Folio, Salt Lake Community College’s print and online literary magazine, is currently accepting submissions for their 20th anniversary edition.
Submissions are open to current students, faculty, staff, and now officially, Innovations High School students. Regardless of whether you submit, all are invited to Folio’s 20th anniversary release party, which is set to be larger than previous years’ events, as Folio has invited people who’ve worked on and contributed to past editions of the magazine.
For 20 years, Folio has been publishing the original work of SLCC students. The work that they publish is meant to display the diverse range of voices at the school.
“[In my view,] the big goal has always been to be a platform for student voices and creativity here at SLCC,” says Folio design editor, Heather Graham. “So, any way that we can help support that, that’s what we’re doing — with print, with the website, with multimedia, we want to make sure that students have a place to be creative and be heard.”
Part of being heard means accepting submissions without strict limitations. Graham says that two most commonly asked questions by students are: Do you only accept a certain theme each semester? And, will Folio censor language or subject matter?
Graham says that Folio accepts submissions of any kind and the theme is derived later from the general tone and topics of the submissions that they receive. As for censorship, Graham says that Folio tries to be fair-minded when they decide what can and can’t be published.
“We don’t want to censor the students so we try to be as open as we can with what they submit, especially with the hard stuff,” says Graham, referring generally to swearing and subject matter such as depression and suicide.
Graham also stresses that students shouldn’t be afraid to submit to Folio.
“Don’t be afraid that you’re not good enough,” says Graham. “We get stuff from all experience levels of writing and we look at each of them for what they are. We want to see the rough stuff, the new stuff, as well as the experienced stuff.”
Graham suggests that students who’re uncertain about their writing visit the SLCC Student Writing & Reading Center to get some input and help with their work.
Although they largely publish literature and poetry, Folio also accepts and publishes visual art, photography, video, audio and other mixed mediums. Starting this semester, Folio asks that contributors limit their submissions to three per category.
Alongside this semester’s edition of Folio, they’ll also be producing an accompanying zine, continuing a practice that was well received last semester. This semester’s zine will be comprised of material from previous editions of Folio.
Additionally, as the result of a months-long effort, Folio will have an online archive of all but three past editions going all the way back to 1999 on their website. The three exempted editions are ones that haven’t been located.
The location and date of the release party for the 20th anniversary edition is yet to be determined, but tentatively planned for April.
Those interested in submitting to Folio can do so on the Folio website. There, you can find the full list of submission guidelines.
The submission deadline is Friday, March 1.
You can also talk to the Folio staff when they’re tabling, most often in the atrium of the Academic and Administration Building on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus.
Additionally, students can email Folio at folioslcc@gmail.com.
