By Emma Weidmann | Arts and Life Editor
The Phoenix Literary Magazine is an annual student-run publication featuring works by Baylor students of all disciplines, including poetry, short stories, photography and even sheet music.
Highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of the Phoenix Literary Magazine is Frisco junior and co-editor-in-chief Siri Kothapalli. Although she is a bioinformatics major, Kothapalli is beginning her second year editing at the Phoenix.
“I am bioinformatics on the pre-med track,” Kothapalli said. “I have nothing to do with the English department, but it’s a nice little niche … A lot of our submissions came from people who are from really diverse majors, fields of interest, everything.”
Kothapalli said the hardest part of her job is the inevitable fact that many outstanding submissions don’t make it into the final magazine.
“I was reading all these [submissions], and I was like, ‘I am just genuinely so impressed with the quality of writing that so many students are putting forward,’” Kothapalli said. “It broke my heart every time I had to vote no on something, or when I voted yes on something but it didn’t get into the magazine … That’s my favorite part of the Phoenix: getting to see all these works of art.”
Associate professor and main faculty adviser Arna Hemenway said the Phoenix is one of the longest-running student literary magazines in the country, with issues dating back to 1959. Through its long history, the Phoenix has provided an outlet for creativity and a mirror for students’ perspectives.
“The vision has always been to try to include as many arts as possible,” Hemenway said. “That’s one of the great things about the Phoenix, is that it really reflects not just in the genres that it publishes but in the pieces in the genres it publishes. It really reflects what’s important to the students themselves.”
For nine years, Hemenway has provided guidance to student editors. He said the best part of working with the Phoenix is being able to interact with students and watch them put together the magazine.
“I love working with Baylor students on creative stuff,” Hemenway said. “[Becoming a faculty adviser] wasn’t a hard sell.”
Frisco junior and co-editor-in-chief Kaedyn Taylor said this is her second semester as an editor for the Phoenix, and her experience has brought her community and a sense of accomplishment.
“You see all these pieces that wouldn’t have anywhere to go in the Baylor community if not for the Phoenix,” Taylor said. “There’s this feeling that we’re doing something for the literature community through this magazine.”
The Phoenix Literary Magazine is accepting submissions through December. During the spring semester, student editors read through each submission and finalize the content for the upcoming magazine. This work is done on a deadline, as the magazine’s publication coincides with the Beall Poetry Festival, which takes place on campus each March.
Taylor said the pressure of working to make sure everything is finished in time is both scary and exciting.
“It was a little bit terrifying at first, I’m not going to lie,” Taylor said. “I went to one meeting before we actually started the editing stuff for the week, and I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t terrifying at all! Everyone gets along, this is great.’ I love English, I love literature and it was very much a group of people who love literature. It very quickly shifted from scary to exciting.”
