OXFORD AMERICAN

The Oxford American is a nationally distributed quarterly literary magazine that features the best in Southern writing while also exploring the complexity and vitality of the American South. Over the course of the year, the magazine has also continued to present cultural offerings such as panels, films, readings and concerts. For the seventh year, music students at the University of Central Arkansas attended master classes at Oxford American's Concert Series conducted by preeminent jazz artists, including Peter Martin, Romero Lubambo, Erin Bode, Jason Marsalis, and multiple Grammy-nominee and Guggenheim Fellow Fred Hersch. In addition, the Oxford American continued its partnership with the UCA Studio Jazz Ensemble, inviting the group to perform at South on Main, a restaurant and performance venue in downtown Little Rock. In September, the Oxford American launched its “Points South” podcast, hosted by executive editor Sara A. Lewis. “Points South” synthesizes the best of the Oxford American into a compelling 40-plus minutes of reportage, storytelling, conversations with artists and music recorded exclusively for the Oxford American. In April, the Oxford American received a $350,000 multiyear grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund “The Prologue,” a recurring segment in the podcast that examines underreported moments in Southern history and their reverberations in the present. The Oxford American’s internship program provides students the opportunity to engage with all aspects of publishing. Additionally, Lewis taught the Oxford American Publishing Practicum class in the Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing in the spring. This capstone course gave students hands-on experience in the editorial processes of the magazine. In February, the Oxford American was named a finalist in the American Society of Magazine Editors for a National Magazine in General Excellence — the magazine's third time to be nominated in the category. Work originally published in the Oxford American will be published in the 2020 Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays anthologies. In May, John T. Edge's column “My Mother’s Catfish Stew” won the James Beard Foundation’s M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.