From the Editor

I am writing this final “From the Editor” on July 1, 2013, the date on which Utah State University ended all funding for Western American Literature. There will be no more funding from Utah State for editorial fellows associated with WAL, and the woman so many of us have enjoyed working with over the years, Sabine Barcatta, lost her job. Sabine and I have worked together for over fifteen years, and we are proud of the innovations we made at WAL, particularly in design and typesetting, and of the work we both did with our editorial fellows, most of whom, perhaps all of whom, still stay in touch. We are also proud of having moved WAL into the digital age since very soon the full run of the journal will be up on Project Muse. We shared a wonderful partnership. Of the many things I will miss: I could always count on Sabine making me laugh, even just last Friday as we were dismantling our offices, her last official day on the job.

Western American Literature will be moving to the University of Nebraska Press, a very natural home for our journal, with Tom Lynch as the new editor. It will be hosted by the English Department and the Center for Great Plains Studies and produced by the University of Nebraska Press. Tom officially takes over now, but in order to make the transition smooth and to finish up a volume year, Sabine and I have completed the fall and winter issues, which will be mailed from here. As well, because of uncertainty throughout the spring over where the journal would move, I continued to send out essays for review until late March 2013. So while Tom’s first issue will be Spring 2014, I have made, for better or for worse, some future editorial decisions for him. Tom will set out his editorial plans and practices in a future “From the Editor.” He has established a new email for the journal: waljournal@gmail.com. And the new mailing address is Western American Literature, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1155 Q. St, PO Box 880244, Lincoln NE 68588-0244.

Since 1979, the Western Literature Association has been my professional and emotional safety net and home base. You all are the most supportive, generous, smart, unpretentious, and fun collection of friends I could ever have. I have loved editing our journal. (I’ve even enjoyed attending all those four-hour Executive Council retreats!) I’ll be around WLA for a few more years (at least), but for now, I’m glad to be able to hand WAL off into Tom’s more-than-capable hands.