TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – July 14, 2008 – Michigan Writers Inc. is proud to introduce Todd Mercer and Denise Baker as the new editors of the Dunes Review, replacing editor Heather Shaw who retired after producing the Summer 2008 issue.
Mercer, who lives in Bellaire, is the new Senior Editor in charge of reviewing and selecting submissions for publication. Baker, of Interlochen, will serve as Managing Editor. Her duties include subscriptions, publicity, and fiscal coordination.
Shaw, who ran the journal for five years, will stay on as designer and production editor. Michael Callaghan and Duncan Sprattmoran will continue as literary editors, working with Mercer on content. All are unpaid volunteers. The Dunes Review is co-published by Michigan Writers, the Glen Arbor Arts Association, and the Beach Bards.
“This team, all active members of Michigan Writers, is truly a dream team for the Dunes Review,” said Anne Marie-Oomen, president of Michigan Writers. “Everyone is working in their strength, and Todd will continue the pace of growth that Heather set for the magazine. It feels like this literary periodical, now in its second decade, has really come into its own.”
Mercer, a freelance review writer and literary critic, judged the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, was a juror for Poets' Night Out and won the William Shaw Prize for Poetry. His chapbook Box of Echoes (2007) was published by the Michigan Writers Cooperative Press. He studied sociology and psychology at Michigan State University and Eastern Kentucky University and did graduate work at the University of Tennessee in political economics.
Baker joined the Michigan Writers board of directors in 2007 and serves as the organization’s membership coordinator. She brings a broad background of freelance writing, magazine editing and non-profit fundraising experience. Her poetry has appeared in Bitter Oleander, Dunes Review, Whisper in the Woods and Branches. She also served as Associate Editor of Whisper in the Woods nature journal.
Callaghan was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his poetry chapbook The Grace of the Eye (2006) published by the Michigan Writers Cooperative Press. Sprattmoran, an artist and poet, published Beyond the Reach of Imagination (2007) with the Cooperative Press.
The Dunes Review is published biannually. To submit poems or prose for consideration for publication, e-mail text to dunes.review@yahoo.com. Please include a short biography and contact information.
For subscription information, visit www.michwriters.org.
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