Meet Pulp Magazine’s New Staff

Kwantlen’s Arts and Literary Publication enters third year with a new generation

Since its inception in the spring of 2012, Pulp magazine has been tri-annually publishing the art and literature of Kwantlen Polytechnic University students and distributing it to all four KPU campuses. This semester the magazine has experienced a complete turnover in staff as a new generation of designers, editors, and publishers take the helm to continue spreading Kwantlen student culture.

The main Pulp team now consists of six members. Stephanie Barnes and Brooks Lewis share the position of managing editor and are essentially the publication’s overseers. There are two literary editors, Emily Carefoot and Chantal Houle, who between them edit the poetry and short fiction, and one art editor, Natalie Mussell, who manages the photography and art. Finally, Sarah Neeson is the production manager, laying out the magazine and readying the final product.

Together the team reviews submissions, pick out the pieces they think best fit their magazine, polishes the work, and then push for publication. The magazine comes out with three issues a year, one for each of the spring, summer, and winter semesters. They accept submissions of visual art, poetry, dialogue, fiction, and nonfiction prose. It is a great stepping stone for those who wish to start submitting their work for publication or for those who wish to get experience in editing and working for a publication.

“A lot of people in the creative writing program are taught about literary magazines and they seem like something that’s so far away and something you’re supposed to work towards, especially if you’re going to be submitting,” says Barnes. “It’s very cool to be almost given a gift of a literary magazine where we have the freedom to learn about putting something together like this.”

Not only do students who get their work published in Pulp have their work immortalized in print, they also get the chance to show off their creative pursuits to the Kwantlen public. And it’s open to anyone—people looking to submit to Pulp do not have to directly join the team. “We don’t just accept submissions from Kwantlen students, we accept people all over the area, anybody who has the courage to email us with a submission,” says Barnes. “If we like it, we’ll put it in, provided that the piece hasn’t been published elsewhere.”

“It also looks good on a resume,” adds Lewis, the other incoming managing editor.

As the new semester begins, Pulp’s new creative team have taken the opportunity to discuss a few possibilities going forward that could take the publication places it hasn’t been to yet. “We are considering maybe doing book reviews, but we aren’t sure yet. We need to account for how much space we have in the magazine,” says Lewis. “We’ve also discussed accepting scripts, such as screenwriting or drama, for the first time,” says Barnes.

“We love volunteers. We’ll be posting on our social media accounts for when we’re going be holding copyediting meetings, so if people want to be copyeditors or first readers, we would be happy to have them there,” says Barnes. “If anybody has any ideas for interviews with artists or writers that they want to conduct, we are happy to hear about it. You don’t have to be on the staff to be involved with Pulp.”

The latest issue of Pulp came out in August 2015 and they’re hoping to get their fall issue, the 12th issue overall, out within the next month.

For those who are interested in having your literary or art piece for published, you can submit at submissions@pulpmag.ca or visit their website at Pulpmag.ca for more information. You can pick up a free copy of The Pulp Magazine, which can be found on the stands around campus.