Anyone Want a Subscription to The Sun?

I’m in the Readers Write section of The Sun again, in the July issue (The subject is “Choosing Sides,” and my piece was printed under “Name Withheld.” E-mail me if you’re curious which one it was.). This means that my Sun subscription has been extended for another year.

I’ve been reading The Sun off and on since I was introduced to it at 15 by my high school love. I’ve grown up with it, and it’s the standard by which I judge personal essay writing. The Sun’s Poe Ballantine, one of my favorite writers, is the reason I discovered Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts. I’ve written before about how important that was to me.

I’ve stolen issues of The Sun from my mother, dug through cardboard boxes at the library to find them, picked them up at chain bookstores, and hidden behind them when road-weary and lonely. I once had the privilege of hearing editor and publisher Sy Safransky read in downtown Boston.

To get to the point, I’d like to pass this subscription on to someone. I’m grateful for the extension they’ve given me, but I’d like to use it to get someone else into this magazine. Leave a comment by midnight Eastern Time on Monday, June 22, if you’d like me to send you a one-year gift subscription. At that point, I’ll draw a name out of a hat and choose a winner. I’m afraid I can only afford the U.S. rate for this, so my apologies if any of you are from elsewhere. Of course, I reserve the right to handle things according to my own discretion.

Thanks for reading the blog, and, with luck, you may soon be reading The Sun!