Every year, Drury’s Small Press Publishing class looks forward to giving Drury students the opportunity to branch out and create works that have the chance to be printed and published for the rest of the university to view. “Currents” is that opportunity, and the submissions range from prose to poetry to artwork.

Sarah Merlenbach, the production editor of the 2018-2019 “Currents,” is excited to see what this new edition will hold and hopes to see a wide variety of submissions.

“A good “Currents” submission is a work that captures a theme or idea beyond its simple face-value. It doesn’t have to be some big moral message, like good conquering evil, just something that, when another person reads it, connects to a part of their own life,” said Merlenbach.

Photo via pixabay.com

The theme of “Currents” is different every year in order to showcase a  vast amount of work from many different students. This keeps the publication interesting and diverse.

Who is “Currents” for?

“Our theme for “Currents” this year is Perspectives. We wanted to keep a fairly open concept so that people were free to write what they wanted, rather than feeling constrained by a topic,” stated Merlenbach. “While there have been some common ideas in people’s submissions so far, I don’t want to spoil the issue by divulging them here, or make anyone feel that they can’t submit because their work doesn’t fit one of those ideas.”

“Currents” is designed for anyone to read. There is no set audience, and this is a great chance for students to publish their own unique work.

“I think students and faculty should read “Currents” because the people submitting to us are the writers of the future. These people might be the ones who are topping the “New York Times” bestseller list in the coming years. Besides this, I think there are a lot of unique stories and writers’ voices in this issue that will make you think, but also are really entertaining,” said Merlenbach.

Release date

This year’s edition of “Currents” will be released at Drury’s annual English Symposium, which will be held at the end of April 2019.

Merlenbach continued, “Advice I would give to readers who are interested in submitting to “Currents” next year is to just go for it. If we don’t choose a piece that you submit, chances are it isn’t because it’s a bad piece, but just because we think it might better fit in a different issue. Never be discouraged by a rejection.”

For more information about the issue, email professor Jo Van Arkel at jvanarkel@drury.edu or check out the “Currents” page on Drury’s website.

Written by Kate Bequette.