Penumbra, Stan State’s student-run art and literary journal, hosted their annual reading and book launch on Thursday.
This event featured readings from several of the authors and artwork featured in this year’s edition of the magazine.
It was about celebrating and showcasing the works that have been completed, and many of the original prints in this edition are also on display in Stan State’s Art Gallery for those who were unable to attend the event.
Jarred White (senior, English) is one of the editors for Penumbra and a Master of Ceremonies (MC) for this event was very excited to hear some of the poets read their own work.
“I’m really interested in seeing the authors do their own readings, it’s always one thing to read a piece through your own voice but hearing the author’s intent come through is really interesting,” White said.
Alejandro Caballero-Hurtado (junior, English and Philosophy) is part of the design team and another MC for this event was excited to get to know some of the authors.
“I’m excited to put a face to the name because a lot of these poems are really really good so I’d like to see who wrote them,” Caballero-Hurtado said.
Dr. Jesse Wolf, English professor, and faculty advisor for this publication explained that this publication is entirely student run, so this event is a time to “see people shine.”
“I like having students being the MCs I think it’s great! Sometimes there are high school students who have a poem in or have a painting up on the wall and their parents come with them and it’s a really big deal,” Dr. Wolfe said. “Seeing a community of people there is really cool and we have a lot of repeat visitors.”
Students who are enrolled in the Penumbra class and who are part of the club take part in deciding which submission will make it into the edition and also design the layout and choose the cover art for the magazine, which according to White “gives students a lot of power.”
In addition to choosing which works go into the magazine, graphic designers take care of all of the other details.
“We choose the cover and even simple things like font size, placement of images and text, basically all the bits and pieces of making a book that no one thinks about,” Caballero-Hurtado said.
Penumbra receives submission from all over the world and a person does not have to be affiliated with the university to be published, but Dr. Wolfe hopes to publish more student work in the future.
They will be accepting prose, poetry, and visual art beginning next September.
This year’s edition of Penumbra and other Penumbra merchandise are available for purchase at the Penumbra Office in DBH 304.