USI’s Southern Indiana Review releases Spring 2024 issue

The Southern Indiana Review (SIR), University of Southern Indiana’s nationally recognized literary journal published by the USI College of Liberal Arts and English Department, has released its Spring 2024 issue. 

The front and back covers feature a digital painting and oil painting on canvas, respectively, by Paris Fithian '23. This marks the first time a USI alum has been featured and created both covers. Fithian, an illustrator and fine artist currently based in Indiana, works with both digital and traditional media. She often uses self-portraiture to capture a single moment—like the climax or falling action—of a larger narrative, drawing inspiration from creative writing, the supernatural and suspenseful media, focusing on the humanity of action. 

“As the Art Director for the Southern Indiana Review, I am thrilled that we were able to include cover artwork by one of our recent graduates from the Art and Design Department,” says Dr. Greg Blair, Art Director of SIR and Assistant Professor of Art and Design. “Paris Fithian is an extremely talented illustrator and painter, and her artwork seemed like a natural fit for the type of design that we were looking for in the Spring 2024 publication. The fact that we were able to approach one of the recent graduates of the Art and Design Department to be a cover artist for SIR also speaks to the rigor, quality and exceptional instruction happening in the Art and Design Department at USI.” 

This issue of SIR features an impressive range of poetry contributors, including established luminaries like Haryette Mullen, author of 10 books of critically acclaimed poetry and a finalist for the National Book Award, as well as several recipients of distinguished honors such as Guggenheim Fellowships and National Endowment for the Arts grants. Internationally recognized writers, including Adadayo Agaru (Nigeria), Anzhelina Polonskaya (Russia) and Raymond Antrobus (Britain), are also featured alongside emerging writers like Matthew Kelsey and Oak Morse. 

Rosalie Moffett, Assistant Professor of Art, began serving as Poetry Editor for the Spring 2024 issue. She is the author of the poetry collections Making a Living, Nervous System, chosen by Monica Youn for the National Poetry Series Prize and listed by the New York Times as a New and Notable Book, and June in Eden. Moffett was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, and her work has appeared in magazines like The American Poetry Review, New England Review, Narrative, Kenyon Review and Ploughshares. 

SIR was founded in 1994 by Matthew Graham and Tom Wilhelmus, both USI Professor Emeriti of English. The next issue will celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the journal. 

Readers are encouraged to watch the web interview series Inside the Issue by Dr. Casey Pycior, Associate Professor of English and Fiction Editor for SIR, where he discusses each fiction contributor, their stories and the processes they took in crafting them. 

The Spring 2024 issue is $12 and can be purchased on the SIR webpage. For more information, contact Ron Mitchell, Instructor in English and Editor of SIR, at rmitchel@usi.edu or visit the SIR website.