SUMMER 2010

Walnut Hill literary magazine attracts worldwide submissions

The mission of The Blue Pencil Online, a literary magazine published by high school students in the Writing & Publishing program at Walnut Hill School for the Arts (Massachusetts), is appropriately grand: “The magazine seeks to publish the best of literary work in English by young writers (12–18) around the world.”

And why not? With print archives dating back to 1927, the online version breathes new life into a Walnut Hill tradition that can now expand its literary community worldwide.

Alan Reeder, head of the Writing & Publishing program, built the online literary journal last year, with the help of a web-savvy partner. “Our students are learning on so many levels through the running of the magazine,” he says.

Through The Blue Pencil Online, the students consider, argue over, accept, reject, edit, copyedit, and publish the work of other young writers (ages 12–18) from around the world. The magazine receives 150–200 submissions every month, from every state in the U.S. and from many countries as well — including China, Turkey, Romania, and Korea. The students respond to every submitted piece.

The goal is to build an active, invested, community of young writers with The Blue Pencil Online as the hub. For Reeder, the pedagogical value of this work is tremendous — in expanding literary sensibilities, encouraging careful reading and interpretation, promoting imaginative editorial vision, sharpening grammatical understandings, and developing a shared, “real-world” sense of responsibility for the creative efforts of others.

The Blue Pencil Online includes some fresh dimensions to literary publishing, with features that include “Out Loud!,” in which students can recite their work so others may listen, “Pencil Shavings,” a collective, interactive writing effort, and “A Good Read,” aimed at showing the reading writer at work.

To read The Blue Pencil Online, visit: www.thebluepencil.net.