Two stories published first by The Oxford American magazine, “Jakob Loomis” by Jason Ockert and “Unassigned Territory” by Stephanie Powell Watts, have been selected for the 2007 edition of “New Stories from the South,” an annual all-star literary anthology.
The 18 works of fiction were culled from such publications as The Georgia Review, Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, and The Oxford American.
The Oxford American makes its home at UCA, which provides most of its operating budget. “UCA’s relationship with The Oxford American constitutes a unique alliance,” said UCA President Lu Hardin. “No university in the United States is allied with a magazine of this caliber.”
The anthology was edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward P. Jones, who is considered “one of the most important writers of his own generation and of the present day,” according to Washington Post Book World. Jones has selected well-established writers (James Lee Burke, Rick Bass, Tim Gautreaux, George Singleton) as well as emerging writers (Holly Goddard Jones, Joshua Ferris, Angela Threat, Philipp Meyer). Jones explains that he chose stories that hold a special resonance for him: “For something to claim me long after the last sentence, I need a sense that the world, for even one character, has shifted, whether to a large or a tiny degree?. I have tried to do my best to pick stories that are not, to use some of William Faulkner’s words, about the glands, but about the human heart.”
