Reflections on an Exhibit of Literary Magazines

In April I wrote about “Inventing the Page: Student Literary Magazines at Drexel" over at drexelpublishing.org, and my point was simple: student literary magazines are worthwhile endeavors because they provide developing writers a serious place for experimentation. Sure, all writers experiment in their notebooks or on the blank screen, but a literary magazine raises the stakes and forces undergraduate writers to think about the audience flipping through the magazine, spending time reading their work. Learning to balance audience expectations with one's own goals is an important lesson for, well the truth is, all writers.

The show was also important because it demonstrated something unexpected about Drexel University. For over a century, Drexel has been known for its engineering and business programs; the surprise is that the school houses a significant population of students who spend their hours in the disciplines of writing and literature.

It's also popular and easy to see a student lit mag and think about immediacy--how student lit mags can suddenly appear and disappear so quickly. The library's exhibit reveals that student lit mags at Drexel have a long history. Bravo to archivist Robert Sieczkiewicz for imagining and coordinating this fantastic exhibit. From what I can recall, pieces selected for the exhibit were chosen by faculty: Martha Cornog, Valerie Fox, Karen Nulton, Miriam Kotzin, Rachel Wenrick, me, and students: Hannah Gittler, Marina Lamanna, Francesca Martelli, Zack Ssebatindira, Kerri Sullivan, and Tina Walsh.

Looking through years of student work to find a few poems that spoke to me was one of the coolest projects I worked on this year, and I will write about my specific experience selecting a poem in a future post. Work published and on display in the exhibit includes pieces by: Henrietta Cherry Quinn, H.E. Blank, Jr., David Focer, Daniel Dougherty, Michael Wadler, Alan D. Haverson, T. W. Page, J.B. Rossnick, Howard M. Benson, Vernon Waring, Karen Smith, Shinobi Kang, Ida Chi, Anthony Pirnot, Amanda Ngozi Adichie, Wadzanai Mhute, and Michael Long.

Hagerty Library has an article on the exhibit here. I've placed my amateur photos of the exhibit below. The exhibit's official opening also featured current students and faculty reading work from issues past. There's video of that reading, here; you can see Fox, Kotzin, Ssebatindira, and me read work we selected. Sieczkiewicz introduces the reading.