Penn writers 'CrossConnect' literature and the Internet

Book contributors readBook contributors readfrom their work at eventBook contributors readfrom their work at eventheld last night at Borders' They have seen the future -- and it is on the World Wide Web. Last year, Information Systems and Computing employees David Deifer and Leah Sheppard were looking for places to publish their writing. But instead of submitting pieces to established literary journals, the pair founded their own magazine -- on line. The project -- called CrossConnect -- has recently expanded onto the national writing scene with the June publication of its first print anthology, Writers of the Information Age. Writers was compiled from CrossConnect's first four on-line issues. Last night, CrossConnect contributors read selections from the magazine at Borders' Book Shop on Walnut Street in Center City. The event followed a reading last week at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in New York City. The featured writers included Sheppard, Writers House Residential Coordinator Shawn Walker, New York University Professor Raina Von Waldenburg and Penn post-doctoral student Sharon Jaeger, among others. With the smell of coffee from the Borders cafZ wafting through the room, approximately 75 people turned out for the hour-long reading. Copies of Writers -- which is being distributed by Tower Books, Borders and Barnes & Noble -- were also on sale last night. According to Deifer, the magazine is growing exponentially, with staff across the country. "We have nine national editors now," he said. "We're the real deal." The magazine originally solicited contributions from members of the University and West Philadelphia communities. As CrossConnect grew, Sheppard explained, manuscripts began filtering in from across the country -- especially after the print edition came out. "It's amazing the credibility that being in print gives you," she said. "We estimate that we've only been publishing two percent of the people who send us material." But as Sheppard remarked, the journal is really a "labor of love," since no one involved in the project receives a penny. The project's founders needed some outside sources to get off the ground. "It couldn't have started without contributions from people -- we had no up-front money," Deifer said. "If things go really well, we'll be publishing books by individual authors that we've sort of promoted through our publication. "That's for two or three years down the road -- right now it's our ambition to be as successful as possible," he added. Deifer said the magazine's staff is currently deciding whether to reprint Writers or to go forward with another print issue. The next on-line issue will go up in October. Out of the nine editors on staff, College senior Alex Edelman is currently the only undergraduate working for the magazine. Edelman said he was hired last year to bring student writing to the publication. His work evolved into a spinoff journal called Local Access -- the University's only on-line creative writing magazine. But Local Access ceased publication at the end of last year. "It's too much work for one person, least of all a busy undergraduate," Edelman said, explaining that CrossConnect plans to hire additional students in the near future. Edelman said the Writers House staff, especially Walker, may help to "revive" the Local Access project. "The Writers House program has a support system that could make the on-line magazine succeed," he said. CrossConnect can be found on the World Wide Web at "http://tech1.dccs.upenn.edu/~xconnect/".

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