New magazine offers a venue for students

New magazine offers a venue for students’ literary works

BY MARGOT DIMOND
Rice News staff

Beginning in April, Rice undergraduate students will have both a showcase for their creative writing and an opportunity to learn the publishing business. That’s when R2: The Rice Review literary magazine makes its debut, featuring student fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, such as memoirs and personal essays.

“It’s a magazine of undergraduate imaginative writing,” said Justin Cronin, associate professor of English at Rice and founder of the new student-run publication.

The magazine is supported in part by James and Jane Rhodes of New York City. James graduated from Rice in 1962, and his two sons, David and Benjamin, are also Rice alumni. The Rhodes family, who are interested in literary arts and creative writing, will support the magazine for three years.

“This all got started because I was seeing a lot of good student work, and it wasn’t being published anywhere,” Cronin said. “Students of the caliber we get at Rice deserve not only to have a publication like this, but also to produce one themselves.”

Although for many years outstanding student works have been recognized with the George Guion Williams Prize for Excellence in Creative Writing by an Undergraduate Student at Rice, the winning works haven’t routinely been published. “I wanted to give students a way not only to compete for these prizes, but also to have a place to showcase the best student writing,” he said.

Students will edit the magazine. “The students are getting experience in publishing, and already they have shown a great deal of imagination, professionalism, sophistication and ambition,” Cronin said.

The inaugural R2 staff will be senior Andrew Dimond, editor in chief; junior Searcy Milam, associate editor; senior Lamar White, prose editor; junior Ann Chou, art design editor; senior Amanda Cahn, business manager; and senior Safieh Nemazee, publicist.

Dimond, an English major who plans to become a writer/editor when he graduates in May, said he has really enjoyed working on the magazine. “I have enormous respect for Justin Cronin and what he’s trying to do to establish a writing program here at Rice,” he said. “I see the R2 magazine as a way to promote a literary culture on campus, and it’s great to be a part of that.”

The magazine will be a four-color, 8-inch by 8-inch perfect-bound book, reported Chou. The cover artist for the premier issue, who won the honor in a competition, is Nicholas Hofstede, a graduate student in architecture.

Cronin said at this point he doesn’t know how often R2 will be published, adding that it may only be one really big issue a year — at least at first. The magazine will be distributed free around campus.