North Carolina Literary Review Welcomes New Digital Editor Devra Thomas
The North Carolina Literary Review welcomes Digital Editor Devra Thomas to the staff, thanks to the North Carolina Arts Council and their Spark the Arts grant. The Spark the Arts project helps North Carolina non-profits to engage audiences and participants in the arts. These grants allow for groups such as NCLR to be able to fund and apply new engagement strategies.
The North Carolina Literary Review (NCLR) is produced at East Carolina University and published and distributed by the University of North Carolina Press. Inspired by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association to be a companion to the North Carolina Historical Review, NCLR publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by and interviews with North Carolina writers and articles and essays about North Carolina writers and the rich literary history and culture of the Old North State. As NCLR enters a fourth decade of print publication and a second decade of producing a supplemental online issue, it seeks to expand its audience through a broader digital presence.
Thomas holds a master’s degree in Arts Administration and a bachelor’s in Publishing and Communications. While residing in Fayetteville, she published two print issues of her online blog Color of Fayetteville, which focused on sharing the stories of artists of all genres residing in Cumberland County.
When asked what she was looking forward to doing the most with her new position, Thomas shared: “My main goal in life is to connect artists with audiences. I am very much looking forward to taking NCLR into new digital places, bringing North Carolina authors into audiences’ lives more regularly, and bringing new and diverse voices into the NCLR community.”
Asked about her relationship with art and literature and what they mean to her, she divulged, “On a larger scale, we know that literature (be that on the page or on the stage) can transport the recipient into someone else’s experience, thus fostering empathy and understanding. Some of the bestselling books these days, touching millions of readers and changing their lives, fall somewhere in the creative nonfiction category. Sharing stories is one of the most innate human traits. How incredible that we at the NCLR get to help authors do that!”