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2000 Dinner Press Release
Literary Journal Launched By Yale
Freshman Hooks Subscribers From Around the World
Internationally successful Yale
Anglers' Journal springs from a note passed between friends - an Ivy
dynasty of "Yanglers" is born New Haven, CT, March 1, 2000.
An eclectic group of enthusiastic supporters
of angling literature and art are expected to attend the first annual
Yale Anglers' Journal dinner which will be held at Yale on April 19th
to celebrate the success of this unique undergraduate enterprise and
to raise funds to widen and deepen the non-profit Journal's international
subscriber base. Author Ernest Schwiebert will be the keynote speaker.
Several other authors and artists as well as representatives from the
angling press, sporting literature booksellers, and sporting art galleries
will also be present to discuss the art and literature of angling.
Called "first-rate" by author, William
F. Buckley, Jr., and "a gem of good writing" by angler and author, Lefty
Kreh, the Journal has earned respect from Yalies and non-Yalies alike
since its launch in 1996. It has attracted literary submissions from
the likes of former President Jimmy Carter, former Attorney General
and four-time Cabinet member, the late Elliot Richardson, New York Times
Editorial Page Editor, Howell Raines, and writer Christopher Buckley.
The Journal has also attracted more than 300 subscribers from countries
including Japan, Ireland and Italy. It is uncommon for a new publication,
let alone one that becomes nationally and internationally known and
critically acclaimed, to be created by an eighteen year old college
student, but that is exactly what happened when Joseph Furia, then an
entering freshman at Yale, created the Yale Anglers' Journal in the
summer of 1996.
The idea of starting an angling journal
was suggested to Furia in the spring of that year while he was touring
Yale and Middlebury as a high school senior from Seattle, trying to
decide which college to attend. Furia initially believed that Middlebury,
with a trout steam within walking distance of campus, would be more
conducive to his passion for fly fishing. In a last-minute -- and ultimately
successful -- attempt to recruit Furia to Yale, his second cousin, Frannie,
then a Yale Junior, contacted her classmate, James Prosek, and sought
his help. She knew her cousin was an enthusiastic fly fisherman and
writer and that Prosek shared the same passions, having just been called
the "Audubon of the Fishing World" by the New York Times. "I agreed
to take him around to some classes, though I didn't want to influence
his decision," recalled Prosek. Taking note that Furia's backpack housed
a bamboo fly rod and fly tying materials, Prosek told Furia about the
trout streams near the Yale campus and the incomparable collection of
angling literature at Yale's Beineke Rare Book and Manuscript library.
Prosek sealed the deal by inviting Furia
to attend a history of architecture class and then passed a note to
him during a slide presentation suggesting that if Furia came to Yale,
they could start an angling journal with Furia as its Editor-in-Chief.
Furia was hooked. Furia's efforts on the Journal in the summer of 1996
proved to be time well spent, for while Prosek was preoccupied with
book tours to promote his extremely successful and critically-acclaimed
first book, Trout and beginning his senior essay at Yale, Furia
arrived at Yale for his freshman year with a camera-ready manuscript
in hand of the inaugural issue of the Journal (now a collector's item)
that would serve as the template for future issues.
Over the next three years Furia obtained
University approval of the Journal as an official undergraduate organization,
edited four issues and recruited an enthusiastic undergraduate and graduate
editorial, art direction and management staff. As the Journal prospered,
several savvy graduate students tried to take it over and convert it
to a commercial enterprise, which, among other things, would accept
advertising. Furia and his youthful undergraduate staff successfully
resisted those attempts, keeping the Journal alive through subscriptions,
book-store sales, and donations from supporters. And it looks like the
Journal's success will continue well after Furia graduates this spring.
In the inaugural issue of the Journal,
Prosek suggested that some day the Journal might become a factor in
getting angling fanatics admitted to Yale: "When a budding Yangler goes
off to the office of admissions and mentions to his interviewer that
he wants to be part of the only college angling journal in the world
it is my best wish that it will put him over the edge." It did just
that for sophomore Alexis Surovov, the Journal's new Editor-in-Chief,
whose father gave him a subscription to the Journal in high school.
"My interest in Yale predominantly grew out of my interest in this unique
journal. I told the admissions staff that if admitted, I would seek
to run the Journal one day; and here I am," said Surovov. The torch
has been passed.
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We thought this story had a number
of wonderful "angles" - a great human interest story, a review of the
unique literary qualities of the Journal itself, a "newsworthy" event,
etc.
email us your contact information to
receive news about the Yale Anglers' Journal and upcoming events
info@yaleanglersjournal.com
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