Washington Square – 2006

Washington Square is edited by students in the New York University Graduate Creative Writing Program, which includes among its faculty members E. L. Doctorow and Philip Levine. This issue contains work by writers of sometimes dual national backgrounds, among them Kurdistan, Romania, Australia, India/Hong Kong, England, Bulgaria, Japan/Germany, Lebanon/France, Spain (Kirmen Uribe of the Basque region), Palestine/USA, Palestine, and USA—fitting for an issue proclaiming itself the Inaugural International Edition.

Washington Square is edited by students in the New York University Graduate Creative Writing Program, which includes among its faculty members E. L. Doctorow and Philip Levine. This issue contains work by writers of sometimes dual national backgrounds, among them Kurdistan, Romania, Australia, India/Hong Kong, England, Bulgaria, Japan/Germany, Lebanon/France, Spain (Kirmen Uribe of the Basque region), Palestine/USA, Palestine, and USA—fitting for an issue proclaiming itself the Inaugural International Edition. “Shipditches” by Mallory Tarses is an amusing present-tense account of a Southern California family and is the winner of Washington Square’s 2006 Prose Award. A lovely thought from “A Noun Sentence” by Palestinian Mahoud Darwish: “Our talk a predicate—and a subject before the sea, and the elusive foam of speech the dots on the letters, wishing for the present tense a foothold on the pavement,” while “Lunch in the Labyrinth” by Courtney Zoffness may lead to defining self-centered as knowing more than is understood. Beautifully designed and printed—the curious cover design by Kieran McGonnell appears at first glance to be a birds-in-flight filled window of yellow sky; closer examination reveals the birds are actually 180 (in repeated clusters of fifteen) airplanes so closely massed their wings sometimes touch—a somehow unnerving image.
[www.washingtonsquarereview.com/]