[spaces] establishes its presence on campus
Literary journal begins its second year
October 31, 2007
Laura Van Dyke
Last year marked a first for Trinity Western University – the publication of our very own official literary journal. [spaces] is an interdisciplinary collection of student submissions, ranging from short stories, academic essays, artwork, photography, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Last year’s inaugural journal received over a hundred submissions, representing nearly every department on campus.
After a selection process in which all submissions were read by a blind reviewing panel of both students and faculty members, the hundred submissions were narrowed down to 23 of the best pieces. These 23 submissions now comprise the first volume of [spaces], which can be purchased at the university bookstore.
[spaces] began with the vision of a small group of students who became last year’s editorial team – including Jillian Snyder, Natasha Wiebe and Linnea McNally –whose hard work carried the journal to completion. Their goal was to create, in McNally’s words, a work that would recognize that “we’re a generation living in many types of limbo, and that although living in the in-between can often be a frustrating, lonely and confusing place, it can also be a place to express honesty, and to discover glimpses of beauty and hope.”
It is in light of this recognition that [spaces] finds its identity, as “an exploration of the in-between,” of “the spaces around us, within us, and between us.”
Replacing last year’s editorial team are Joel Bentley, Lauren Thompson, Betsy Byers, Alma Visscher and Scott Rowel, many of whom worked on the journal last year.
Commenting on his past experience with the journal, present Editor-in-Chief Joel Bentley agrees, “It was successful, especially for an inaugural publication.” However, he adds, “The marketing needs some more work this year.”
Although attempts were made to distribute [spaces] in local bookstores and coffee shops, in the end sales were primarily made within TWU itself. The current editorial team hopes to “get the name out more,” in a way that will result in a wider exposure and hopefully improve TWU’s academic and artistic reputation.
Also, after learning from last year’s result, Bentley hopes that the coming issue of [spaces] will feature more selections – especially short stories – which will lengthen the journal and make it more compelling for many readers.
Consistent with last year’s emphasis of interdisciplinarity, Bentley also intends to continue encouraging both a wide student base of submissions and a varied readership. [spaces] had “ a good mix of departments” involved last year, “and I want to keep expanding that,” Bentley affirmed.
[spaces] welcomes all student submissions from across the university. Submissions can be sent via e-mail – in a Word document if it is written work and in a JPEG for all artwork – to spaces.literaryjournal@gmail.com on or before November 28, 2007. For more information on submission guidelines please check out www.xanga.com/twu_spaces.
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