The South Carolina Review, Upstreet, and other journals and anthologies, and has earned awards from The Comstock Review and Atlanta Review. Her chapbook “Everywhere at Once” was published by Pudding House Press in 2009.

We welcome these fine writers to our free reading series and we hope you will attend!  Readings will begin at 5:30 in the gallery. All you have to do is show up, sharpen your ears, and enjoy!  The authors’ books will be available for purchase after their readings.  Buy local!  There is no admission fee, but we do literally pass a hat for our writers and poets who otherwise read for free. 

Feel free to bring Chanukah/Christmas snacks to share!

Good Purpose Gallery & Starving Artist Café, 40 Main Street Lee MA, 413-394-5045

SO WE ARE EXTENDING THE DEADLINE INTO NEXT WEEK, due to Hurricane Sandy And Minions (attention BCC musicians: “Hurricane Sandy And Minions” is kind of a cool band name, right?).

NEW DEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT ON FRIDAY, NOV 16. Please continue to send in your art, photography, poetry, essays and short fiction to: bcczine@yahoo.com

This is the Literary Magazine of Berkshire Community College.

We proudly publish the outstanding art, photography, and literature produced by our talented Students.

We invite you to meet our Editorial Staff at the “Welcome Back Barbecue” Thursday, September 6; 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM , on the “Quad” at the campus center.

Join us on the staff, and/or contribute your creativity toward producing a most appealling and top rated Join us on the staff, and/or contribute your creativity toward producing a most appealling and top rated Magazine: the 2013 Issue of the “Zine”!

or contact us at:  bcczine@yahoo.com