Goshen College’s Pinchpenny Press releases six new chapbooks
Six books were published through the Goshen College English Department’s Pinchpenny Press in 2013, four of which were authored by individual students and two of which were collections of student work.
Pinchpenny Press publishes chapbooks written by students, faculty or others with connections to the college.
Rikki Entrekin (Goshen), Abby Hertzler (Lancaster, Pa.), Mary Roth (Goshen), and Nathan Vader (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), all of whom graduated from Goshen College in 2013 as English writing majors, authored chapbooks that were published though Pinchpenny Press in spring 2013.
Rikki Entrekin’s book, “The Purple Victorian,” is a novel about a house that people from various places and time periods visit when they need protection from evil. Each section of the book focuses on a different character’s story, “with a plot to bring them together,” Entrekin said.
Abby Hertzler’s book, “The Pen and the Pieces of Myself,” is “a memoir in a nebulous sort of way,” she said. “Although it’s a true story, I told it using a few narrative variations — several chapters that are addressed to my younger self, say, or a chapter that is a fictionalized rendition of a real moment.” The book centers on “the redemptive power of writing” in her life.
Mary Roth describes her book, “Getting There,” as “a collection of poems about finding a narrative of home.” The book is divided into three sections that contain poems related to time she spent in Goshen, Oregon and Nicaragua. “It’s my attempt to answer big questions about place and identity and how they’re intertwined,” she said.
Nathan Vader’s book, “Bad,” is “a collection of narrative poems and short stories … (about) challenges of modern life,” he said. “My characters look for love and friendship in a world of processed foods and electronic devices.”
“Goshen Portraits 4,” the 14th book in the Horswell Anthology series, was also published through Pinchpenny Press in 2013. The book is a collection of profile articles written by Goshen College students about members of the Goshen community. The articles were written for two journalism classes taught by Professor of Communication Duane Stoltzfus, and the collection was edited by Lauren Stoltzfus, a 2013 Goshen College graduate from Lancaster, Pa.
The final Pinchpenny Press publication of 2013 was the eighth edition of Red Cents, Goshen College’s literary arts journal, which includes both written and visual art. Roth served as the editor of the journal.
Pinchpenny Press was founded by Nick Lindsay in 1939 and is sponsored by the Goshen College English Department. The press is overseen by an editorial board made up of professors and students who select manuscripts for publication and offer editorial suggestions to authors. The board for the 2012-13 school year was led by Associate Professor of English Skip Barnett and Assistant Professor of English Kyle Schlabach.
“Kyle Schlabach and I really enjoyed working with the Pinchpenny student board, who gave so much of their time and thoughtful consideration to each of the Pinchpenny books as they developed,” Barnett said.
– By Lauren Stoltzfus