Ashley Larson

Contributing Writer

Calliope Literary Journal released its newest edition, the 2022-2023 collection. The journal made up of poetry, short stories, scripts, photography and artwork is back on track after previous setbacks.

Though this new edition is late coming, it had good reason. During the Covid pandemic, their budget was frozen, which greatly impacted the printing process.

“I really enjoyed Sammy Rapsher’s ‘One of God’s Little Tests’,” says Delaney Zeidman, English secondary education major of Ewing, N.J., one of Calliope’s editors-in-chief. “It is a compelling story that takes the perspective of a woman who grew up in a cult society. I like how Sammy decided to take this perspective. It was intriguing and also daunting to read.”

The 22-23 edition includes a variety of poems from the political poem “Abortion: It means…” by Maella Aponte to the romantic poem “Cosmic Patterns” by Victoria De Benedetto.

There is also a short graphic novel titled “The Unicorn of Virginity” by Sophia Gavryushina and many photos of Pennsylvania’s landscapes and wildlife.

The prose section includes stories such as Journey Lopez’s “The Bus Kids” and sci-fi story “Maiden Voyage”, written by Sammy Repsher.

“I am glad to see a number of pieces that were conceived and written in my creative writing classes,” says Professor Richard Madigan, faculty advisor of Calliope.

Calliope 22-23 is free for any student and can be found in Stroud Hall 309 or Kemp Library.

The halt in printing progress has also set other hurdles in the magazine’s way, as each subsequent edition had to be delayed. But Calliope has decided on a simple way to solve this issue.

“The main goal we have this year is to catch up,” says Zeidman. And it is exactly as she says.

Calliope is foregoing the 23-24 edition and going straight to the 24-25 edition.

“Anyone who submitted a piece last year will have the opportunity to resubmit their work and we will look over it for this year’s edition,” Zeidman went on.

Calliope would like to highlight this fact, as any accepted or rejected submissions must be resubmitted to be reassessed.

“As a club, we have decided to move on,” stated Zeidman.

Calliope is also making changes to the club itself.

“What’s new is the sharp and enthusiastic new editorial staff, including two presidents (editors-in-chief), two vice-presidents and two secretaries,” says Madigan.

According to Zeidman, allowing two people to share a position helps for better organization and time management.

This also helps Calliope keep up with submissions and editing.

All submissions are viewed anonymously and are evaluated by Calliope’s staff. For more information on the nature of the evaluation, refer to a previous article of ours.

Submissions should be sent to submittoesucalliope@gmail.com.

As a reminder, submissions should be titled, typed and double-spaced. A separate cover letter should include the author’s name and email address. All work should be submitted as a .doc file.

Even though it is called a literary journal, all students are encouraged to share their art. More physical types of work can be photographed and submitted.

Madigan has this to say for students who want to get more involved with writing and sharing their art with the journal:

“If you want to write poems, read a lot of poetry, contemporary work and also work from the
great tradition of poetry in English. Same thing for fiction writers: read, read, read.”

Calliope meetings are held every Tuesday in Stroud Hall 314.

Warrior Link: Calliope Literary Magazine