Welcome to the Bishop-Lowell Studies Journal

Abstract

Dear readers,Allow me to welcome you to the first issue of our new journal. It is exciting to finally see the tangible results of an idea raised casually in pre-Covid times during informal conference discussions at the American Literature Association and given momentum during further conversations with potential contributors and supporters at the “Robert Lowell in Europe: The Centennial Conference” hosted at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, at the end of March 2017. I am pleased to have steered that idea through to this present moment, especially as I can put on record my thanks to those who helped me along the way. Chief among these people are Steve Axelrod and Tom Travisano who proved so open to and supportive of this venture and who have kindly provided a prologue to our journal. I also want to thank the organizers of that Lowell Centennial Conference, Thomas Austenfeld and Aurélie Zurbruegg, as well as its participants for helping me confirm the viability of this venture and being supportive of it. I am grateful to Ben Leubner for taking on the book review editing duties and to my contacts at Penn State University Press who have been excellent to work with. Indeed, the journal would not exist without the help of Rachel Ginder, Julie Lambert, Diana Pesek, and Patrick Alexander.This emphasis on contacts and the people who can help realize an ambition and fulfil a need brings me to an appeal I wish to make to you as this journal’s editor. The quality of a journal is reliant on its submissions and the only way to secure those submissions is by spreading the word among your own contacts, networks, students and colleagues. I cannot underestimate how important and valued that process is and I invite you not only to submit your own work but to encourage others to do so. I welcome hearing from you personally about your own future publications related to Bishop or Lowell so I can keep abreast of current work and organize adverts and reviews. I am also open to any features you wish to see appearing in the journal in the future, and that you can contribute to, be it a regular bibliography or, like Bethany Hicok’s column in this issue, a reflection on ongoing research in the archives, future conference preparations or teaching experiences you would like to share. Ideas for guest-edited and themed issues are also welcome and I hope you find that my door is always open to proactive suggestions for content and improvements.I sincerely hope you enjoy the journal and the opportunity this gives us to continue promoting the rich legacy of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.