Congratulations to NER contributor Gregory Spatz on his 2012 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

NER will publish Spatz for the sixth time in 18 years in our next issue (32.4). He first appeared in NER in 1992 (14.2).

An excerpt from Spatz’s book Inukshuk, scheduled for publication by Bellevue Literary Press in June 2012:

Opening shot: exterior: the Erebus and the Terror on a sea more or less the same blue-green as that bus ceiling. No icebergs yet, no sign of land. Low-flying mist, and as the ships come closer, you see men on board, wearing black and wrapped in wool. Cue distant dance music—accordions, mandolin, and piano; mournful, ballad-inflected, but melodic and mostly happy. This is a good day, despite the ominous backdrop—a joyous day. Roll-across subtitle: Day 107 of the Franklin Expedition to navigate the Northwest Passage. Stores just replenished in Greenland and closing in on Lancaster Sound. The true start of the adventure . . . or . . . the beginning of the end?