Board of Governors News

Drew Geyer named TPR Managing Editor
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​Drew Geyer, chair of the Department of English at the University of South Carolina Aiken, has been named managing editor of SCWA's cornerstone literary journal, The Petigru Review (TPR).
 
Geyer is the author, co-author and editor of 11 books, including the novels Dixie Fish and Meeting the Dead and the short story collection Lesser Mountains, winner of the 2020 Independent Publishers Book Award Silver Medal for Regional/Southern Fiction. His short stories have won numerous accolades, including two Spur Awards for Best Short Story from the Western Writers of America.  He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the South Carolina Academy of Authors Literary Hall of Fame and is the fiction editor at the Concho River Review. 
 
Sara J. Sobota, who teaches at Coastal Carolina University, has been named assistant editor, and Sydney Bollinger will assist with editing, Submittable and the TPR website.
 
"All three of us are super excited to be part of the TPR team," Geyer says. "Submissions will be open as soon as we're able to swing it. You'll get details soon. We'll be accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction and poetry."
 
All TPR submissions will be handled via Submittable. There will be a two-track approach, Geyer says. "We'll have a regular submissions portal, open to all, with a minimal fee for submitting – probably $3. There also will be a students-only contest portal, free of charge for all students who enter. They will need a dot-edu email address to make that fee-free entry happen. The student track will offer $1,000 total in prize money – $500 for first, $300 for second and $200 for third."
 
The contest will be multi-genre, Geyer notes. "Students may submit fiction, nonfiction or poetry. The three best entries will win, regardless of genre. The top 20 or so entries also will be awarded free one-year student memberships in the SCWA. Winning students must be present at the SCWA annual conference, set for October, to collect their checks.
   
"For the open submissions portal, we plan to have a twin-themed issue with emphasis on 'Place' and 'Voice,'" he says. "Submissions will not be limited to a Carolina setting. Rather, in the tradition of Spartanburg's Hub City Press, the greater South will be our focus. We’re hoping to get more submissions by casting a broader net."