By Joe Johnson (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: May 9, 2012
The Louden Singletree, that prestigious collection of literary works which has brought a certain level of sophistication to our university, has once again outdone itself. This year’s publication, which was officially launched at AfterMath last month, marked the fourth edition since the literary magazine was conceived in 2008.
The kickoff event was a celebration for all the hard work put into it by the contributors, editorial board, and anyone else that had a hand in making it happen.
The campus pub was impressively packed that night and according to the Louden Singletree’s faculty advisor Andrea MacPherson, “The launch at AfterMath in early April was the most successful launch the Louden has seen! We were all very excited about the attendance…” And while the editorial board acted as a great host, the real draw were the few who came up on stage to read their published submissions – ranging in style from serious to comical with everything else in between.
But what was perhaps even more engrossing was being able to finally open the pages of the fourth Louden Singletree. It allowed for the rest of us to catch a glimpse into what had flowed from the minds of our fellow UFV students over the course of 17 poems and seven pieces of fiction.
It wasn’t all about the written, though. The Louden is also a medium for visual arts, as can be seen by opening to the middle spread. And it was that multitude of artwork, including the painting printed on the cover, which was prominently displayed along the AfterMath stage.
The readings, in total, took approximately a half-hour to go through, but the rest of the night went on simply as a celebration.
Behind the scenes, to make the Louden happen this year, were six impassioned people who made up the editorial board. MacPherson, whose duties include working with each year’s board, said that when choosing the members they look for those “students who have experience with the Louden Singletree, students who are passionate about writing and publishing and want the practical experience of putting together a literary magazine.”
And as the aptly named “Issue No 4”—as written on the bottom of the cover—demonstrates, the 2011/2012 board has completed their goal. As MacPherson stated, “The quality of the magazine is really impressive. We have strong writers and excellent student editors. This year had the greatest variety of genres of all the issues.”
But like all else, as good as this year’s Louden was, there are still areas to improve upon. Mostly, that would include seeing an even greater breadth of subject areas. While submissions have always consisted mostly of poetry, MacPherson would appreciate having a greater showing from “some of the genres that are often overlooked – creative non-fiction, drama, children’s lit, excerpts from novels in progress” and that, “we’d like to see more art submissions from VA students! The cover, as well as the selected pieces within the magazine, [provide] a beautiful compliment to the text.”
And now with the new Louden board being put in place, the expectation will come of them to meet or exceed this year’s publication. But as we’ve just witnessed, the talent at UFV is great. So it is with admiration that many will be anticipating what will come next year.
