Foreword from the Editors (2017)

November 2017

Dear Friends of MORIA,

My name is Adelaide Ghisolfi, and I'm the Editor-in-Chief of MORIA, Woodbury University’s student-run, online, literary magazine for professional poets and writers. I'm writing today — as we publish our first of what we hope will be many issues — to thank all of the people who were involved in this project and to acknowledge the incredible experience that this was.

This issue of the magazine is organized loosely into several themes, which you will perhaps sense as a narrative arc should you choose to read the issue in order from front-to-back. For instance, fairytales seem to be having some sort of moment because we received quite a few submissions based on Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and other (more personal) imaginary contexts. Despite these thematic groupings, the issue also encourages you to read in a non-linear way, as each piece exists as a separate post, with an accompanying photograph, which allows readers to access the magazine at any point in its progression and “read around” as you wish.

We are also very proud of the magazine’s commitment to diversity in its postings. Out of the 55 total pieces we’ve published in this issue, 73% were by women and 24% by writers-of-color, traditionally underrepresented groups in the publishing world. Our overall acceptance rate for this issue was 28% of the total pieces submitted to us. We should also mention that we published pieces from writers ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s (and every decade in between) — another sort of commitment to representation that isn't widely reported or discussed in the literary publishing world.

We want to thank all the poets and writers for their support and availability — we are excited for the issue we put together. To the University administration, the librarians, the faculty, and the members of the Writing Department in particular, for their help and support during the creation process, many thanks. I also want to personally thank our Faculty Editor, Linda Dove, for the great support, help, and long hours she dedicated to us. Last but not least, the rest of the staff here at the magazine, for their effort and devotedness. This class wasn't just any other writing class, although we did indeed turn in essays and poems to practice the same sort of work we would be reviewing and editing from the professionals. When it came to the magazine itself, we were able to really experience aspects of the publishing business as we learned about editing and producing the content for the website and managing the entire project, including the reading series.

On behalf of the entire editorial staff of the magazine, we hope you will enjoy this issue and can't wait to share a new one with you as we look ahead to the future. Our student staff will change with each issue, but our commitment to the work will not.

Best regards,

Adelaide Ghisolfi, Editor-in-Chief, MORIA

MASTHEAD (MORIA, Issue One, 2017)

Editor-in-Chief Adelaide Ghisolfi
Managing Editor Tania Sislian
Program Manager Devin Hendricks
Design / Production Editor Tricia Lopez
Submissions Editor Alyssa Pieprzyca

Faculty Editor Linda Dove, Ph.D.

Photo Credit: Staff