Emma Newman co-editor-in-chief
The Literary Magazine, or Lit Mag, will be accepting submissions for their winter edition, which has the theme of “Identity”, until Dec. 15. Students can submit their writing, which includes poetry and short stories, artwork and photographs to be included in the magazine.
Typically, the magazine will include about 15 to 20 stories that are each about one to two pages long. This year, photography students will also be able to submit a cover to the Lit Mag.
According to Lit Mag advisor Barbara Nealis, the editors of the magazine are largely “open” to including any piece that fits the theme.
“They’ll look for anything that really celebrates that idea of identity and authentic voice,” Nealis said. “There’s no real judgment from us. We’re not gonna say, ‘Oh, it’s not good enough.’”
Lit Mag co-editor-in-chief senior Defne Onal agrees that they select their pieces “pretty leisurely.” The only real exception is regarding profanity, which cannot be included in the magazine.
“We want to give everyone a voice. However, some issues such as profanity and anything inappropriate is taken into consideration in choosing what goes into the magazine. A middle school [or] an elementary grade person should be able to read it,” Onal said.
Onal and Lit Mag co-editor-in-chief senior Kate Lewis plan to work with Nealis to make sure this standard is reached, which Nealis finds to occasionally be difficult.
“I remind the students [that] this is for school and it’s public and anybody could read it, and so that’s a little tough because people want to express their creativity sometimes, but in general, the students are really accepting of that,” Nealis said.
After Onal and Lewis make their selections, they will designate some Lit Mag members to be different types of editors, which include heads of poetry and short stories, and eventually put all of the stories, artwork and photographs into a magazine. This year, the magazine will most likely come out in January.
Nealis thinks that people should submit their work to be in the winter edition so they can be a part of Lit Mag’s supportive environment.
“It’s just such a lovely group of people for staff, who are our editors and the people who are involved in the publication process,” Nealis said. “I think that in our society in general, we need to celebrate creativity and voice in a lot of ways.”
Lewis also hopes people will submit their pieces, specifically as an outlet for their creative passions.
“Especially this year, we’re trying to incorporate as many mediums as we can, so not just poetry, not just writing, but submitting art to help highlight each other, so I think it’s really, really important to submit [what] you can,” Lewis said. “It’s a great way to show creativity.”
If you want to be included in the winter edition, fill out Lit Mag’s Google Form by clicking on this link.
