New Literary Magazine Brings Community Together with the Arts
Image Courtesy of the Catholic University English Department
In an effort to increase exposure for the creative writing of the student body at Catholic University, faculty, staff, and students have come together to create a new literary magazine to begin in Fall 2021, Vermilion.
Vermilion is an online literary magazine, which will feature a new issue each semester. It accepts original work, previously unpublished literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, drama, and visual art by members of the Catholic University community.
“Catholic University highly emphasizes community participation in rigorous academic research; Vermilion’s primary goal is to acknowledge the merit of creative scholarship and craft within the community,” said Co-Editors-in-Chief of the publication, Jessica Wyeth and Matthew Sawtelle. “As a professional publication, we hope to cultivate a culture on campus that embraces invention in the arts.”
The student-led magazine found the inspiration for its name from a deep shade of scarlet red. The color was often used by Renaissance painters to breathe life into the painting; “it is bold, beautiful, a tribute to life, ordinary and extraordinary,” according to junior English and Philosophy student Javier Mazariegos.
“This hue of red is both the simple scarlet of a lover’s blush and the dramatic sign of sacrifice. ‘Vermilion’’ is also the closing word of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem, ‘The Windhover,’” said Mazariegos. “Like Hopkins’s falcon, literature seems to soar in celestial beauty while being rooted in the soil of everyday life. Creative writers seem tasked to unite vast imagination with concrete words. Their craft teems with the vibrancy of vermilion. This magazine seeks to share this beautiful craft, which shines like a color so fully alive.”
Pieces are already being assembled for the upcoming Winter 2021 issue, including a poetry contest being adjudicated by English Assistant Professor Dr. Amanda Auerbach and Adjunct Professor and Journal Editor of Literary Matters Ryan Wilson. The O’Hagan Poetry Prize features work from undergraduate students at Catholic University, and the $100 prize will be awarded to the “best single poem.”
Although Winter 2021 submissions are closed, students are encouraged to apply to join the Vermilion staff. Staff members must enroll in English 220, a class focused on the production of the magazine. Students in the course will comprise the Executive Board and lead the selecting, editing, and publishing of the content.
Vermilion will publish its first issue in the Winter of 2021. If you are interested in joining the staff, fill out the application to the class here. To learn more about the magazine, visit the website.
