{"id":9891,"date":"2025-03-05T21:51:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T21:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/?page_id=9891"},"modified":"2025-03-05T21:51:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T21:51:54","slug":"from-the-mac-weekly-literary-publishing-unveils-their-third-anthology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/home-2\/the-words-february-2025\/from-the-mac-weekly-literary-publishing-unveils-their-third-anthology\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Mac Weekly: Literary Publishing unveils their third anthology"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ella Stern ’27 and Natalie Mazey ’26<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Three<\/figure>
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The Fall 2024 Literary Publishing class celebrated the release of \u201cThe Orchard,\u201d the course\u2019s third anthology at the English department coffee house on Feb. 5, highlighting the power of real-world learning applications within the humanities field and celebrating the creative skills of the class\u2019s contributors and editors. English professor Steve Woodward, who has taught the class since 2019, reflected on the experience of watching his students\u2019 vision come to life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn these pages, you\u2019ll find engagements with the nature of reality, sharp-elbowed sportswriting, poetic musings on friends and natural disasters, and stories that traverse the limits of form,\u201d Woodward wrote in the introduction to \u201cThe Orchard.\u201d \u201cIn all of them, you\u2019ll find roving curiosity, questing intelligence, and keen observations. These are writers who have something to say and are ready to make their mark on the world.\u201d  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Literary Publishing, which was taught by two different professors before Woodward, has gone through several iterations. Woodward has taught the class since 2019, but its anthology component was not introduced until 2022. After teaching the class remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, Woodward wanted to introduce something new. He asked his 2022 class what they would prefer, and they decided to make an anthology.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd once that worked, I said, \u2018Let’s do it again,\u2019\u201d Woodward recalled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Literary Publishing is already a more pre-professional class than is often found in liberal arts humanities departments, and the creation of the anthology gives students further hands-on experience, plus a product to show for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that anybody that works in publishing is impressed by things that are different from the norm,\u201d Woodward said. \u201c[The anthology is] a really good way for students to showcase their skills and to prove that they’re capable of doing real work. They can show up with a copy of the anthology in hand and say, \u2018Hey, I made this thing. Had anybody else that you’re interviewing today done something like this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the professors who taught this class have worked in publishing in the Twin Cities. This includes Woodward, who worked in the industry for 13 years and currently edits as a freelancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodward said he \u201cserves as a lightning rod for enthusiasm.\u201d His role in the class is not to dictate what direction the anthology should go, but rather to excite his students about publishing and guide them through the steps of the process from gathering writing, editing and laying out the physical work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the anthology is not sold, students can focus on the art rather than what can turn a profit. Woodward prioritizes shifting the narrative around the submission process within his classroom, beginning with the language they use. Instead of using the word \u201csubmission,\u201d which Woodward feels reinforces a hierarchy of power, he gravitates towards collaboration and contribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don’t treat it like it’s some kind of romantic relationship where it hinges on acceptance and rejection,\u201d Woodward said. \u201cInstead, we think about it as a collaboration, which is what the true spirit of publishing actually is and should be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students in Literary Publishing typically fall into three categories of interest: publishing, writing and reading. He thinks about the class from these three angles: providing experience and industry information, granting students the opportunity to get their work published and giving those who simply have a love of words insight into the behind-the-scenes processes of publishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the semester, the class forms small \u201cpublishing houses\u201d that go through the process of designing the cover, conducting mock auctions where the publishing houses bid against each other to acquire books, as well as a sales conference where they delve into marketing and publicity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey come up with their own names and their own identity and their own preferences and aesthetics, and then we use those groups throughout the semester,\u201d Woodward said. \u201cWe use those little groups as well to allow the members of the class an opportunity to understand that a lot of decisions in publishing aren’t made just on a whim, but they’re made based on what’s going to be good for this publishing house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many submissions to this semester\u2019s anthology feature common spaces and the outdoors. To highlight these focuses, students decided to entitle this semester\u2019s anthology \u201cThe Orchard\u201d and have the cover feature both a fruit tree and the Minneapolis skyline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Woodward, \u201cThe Orchard\u201d <\/em>stands out from previous semesters\u2019 anthologies because of its multi-genre nature. In addition to over a dozen poems, the anthology features short stories, a personal essay and its first-ever sportswriting submission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theatre major Nick Suchomel \u201925 decided to enroll in Literary Publishing as a means to finish their creative writing minor. Through the course of the semester, they learned the ins-and-outs of query letters and contacting agents, tools that can be used to explore a career in writing down the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in doing more writing in the future,\u201d Suchomel said. \u201cTaking this class felt like a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suchomel contributed a short story to the anthology, a dystopian saga delving into the power of stories and words in a world that is losing their ability to use them. Seeing the anthology with their writing in print was a surreal experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all worked so hard to make this come together,\u201d Suchomel said. \u201cGetting to hold a semester\u2019s worth of work in our hands felt amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The professional and personal skills that Jizelle Villegas \u201926 learned when they took Literary Publishing in the Fall 2023 semester helped them land a remote internship with Deep Vellum, a nonprofit independent bookstore and publishing place in Dallas, the following semester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The class taught her to be more vulnerable with her writing, increasing her confidence in a way that helped her apply to the internship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got to read out loud because I wanted to, and it was a bit emotional,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cI’m showing myself to a group of people that I still don’t really know. This is the step I need to take as a writer to really get used to those dynamics, and this class really prepares you for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villegas also learned how to navigate the publishing industry, and the formatting and editing skills she had gained in Literary Publishing made her application stand out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKnowing the background of publishing helped me feel like anything can be published; it’s just [that] you have to put in the work and effort to get it done,\u201d Villegas said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 71 pages written and designed by his students, Woodward found excitement for the future of the publishing industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps, reading these pages, you too will be filled with a species of hope, as I was,\u201d Woodward wrote. \u201cI can\u2019t wait for you to turn the page.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This piece originally appeared in <\/em>The <\/a>Mac Weekly<\/a>. Thanks to <\/em>The Mac Weekly for allowing <\/em>The Words to reprint this article!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ella Stern ’27 and Natalie Mazey ’26 The Fall 2024 Literary Publishing class celebrated the release of \u201cThe Orchard,\u201d the course\u2019s third anthology at the English department coffee house on Feb. 5, highlighting the power of real-world learning applications within the humanities field and celebrating the creative skills of the class\u2019s contributors and editors. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1193,"featured_media":0,"parent":9647,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9891","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9891"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9935,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9891\/revisions\/9935"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}