Past Editorial Staff Members Recognized

As explained by incoming (interim) editor, Allan Quigley, Father McSween set out to put this university on the literary map in 1970. People such as George Sanderson and his wife Gert, Jim Taylor, Reynold Stone, Sheldon Currie--all still very much involved in TAR--and many, many other unsung advocates of poetry and fiction are to be recognized for their work through the years and I would like to publicly recognize those efforts tonight.

Allan gave a second reason for the launch, having to do with the present and the future of the Review: "We also wanted to have a launch because we are celebrating a new concept, perhaps a new chapter in the story of the Review, in the establishment of The Antigonish Editorial Co-operative." As he said: "As a co-operative, we are involving more talented people than ever before in the Editorial Board." He noted the bright new look of the summer issue and the reproduction of a painting by artist Stephen Rhude; he also noted that, now, the same artist's work appears throughout each issue. New ideas such as a virtual art gallery is being considered. Stephen Rhude made a special trip from Guysborouh Co. to be at the launch and he was introduced to the audience.

In this effort, the TAR staff are hoping to appeal to the visual artists' community as subscribers and contributors of fine art. Other ideas were presented, including the possibility of a "meet the artist" Website chat room into the future.

New Members Of The Editorial Co-Operative Introduced

New members of the TAR Editorial co-operative were introduced:

Gillian McCullough-a well established artist who teaches in the St FX Fine Arts Department-occupies the newly created position of Art Editor.

David Coyle at ST FX is in the new position of Website Editor. TAR is looking at the idea of creating a virtual art gallery to feature the cover artist's work through a website link to the artist's site.

Jeanette Lynes, a faculty member in the English department at St FX, is now Associate Editor responsible for Promotions and the TAR Book Review Editor. She had the concept of the Launch and did most of the work to put this Gala evening together.

Gerry Trites, new Director of the Shwartz Business School at ST FX, is the new Associate Editor responsible for finances. Gerry was handling the subscription table with the help of Linda Quigley that evening.

Josephine Mensch, now the Managing Editor, does all of the hard work proofreading work (in several languages), assembly, and manages the TAR schedule.

Anne Simpson, remains as the Fiction Editor. She handles the steady flow of short stories with her review staff--consisting of Sheldon Currie, Reynold Stone, Jim Taylor, and new to the staff, Richard Cumyn, Martin MacDonald, Leo Fury, Leo MacKay and Veronica Ross.

Peter Sanger remains as the Poetry Editor. Somehow he has managed the flow of the poetry through the years and stalwart efforts were recognized.

Tony Tremblay and his wife Ellen Rose are in the new positions of Essays and Articles Editors. They work out of St. Thomas University in Fredricton and are a welcome addition to the TAR board.

John Reigle ably handles the design consulting and was recognized.

Bonnie McIsaac, the TAR secretary, does all of the hard work in making this journal an ongoing success on a daily basis. She was acknowledged by Allan as the one who "really runs the journal."

Others were thanked for their contributions to TAR and for the Launch itself. Including the Mayor of Antigonish. It was pointed out by Allan that: This is not the "St FX Review." Four times a year we send out the name of our community to all parts of the world and it is in this spirit that that the Mayor of Antigonish, Kate Chisholm, is sponsoring the wine and cheese here tonight. She is on the People's business tonight in Sydney so can't be here but the Town is represented by Councillor Jack Sullivan. Thank you for the support of our Town here tonight.

Finally, it was pointed out that, with the retirement of George Sanderson as editor (George is still very much involved as Advising Editor in the co-operative), "this journal was at something of a crossroads," as Allan put it. He added: Ron Johnson, Academic Vice President and Provost, did not want this journal to just fade away. St FX puts in the major portion of the budget for this journal. Many people are to be thanked for getting us to the point of this Launch but I can tell you that the support of St FX through Ron and the rest of the senior administration at ST FX makes this journal viable, so thank you Ron and thank you all.

The evening ended with door prizes and a renewed commitment to build The Antigonish Review.