Goshen College graduate selected as fellow for premiere faith and arts journal

Mary Roth, a 2013 Goshen College graduate with an English writing major, was chosen as the 2013 Luci Shaw Fellow at Image, a quarterly journal of faith, literature and the arts located in Seattle, Wash.

“I’m excited to get to know the ins and outs of a small quarterly journal,” Roth said. “I’m hoping to learn by osmosis through this position and figure out where I best fit in the process. The mission at Image also seems to align with my somewhat vague professional goals — an organization that values the intersection of faith and culture. I honestly couldn’t be happier for this experience.”

As the Shaw Fellow, Roth will help with a variety of tasks, including processing submissions, responding to emails, copy editing and working with web design. In addition, she will have the opportunity to attend the Glen Workshop from July 28-Aug. 4 in Santa Fe, N.M. This weeklong event is associated with Image and combines elements of a workshop, an arts festival and a symposium. As well as assisting with organizational tasks at the workshop, Roth will be able to attend readings and presentations and participate in a poetry class taught by Amy Newman.

Roth is from Goshen and is a graduate of Bethany Christian High School. As a student at Goshen College, Roth gained publishing-related skills through her work as the Horswell Fellow for the English department during her junior year, as well as through her editing and writing work for Timbrel magazine, Edible Michiana and the Center for Mennonite Writing.

Image’s mission is to support and showcase art shaped by the faith traditions of Western civilization. The journal hosts summer arts workshops, online writing classes, a daily blog and an online newsletter of book reviews and arts news.

The Shaw Fellowship, which lasts for 10 weeks, is named for Luci Shaw, a Christian poet and longtime patron of Image. The purpose of the fellowship is to expose a promising undergraduate student to the world of literary publishing and a nonprofit arts organization, as well as to introduce the student to the contemporary dialogue about art and faith that surrounds Image, its programs, its contributors and its peer organizations.

–  By Lauren Stoltzfus