There is no rest for the weary around The Journal’s offices—I was as busy as a one-armed paperhanger in November, and the posting around here has suffered a bit as a result. But, as we head into the home stretch of 2012, I plan on getting back on a more regular schedule, so please check in during December for posts on the current state of the literary translation market and The Journal staff’s favorite volumes of the year, as well as interviews with some of our distinguished former contributors.

As the days grow short though, there’s no mistaking that we’re in the midst of award season. So, in keeping with Holiday spirit, we at The Journal have submitted our Pushcart nominees and we just can’t keep them to ourselves any longer.

In fiction, we’re proud to nominate “Out of Illiana” by Chidelia Edochie (which appeared in issue 36.1, our winter 2012 issue) and Joan Murray’s “Abu Grave” (Issue 36.1, Winter 2012). In nonfiction, we were delighted to be able to put Robert Long Foreman’s “James and the Giant Noise Violation” (Issues 36.1, Winter 2012) up for the honor, as well as “What is the Shape” by Liz Scheid (Issue 36.3, Summer 2012). And in the poetry department, we happily sent along Christina Veladota’s “The Threshold of Can We Do This Now” (Issue 36.2, Spring 2012), and Keetje Kuipers’ “Just Outside” (Issue 36.4, Autumn 2012). Unfortunately, we did not have anything appropriate for the category of “literary whatnot” as listed on the Pushcart website, but we’ll work on that.

The bribe envelopes have been distributed, so now it’s just a matter of counting the, um, votes.  See you around, dear readers, and stay warm out there.