Hutton Honors College

LABYRINTH Offers Publishing Opportunities for Writers, Artists, and Photographers

LABYRINTH, the Honors College undergraduate literary magazine, will be holding an Open Mic night to encourage submissions to its next issue. The event will be held at Collins Coffeehouse at 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 18.

LABYRINTH publishes prose, poetry and photography submitted by IU undergraduate students. Last year, the publication received 60 submissions.

"We're into diverse voices and originality. Why not submit?" said Thom Kudla, student facilitator for LABYRINTH.

LABYRINTH is distributed free of charge in the spring. For the first time in recent years, LABYRINTH will offer an editor's choice award for the best submissions of photography, short stories and poetry. Each winner will receive a $50 prize and special recognition in the publication.

LABYRINTH not only publishes the works of beginning artists, poets and writers. The publication also provides an opportunity for students to get together to discuss and vote on the pieces in a friendly and stimulating environment.

Any IUB undergraduate student interested in literature and photography can participate in LABYRINTH. This year, LABYRINTH has become a popular activity for freshmen.

"If you're an undergraduate and you come to the meetings, you get to vote on submissions," Kudla said.

Kudla says the meetings always entail lots of good discussion. The discussion centers around deciding which pieces to publish in the magazine.

"One of the things I love about LABYRINTH is that you can say whatever you want. You can crack jokes that cheer people up, or be opinionated," Kudla said.

The staff of LABYRINTH is comprised of students with diverse personalities and interests, but they all share a passion for literature. Many staff members work outside of LABYRINTH on their own literary pursuits. Kudla first got involved working on the staff of a literary magazine in middle school. This summer, Kudla undertook the challenge of writing a realistic novel as a project for his individualized major in literary humanities.

"At certain parts, you get it in your gut," Kudla said. "Writing in this style really grounded me."

Sophomore Megan Bourke, another student facilitator for LABYRINTH, is a biochemistry major. She first got involved with LABYRINTH last year because she enjoyed working on her high school's literary magazine. Bourke also writes poetry in her free time.

"The most important thing about LABYRINTH is that we have a great time. It's so much fun to review," Bourke said. "If people take things too seriously, it sucks the fun out of it. We have a good balance."

The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 14, 2004. To submit to LABYRINTH, email laby@indiana.edu, or drop off your submission to LABYRINTH's mailbox at 324 N. Jordan.

story by Alli Stolper