‘The Willow Literary Magazine’ announces another online edition for Fall 2020

“The Willow Literary Magazine” has once again gone digital for the Fall 2020 edition, just as it did for the first time ever with its Spring 2020 edition in May 2020.

With the changes that happened during the fall semester due to COVID-19, “The Willow” tried hard to make sure that its members and contributors sill felt like they had a safe space to create and write during a pandemic. With 25 members to the actual club, “The Willow” met over Zoom for their meetings and decided to create the fall edition virtually like they did in the spring.

The 25 club members of “The Willow” met via Zoom all fall semester as they brought the latest edition of the magazine together.

Despite challenges in receiving submissions, they still managed to get over 75 submissions and create a beautiful online edition with the help of designer Ryan Miech ’21, according to Isabel Thornton ’21 and Emily Grant ’21, the two editor-in-chiefs of the magazine.

“We were surprised and so touched that so many students submitted despite this difficult semester,” said Thornton. “It’s tough to feel inspired right now, so it was incredible to see that the Salve community is still creating great art. We’re honored that we get to publish such a diverse range of poetry, prose, photography, and artwork, and we can’t wait for everyone to see the final product.”

There is a subtle sun and moon theme in this Fall 2020 edition.

There is a subtle theme throughout this edition of “The Willow” of the “sun and moon,” according to Grant. “We received two poetry submissions from the same person titled ‘Sun and Moon Pt. 1’ and ‘Sun and Moon Pt. 2,’ which we used as our beginning and closing pieces,” Grant explained. “One of our stellar club members suggested this during a meeting, and we loved it.”

According to Grant and Thornton, they are working hard with designer Miech, and Dr. Jennifer McClanaghan — associate professor and writer in residence, as well as the advisor for the “The Willow” — to create a website with Salve Regina next spring that can house digital “The Willow” editions and other fun things like writing and photography prompts for all Salve Regina students to use.

Founded in December 1998 as a student organized literary publication, the purpose of “The Willow Literary Magazine” is to encourage and celebrate creative expression within the campus community through the publication of poetry, prose, artwork and photography from the student population.

Check out the Fall 2020 edition online here.

The Willow recruits new members in Fall 2020. They now have 25 club members, which is a larger number than they’ve seen in a few years.