Puckerbrush Review Receives Second Grant from Maine Community Foundation

Contact: Sanford Phippen, (207) 581-3832

ORONO — The English Department at the University of Maine has received a $5,000 Expansion Arts Grant from the Maine Community Foundation to support the continued publication of the Puckerbrush Review.

The Puckerbrush Review is a literary magazine founded in 1978 by the late Constance Hunting who taught creative writing at the university for many years. From 1978 to school year 2006-07, the magazine was published twice a year, and now comes out as a double issue in the spring. Anyone can submit manuscripts, and they come from all around the world, according to Sanford Phippen, a writer and English teacher at UMaine who has been editor since Hunting’s death in 2006.

Hunting named her magazine “puckerbrush,” because it means new growth after trees have been harvested. She was interested in launching new writers, and the Review has maintained that mission, along with providing a Maine-oriented literary journal, says Phippen, who worked closely with Hunting on the publication since its inception. Eleven English Department faculty members serve as an advisory board for the publication.

The recent $5,000 grant is the second Expansion Arts grant. The Review received a $5,500 grant in 2007.

The Maine Expansion Arts Fund is the result of a collaborative effort of the National Endowment for the Arts, Lillian M. Berliawsky Charitable Trust, Maine Community Foundation and Maine Arts Commission, which is dedicated to strengthening and ensuring the future of Maine’s artistic traditions.