It is great good news for The Kenyon Review that Abigail Wadsworth Serfass—Abby—has recently ascended to the role of Managing Editor. (Or assumed its substantial burdens—a matter of perspective.)
This may not seem so extraordinary a leap. After all, she’s been serving as Associate Managing Editor for the past two years, and done so with distinction and aplomb. But when Abby first joined the KR community in 2006 it was after several years teaching high school Latin in three different states—not the usual trajectory. (Is there a conventional path to producing a literary magazine?)
But plunge in she did from the start, first to create a strategy for recruiting more disadvantaged students to our summer programs, then to coordinate our ever-more ambitious Literary Festival in November, then to implement KROnline when we first introduced it to the world. Not to mention her ever-ongoing pursuit of new computer and design skills. Whew.
The Managing Editor wields all the wrenches that spin the nuts and bolts of our operation. Abby will oversee the production of our journals, both print and electronic. The increasingly finely tuned budget will harmonize as she wills it, paying authors, summer instructors, staff and vendors. There’s so much more—but let’s not scare her off. Join me in wishing her well instead.