FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas International, the biannual literary journal and nonprofit organization run by the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas, is hosting a release party and reading from 5:30-8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1, in the Walker Room at the Fayetteville Public Library, located at 401 West Mountain Street. The party and reading are free and open to the public, and are being held in conjunction with True Lit, an annual festival celebrating the literary traditions of Northwest Arkansas.

A reception with light hors d'oeuvres and drinks begins at 5:30, and readings begin at 6:00, featuring a selection of poetry, fiction, comics, creative nonfiction, and works in translation from Issue Five, read by current staff members of The Arkansas International. The event will be available for viewing via the Fayetteville Public Library's Livestream page: https://livestream.com/faylib

Many of the pieces featured in Issue Five are thematically focused on oil. Keija Parssinen's story, "The Pearl Diver's Son" is a young man's fictionalized account of the early days of Saudi Arabia's oil industry. María Sonia Cristoff, in her personal essay, "The Dogs of Cañadón Seco," recounts the decline of a town in Argentinian Patagonia following an oil boom. Bernard Quiriny's short story, "Black Tides" details a strange secret society whose operations revolve around oil spills, drawing parallels to our own society's relationship with oil.     

Editor-in-chief Geoff Brock, in his introductory letter to Issue Five, writes that in the face of human-caused climate change largely attributable to fossil fuels, we must "nurse the world, while we still have it, … [and] continue to raise our children as if they, too, will have a world; and … keep writing and reading and talking about it and them and ourselves for as long as we still have voices."

About the Arkansas International: The Arkansas International is a biannual literary journal and 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization run by the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Translation in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. The Arkansas International is dedicated to publishing a diverse array of poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, comics, and works in translation by national and international writers, both established and on the rise.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.

Jane Blunschi, assistant director
Program in Creative Writing and Translation
479-575-4301, mfa@uark.edu