Welcome to the 365 McIlroy blog, hosted by the University of Arkansas Libraries. Today, the Scholarly Communications team is interviewing Prof. Jane Valerie Blunschi, Assistant Director of the Creative Writing and Translation Program. Prof. Blunschi teaches the one-semester undergraduate class that produces each new issue of Diamond Line.
Scholarly Communications: We are proud to host Diamond Line in ScholarWorks@UARK. How would you characterize Diamond Line? It offers such an enticing mix of fiction, poetry, and artwork. Is it a literary journal? A student magazine?
Prof. Blunschi:
The Diamond Line undergraduate literary magazine is a student-run publication and the product of the course English 3903, Literary Magazine Production. Issue 8, produced in the fall 2024 semester, is now available online!
Scholarly Communications: What is the purpose of a student-led publication like this? And, specifically, why did you and your colleagues choose to start Diamond Line?
Prof. Blunschi:
The Diamond Line features poetry, prose, and visual art created by undergraduate students at the University of Arkansas. Any undergraduate student, in any major, on any U of A campus is invited to submit their best creative work in these genres each semester for consideration in the magazine.
Several iterations of an undergraduate literary magazine have existed at the U of A, and over the years these (often very, very good) publications would run for a few semesters or years, and then sort of disappear as the students helming the magazine graduated or moved on to other endeavors.
In the Fall of 2019, three undergraduate students approached me to sponsor a new literary magazine – they were thinking of founding the publication as a club or RSO. I was enthusiastic about the idea and mentioned it to the Director of the Program in Creative Writing and Translation, Davis McCombs. He and I started discussing ideas to make the magazine a more enduring publication, something that would last and provide an opportunity for publication for the many talented creative writers and visual artists on campus. He suggested producing the magazine through a class in which the fundamentals of literary magazine publication would be taught, discussed, and implemented, and asked if I’d like to teach it. I had little prior experience in those aspects of the field – most of my knowledge had to do with submitting my own work to magazines and journals – so I approached the idea with a bit of trepidation and a lot of excitement. The first section of ENGL 3903, Literary Magazine Production opened in Spring 2020, with support from the Department of English and the Program in Creative Writing and Translation, and The Diamond Line was officially founded. The Honors College lent their encouragement and support to the first issue as well and have remained so encouraging. This semester’s class will produce the magazine’s ninth issue (WOW!).
Scholarly Communications: From your observations, what are students in your class getting from the experience of producing Diamond Line? And what do the writers and artists appear in the publication get from their experience?
Prof. Blunschi:
Students in the class are given information and support to conduct every aspect of the magazine production process, from receiving submissions, evaluating work, website and document design, final proofreading and approval, all the way to the magazine’s release. There is much to do in the course of a semester! Successfully completing the project requires a high level of organization, effective communication, well-developed critical skills, and respect and care for submitted work. We spend time in class building a structure for the composition of the semester’s issue, and conducting research on other, similar publications so that students can work together to develop a roster of their own best practices. I lend support, resources, direct instruction, and some historical knowledge to the process, but the class truly makes the magazine their own. It is a remarkable experience to see a team of students who began the semester (for the most part) as strangers become a strong team, committed to a project they care about. It is really cool!
Students who submit work have an opportunity to have their pieces considered by a publication focused solely on their work – creative work produced by undergraduates. Our audience is broad, but so many of our readers are also undergraduate students at the university. We hope that seeing their peers’ work in print encourages them to keep creating and submitting. For students whose work is accepted, they have an opportunity to experience the excitement of sharing their work widely in print and online among the work of other talented folks. The boost of confidence that experience brings often galvanizes emerging writers and artists and affirms their talents in a way that leads to more creative work. It’s a wonderful thing!
Scholarly Communications: What suggestions would you offer to faculty who want to start a student-led research or creative publication?
Prof. Blunschi:
Go for it, even if you are not exactly sure how to start or what to do! Reach out to folks (Me! Reach out to me! I am here to help) who have founded a similar project and ask for suggestions for resources and support. More than anything, let the students take the lead – they are so bright, and teach me so much each semester. Trusting the students to make the project excellent, and encouraging and supporting them along the way is an awesome place to start.
Scholarly Communications: And finally, what would you like to say to students considering taking your class or writers and artists considering sharing their work in Diamond Line?
Prof. Blunschi:
Students: please do join us in class! Even if you have no experience in literary magazine publication or are not an English major – it does not matter. We work to build a team and a structure, and we are remarkably lucky to spend time with terrific student writing and visual art. We work hard, we support each other, and we make a top-notch magazine each semester. It’s a lot of fun.
Scholarly Communications: Thank you for this conversation. We look forward to the Spring 2024 issue of Diamond Line!
Thank you!
