The Purdue English department houses one of the foremost journals of modern literature: MFS enhances the graduate experience of our students by a) hiring two advanced graduate students each year as editorial assistants, b) providing opportunities for advanced students to publish reviews of scholarly books, and c) housing the department's unofficial library where students can stop by and browse current issues of various literary and scholarly journals and borrow books relating to modern fiction. The department also sponsors a literary awards competition, for which students are invited to submit both scholarly and creative work. Prizes are awarded at an annual banquet, where an eminent writer speaks about the creative process. After the banquet, the writer reads from her or his work at a public lecture. This set of events is one of the most exciting of the Purdue year.