By Chloë Moore ’24
On Wednesday, April 19th, during the usual Coffee House spot, the Fall 2022 Literary Publishing class celebrated the launch of MoonSprout: A Literary Garden, the anthology that they wrote, edited, and published over the course of the semester. Featuring fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction written by students in the class, MoonSprout represents the very edge of undergrad publishing. Regardless of whether or not they contributed actual writing to the collection, all students in the class were part of the editing, assembly, and formatting process.
MoonSprout‘s production was directed by Professor Steve Woodward, who suggested the idea of an anthology at the start of the semester. This is the inaugural project of this kind for the class, and as the high turnout on Wednesday showed, it has been a great success. As a student in the class, I am happy to report that it was a great learning experience; being able to make a book from start to finish was a great hands-on experience. Professionally bound and printed by local bookmakers Bookmobile, students were able to pick up the gorgeous paperback editions at Coffee House. If you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, there are more outside the English office on Old Main 2!
At the launch, Professor Woodward introduced the project and described the process, and some contributors read from their pieces in the anthology. Of the fiction writers, Helen Feng read from “The Selkie and the Squire,” Kathryn Alldaffer from “Evergreen,” and Tyler Osmond read from “Mouse Law.” Chloë Moore read their poem “Letter From An Ancestor” to round out the selection. After the readings, Steve and students took questions about the process of making MoonSprout. They answered questions about the selection process (all submitted pieces were accepted), editing (a group effort!), and the cover and interior design (a combination of beautiful hand-lettered font by Carling McQuinn, marginal notebook doodles, and many hours spent in Canva).
All in all the event was a warm success and a great way to celebrate the accomplishments of last semester’s Literary Publishing class. Congratulations to everyone involved in MoonSprout, and special thanks to Steve for giving students this hands-on opportunity!