Grub Street: Inspiring All Kinds of Writers
Interviews from fall 2020
Yellow Arrow Publishing has had several interns from Towson University’s Grub Street, so we wanted to share more about Grub Street and Grub Street Literary Magazine. Grub Street and Yellow Arrow Publishing have a shared connection through a love of the arts, specifically literature. Our fall 2020 marketing intern, Elaine Batty, interviewed Gel Derossi and Grace Jordan, current Editors-in-Chief, to get a better insight into the creation of Grub Street. You can find the latest issue, Volume 70, on the Grub Street website. A huge thank you to Grub Street staff for working around their busy schedules to tell Elaine all about Grub Street.
EB: What is Grub Street and how does it work?
Grub Street is Towson’s student-produced, award-winning literary magazine that publishes editions annually. This year is the 70th edition of Grub Street. Edition 68 won a Gold Circle Award for the 17th year in a row that Grub Street has been recognized. Six students accepted in edition 68 were also recognized and awarded. Grub Street publishes a print edition each year, but we also run a website in which we feature more works from writers and artists. Students enroll in a year-long class under a faculty advisor—this year and in most previous years, our faculty advisor is Jeannie Vanasco—and through this class, students receive roles within top managing positions, genre teams, and marketing and publicity.
Grub Street accepts works submitted online in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art, as well as genre-defiant works. Anyone can submit to Grub Street, not just Towson University students. Our high school contest also features work from one to two high school students; all of our submissions are reviewed by an accomplished author—last year’s was Jung Yung, critically acclaimed author of Shelter—and winners receive a $100 dollar prize.
Our genre teams work together in reading submissions and deciding what works to feature in print and/or online. We also maintain a “blind review process” in which the top managing positions move over submissions from our Submittable account and remove any identifying information so that all works are chosen based on the works themselves; this levels the playing field and makes everything fair.
Putting together a literary magazine requires honesty from its staff. It requires clear communication and conversations about topics of personal and societal importance. With the way Vanasco facilitates our conversations about submissions and taste and aesthetics and oppression, [we] personally, and [we] sense others do as well, feel encouraged to speak up, even if [we] don’t speak perfectly and even if [we] might be wrong. Grub Street feels like a community. We talk to each other with what feels like an elevated form of respect. We honor the opinions of our classmates and [we] hope that everyone feels like every opinion of our staff is equally valuable. We all stand behind our mission of inclusivity and diversity and representation for marginalized identities.
EB: In what way do you feel Grub Street benefits Towson students as well as the community?
The ways in which Grub Street benefits students is vast: Grub Street gives undergraduate students the opportunity to get their hands into all types of work within the publishing and literary field. You don’t need prior experience to be involved in Grub Street, but you will leave with concrete experience within copyediting, reading submissions, marketing, [and] designing, and leave with a physical, new print edition of Grub Street that you and your team created together.
Grub Street also strives to engage within the Baltimore community. We distribute our print edition at book festivals, conferences, and other Baltimore-based universities, and are also working on distributing our issues to prisons.
Yellow Arrow’s Editor-in-Chief, Kapua Iao, also asked Brenna Ebner (fall 2020 publication intern and current CNF Managing Editor for Yellow Arrow, and Editor-in-Chief of Grub Street, volume 69) further questions about her experiences.
KCI: Where does the name ‘Grub Street’ come from?
It was originally an address in London back in the 18th century where low-end publishers and “hack writers” were found competing to make a living from their works. People there dealt with hard critiques, became targets of satire, and scuffled over plagiarism. Their literary world was cutthroat with aspiring writers constantly putting out new work to get noticed and no copyright laws to protect anyone’s writing. Our name commemorates that and the ways in which writing, publishing, and editing has evolved from that structure but still remains just as competitive and passionate. Dr. George Hahn, an English Professor and past chair of the Department of English, has a great explanation of Grub Street’s name included in each issue as well.
KCI: Can you explain more about how students get involved with Grub Street?
It’s a class at Towson actually! You can take it either first or second semester, but it typically is best to do both in order for sake of consistency in the magazine. If being on staff isn’t of interest to those who want to get involved, they can easily submit multiple pieces (there is of course a cap to the amount depending on the genre) and become a contributor. That option is available to everyone, too—not just students. Copies are free as well so if participating in those ways still aren’t of any interest, anyone could become a reader and supporter of Grub Street that way. We welcome everyone at the launch parties to celebrate with us (when they aren’t shut down for [COVID-19 regulations]) and to enjoy PDF copies online.
KCI: How does someone become Editor-in-Chief of Grub Street?
Recently it’s been . . . based on previous experience (have they taken Grub Street before?), performance as a student (good grades, attendance, etc.), and graduation date, which Vanasco, current faculty advisor, considers and then chooses based on that. The position requires you to be able to commit for the full school year, so we want someone that is reliable, committed, hardworking, and available. They’ll be in charge of the whole process: picking staff positions, making sure we stay on schedule, having final say on pieces we include and editing them, how the website is run, communicating between genre teams and the creative services department and faculty advisor, organizing the launch party, everything! The faculty advisor helps immensely though so it isn’t quite as overwhelming and the managing editors take on a large bulk of the process as well, such as the high school contest, weighing in on design and layout decisions, communication between staff, and much more. The whole staff is a strong support system but ultimately the Editor-in-Chief has to oversee it with the faculty advisor supervising and guiding.
KCI: What has your experience taught you?
Grub Street was what ultimately helped me figure out what I wanted to do in life after college. It gave me the direction and experience I needed to understand that editing and publishing was the career I wanted to pursue and could, and I can’t thank Vanasco enough for giving me that opportunity. I also don’t think anything could have prepared me for what to expect stepping into that kind of leadership role, too, but it helped me grow immensely on a professional level and taught me a great deal about myself. I never realized how much work went into publishing and editing until I got to be part of the process. When I pick up any piece of literature now, I think about all the people who put in the work to get it into my hands and in that polished state. For literary magazines and journals, specifically, I think about how between the covers is a space that has been created by multiple people for multiple people to express themselves and help them feel like they belong somewhere and to something. There’s a whole new appreciation for something I certainly took for granted previously and I want to continue to be a part of it.
Elaine Batty is a student at Towson University graduating with a BS in English on the literature track. Her poetry has been featured in the College of Southern Maryland’s Connections literary magazine. In her free time, she enjoys reading all genres of fiction, writing poetry, and playing with her two cats, Catlynn and Cleocatra. Elaine’s two real passions are literature and travel, and she plans to look for a job following graduation that will allow her to pursue both full time.
Gel Derossi (they/them) is a white, trans, neurodiverse person who reads, writes, and draws with a mission to create more representation for marginalized folks. They currently study creative writing at Towson University.
Brenna Ebner is a recent Towson University graduate and Editor-in-Chief of Grub Street Literary Magazine, volume 69. She has interned at both Mason Jar Press and Yellow Arrow Publishing and is looking forward to continuing to grow as an editor and establish herself in the publishing world.
Grace Jordan is one of the 2020–2021 Editors-in-Chief of Grub Street, along with [Gel]. She is a sophomore at Towson University, studying both Dance Performance and Choreography and English with a minor in creative writing. She is also a part of the Honors College. Find her on Instagram @graciejordan.
You can find Grub Street on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts.