Tuscarora Literary Magazine: How to Get Involved

Students and staff are pitching in to make The Howl 22-23 a great one.

Leesburg, VA- As submissions rush in, students collaborate to create something special before the deadline of spring. What are they working on? The Tuscarora literary magazine (lit mag), which is a fun opportunity to show your talent and creativity to your peers at the school.

Art, photography, and many forms of writing from the students and staff are featured in the lit mag.  “Look out for our theme this year, and then submit your art, photography, or creative writing for a chance at publication!”  Kate Morrison, a Senior at Tuscarora as well as this year’s editor-in-chief for the lit mag, encourages.

The lit mag has a specific theme every year, last year’s being secrets and the year before that: tranquility. “The balance in choosing a theme is that it has to be specific enough that we have a cohesive final product, but vague enough that people have a lot of creative freedom in their submissions…” Morrison says, talking about the procedure of picking the right theme. “We’re in the process of choosing our theme right now! All of us write down our ideas, then we choose a few favorites, and decide on a specific word for our theme.”

To hear about the theme right after it’s been decided, you can visit @thslitmag on Instagram.

The lit mag is sponsored by Mr. Van Duyne and Ms. Hancher, and has been part of Tuscarora for a couple years. Last year, it was run by Mrs. Brunk, an English teacher who then passed the torch to the other teachers. “My vision for the literary magazine is for it to be an avenue for student creativity and inspiration. I’d like to see this coming issue be a little thicker than the last one, but for that to happen we’ll need to keep the word out about welcoming student submissions,” Mr. Van Duyne explains.

Sydney Nicklas, a Sophomore at Tuscarora and the creative writing curator, follows up by saying, “Submitting anything to the magazine would be appreciated… Honestly, just even reading it. Once we put it out… looking through and seeing what your classmates made.”

Another way to support the lit mag is to consider joining the team. “I joined the magazine because I love writing and reading other people’s writing, and just literature and art in general,” Nicklas says.

The information meeting for the lit mag was held Thursday the 13th in room 606. Further information about the following meetings and where submissions can be sent will show up in advisory presentations.