Glyph Gala Approaches

Posted by Chantelle Mitchell in Creative Writing

Melissa Dow, a Creative Writing and Literature major and editor of Glyph, listens to her colleagues. Photo by Jesus Trujillo.

As the end of the school year draws near, the Creative Writing and Literature department has been hard at work. Senior readings finished up last week, and the department’s literary magazine, Glyph will be revealed at the annual Glyph Gala, 7 p.m., May 2 in O’Shaughnessy Performance Space. The event will be catered by Jambo Café and will be the community’s first opportunity to get their hands on the 29^th edition of Glyph.

The night will feature readings from writers who placed in the three genres of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. The winners are chosen by outside judges, this year’s judges being Jaclyn Watterson for nonfiction, Michael Shou-Yung Shum in fiction and Rochelle Hurt in poetry. In addition to the genre winners, the student awarded Best New Voice will also be reading. This title is awarded to a student being published in the literary magazine for the first time, chosen by Glyph’s editorial staff.

“It’s been surprisingly seamless,” Amaya Hoke, editor-in-chief of Glyph, says about the editorial process this semester. “I think it’s a good group of people. Everyone’s really vocal and cares about what they want to see in the Glyph, so it’s made it very dynamic.” She says some of the submissions this year were “startling,” and that it was exciting to see pieces that shouldn’t have correlated end up correlating. “I really am happy that I had the chance to do this,” she says.

The entire group mentions different aspects of editing the publication that stood out to them, and when Salem Farrell mentions that he loved sequencing the book, there is a chorus of agreement. The sequencing process consisted of the editors laying out every accepted piece on a table and rearranging them after finding a natural through line. “It was cool to find the different arcs in completely different pieces by different authors and seeing how they all worked together,” Madeleine Sardina says.

The group says the most chaotic part might have been the design process. Graphic designers Rufino Medrano and Julian Williams worked together to bring the editorial team’s vision to life. The group wanted this volume to look different from previous editions, and spent plenty of time brainstorming and discussing central themes. “All of us had these really abstract ideas…but it definitely helped having someone who knows about design and stuff coming in and helping us sort through those ideas,” Farrell says.

Salem Farrell, Anne Valente and Marisa Doherty, discus ideas during an interview. Photo by Jesus Tujillo.

Anne Valente, the faculty advisor for Glyph, played a major role in the successful completion of Glyph. From working with the budget, deadlines, communication and guiding the group through the editorial process, she has been an essential part of the team. “I think the opportunity to get excited about other people’s work outside of workshop is really important, and to have editorial experience as well,” Valente says.

Hoke says being in Glyph for two years helped her with her senior manuscript, while Marisa Doherty says it’s a great opportunity for students who might be interested in pursuing a career in publishing, editing or literary journals. In fact, Glyph editor Brantlee Reid recently launched a literary journal of her own.

Along with polishing and acquiring a skill set, Glyph has been an important aspect of the student experience at SFUAD this semester. With the recent events surrounding the university, Doherty says there’s a “new gravitas” to the literary magazine, while Farrell says it’s nice to have something untouched by what’s happening. “I feel like we did a good job of leaving that at the door and really focusing on the writing.”

The editors of the 29^th volume of Glyph (including the author of this article) are Marisa Doherty, Melissa Dow, Salem Farrell, Amaya Hoke, Brianna Neumann, Brantlee Reid and Madeleine Sardina.

The gala will be held at 7 p.m., May 2 in O’Shaughnessy Performance Space. A second Glyph reading will be held at 6 p.m. the following evening, Wednesday, May 3 at Collected Works Bookstore.

This doesn’t mark the end of literary events on campus this semester. At 10:30 a.m. on May 8 in O’Shaughnessy Performance Space, CWL will host a reading and will feature Matt Donovan’s intermediate poetry students, who will be reading poems that respond to photographs from Tony O’Brien’s senior thesis photo students, and Julia Goldberg’s Media and Storytelling students, who will be reading pieces they’ve worked on this semester.

Also happening on May 8 will be the Senior Book Party, which will be held at 1 p.m. in Fogelson Library. Here, senior CWL students will be showcasing and selling their final senior books, with covers designed by students in Luke Dorman’s Production Design class.