News from Andrew Lewellen:

Third-year fiction writer Andrew Lewellen may not be in Carbondale anymore, but he's not forgotten to write with good news:

"I just found out that my manuscript for my thesis, "The Long
Descent," has been selected for the semi-final round of the
James Jones First Novel Fellowship. I sent in pages 1-50 for
the March 1 deadline, along with a plot outline, and now the
judges now request that I send in pages 51-100.

The contest is sponsored by Wilkes University, and the winning
manuscript recieves a $10,000 prize. In 2006, there were 15
semi-finalists, so I'm guessing I'm one of a number around this
similar size.

A nice bit of recognition after a lot of work; though the news
is making it awfully hard for me to be productive in my little
cubicle here in Evanston."

Congrats, Andrew!