If you’ve dreamed of being the next J.K. Rowling, now is your chance. STU’s new literary journal, Shivering Skàlds, is calling for submissions for poetry, prose, non-fiction and fiction from students. The journal will publish student’s prose pieces online and poetry pieces in a printed book that will be available in April.
“I believe it is a great idea because it allows students to express themselves in a positive way and it allows writers in the STU community to create stuff they’re passionate about,” said Chelsea Poirier, a first-year student interested in submitting a poem.
The idea for the project came up as an end-of-term project for a creative writing class at STU. The journal is a student-run operation with the help of Andrew Titus, English department professor at STU. Shivering Skàlds will compile diverse literary works from students to create a sense of community among writers.
“We have no pretensions that we’re going to springboard anyone into internationally acclaimed, rockstar fame, but STU has a really great community of writers who are all informally associated – we know each other through class or meeting at bars and there are enough of us that it does wind up opening some really cool opportunities,” said Peter McComb, an English honours student who’s part of the project.
“Maybe you won’t get to be the next J.K. Rowling, but by publishing your work, you’ll be a step closer to achieving your life-long literary dream.”
Since the project was posted on STU’s website Jan. 22, a dozen pieces of work have been submitted already. Poetry submissions will be accepted until Feb. 22 and submissions of any genre for online publication will be accepted until March 31.
“Folks who might not have submitted this time can see this collection and be like, ‘Wow, STU’s a pretty kick ass place to be an artist, Maybe I should break out that old poetry book or whatever that I abandoned and give it another shot’,” said McComb.
The aim of the journal is to get students published and help them connect with fellow writers at the university. If successful, the students would like to make a tradition of it. However, McComb suggests students submit pieces this year, just in case.
Said Poirier of the experience, “I would feel honoured to get published. It’s a great way for people to read writing that I worked hard on.”
