Happy September, everyone!
As we move into the Fall 2018 semester, I’d like to pause to appreciate our Spring/Summer editors and welcome our Fall editors.
I was blown away by the energy, vision, and wisdom of Johanna Bulley, Lynn Martin, and Michael Tucker this past Spring and Summer. The Hedge Apple has changed immensely during their editorial term as we:
- moved from only accepting work from the HCC community to accepting work from around the world;
- moved from traditional publishing to publishing and marketing on Amazon;
- increased our social media presence by creating a Facebook page;
- introduced special themed issues, one of which even included Spotify playlists;
- represented the Hedge Apple at the Barrelhouse conference Conversations and Connections;
- provided copies of the magazine to 40 contributors of prose, poetry, art, and creative nonfiction.
It was a pleasure to work with Johanna, Lynn, and Mike as they explored their aesthetics, communicated with writers and artists who submitted work, and pushed through boundaries that might have overwhelmed other editors.
I have a strong feeling that this is not the last the literary community will see of them, and I look forward to watching them write, publish, edit, and otherwise contribute to our shared community of letters. I want to thank them for their friendship and for the inspiration they have given me to go beyond the status quo, to dream big and then follow those dreams.
Stay tuned… as their last action as editors, Johanna, Lynn, and Mike will each nominate one of our published pieces for a 2019 Pushcart Prize. You can see their choices here sometime this week.
I’m also very excited to welcome Blake Garlock and Katelyn Hogue, our Fall 2018 editors. Blake and Katelyn come to us enthusiastic and anxious to read your work, and I can’t wait to see the new levels we will achieve as they take over the editorial reins this semester. You’ll hear from them soon with a brand-spanking-new list of three themed issues for this Fall.
Thanks to all our followers and contributors for your support this year. You mean a lot to us!
Amanda Miller
Faculty Advisor, Hedge Apple