Submerged by Shaina Boal
I’m so excited about the latest teen issue of Inlandia, which is live now!
“Despite the notion that we are voiceless, it seems to me that the challenge of a good creative writing instructor is to teach students that they do indeed have a voice and that their voice, that all our voices in concert, have meaning. … We should be struggling with our students as writers, and students of writing, to leave behind something worth protecting, worth defending, something that contributes to the growth of this culture.”–Jon Chopan, Glimmer Train bulletin 137, June, 2018
Renewed Popularity of Poetry Leads to Teen Issue
According to findings by the National Endowment for the Arts, in under a decade, the number of poetry readers in the United States almost doubled to a total of 28 million adults–and that was before self-isolation during the pandemic began. I saw a similar increase in teens wanting to read poetry in my school library over the last several years. The most popular events each year were an open mic night for all writers (including songwriters) and a blackout poetry contest. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, to give our teens a venue for their work? Thus, three years ago, we launched our first all-teen issue of Inlandia.
Teens Being Heard during a Pandemic
As the coronavirus pandemic has affected so many, this particular launch has been a tough one. While I hope that their families and friends are healthy, our teens had to exit school and leave off regular interaction with their friends. They lost their proms and graduations. I’d like this issue to remind us all that we can still make connections through the creative arts. Teen stories matter.
Editors’ Choice Winners Spring 2020
Congratulations to all the teens whose work was selected. A special shout out goes to our editors’ choice winners in four categories:
Poetry : Lauren Kawecki for “Persephone” and “Dichotomy of Light”
Image: Shaina Boal for “Submerged”
Nonfiction: Sydney Burr for “This Political Op-Ed is Not About Trump”
Fiction: Max Endieveri for “Leda and the Swan”
Advice from Teen Inlandia Issue Editors
We had a wonderful group of teen editors for this issue, all of whom had thoughtful responses to the submissions. Our teen editors-in-chief have been with us from the first teen issue in 2018. I appreciate Kiyani and Stephanie more than I can say! If you are a teen writer, check out the interviews with the teen co-editors-in-chief to see what they look for when they read submissions. Their comments are very insightful and an emerging writer will find them very useful. Please check out their thoughts on what they admire in the work they select, what books they recommend to our readers, and what resources they recommend to writers. Stephanie Martinez-Beltram is interviewed here. Kiyani Carter is interviewed here.
As we complete our tenth year of Inlandia: A Literary Journey, I wish you joyous and insightful reading! Thank you for taking this journey with us.
Other Teen Issues of Inlandia: A Literary Journey
Note: If you are a classroom teacher or a teacher librarian, please share the teen issue with your writers, artists, as well as book and writing club members. It’s great summer reading and the advice on submissions is valuable.
To have a look at our other teen issues, see 2018 here and 2019 here.