Lumen unveiling to take place April 19

Anthony Miller, Staff writer

The unveiling of Lumen will occur April 19 at 8 p.m. in Taylor Little Theater.
Lumen is the student literary and fine arts magazine that is run almost entirely by the student body of Mercyhurst.
Marnie Sullivan, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and one of the faculty members behind Lumen, emphasized how much students have to do with the creation of Lumen.
“Lumen is entirely student run,” she said. “All of the creative writing and art is done by students, a student editorial board judges what goes into Lumen, the editing is done by students, and the design is done by the students.”
Lumen is an excellent opportunity for students to show off their artistic abilities, no matter what discipline they come from.
Sullivan said, “It really does represent all the fine arts created by our students.”
One misconception many students have about Lumen is that you have to be an English major to contribute, but Sullivan says that is not true.
“I’m afraid a lot of students think Lumen is just for English majors,” Sullivan said. “It’s not, anyone can be an editor and any student can submit their work.”
Submissions for next year’s Lumen can be sent to lumen@mercyhurst.edu.
The deadline for next year’s edition of Lumen will likely be toward the end of the fall semester, so students will have plenty of time to work on their art.
Another part of the Lumen unveiling is the P. Barry McAndrew Writing Awards.
The awards are presented to the three best submissions of creative writing and the best critical essay on literature.
The winners of the award receive prizes.
The winner of the literary essay contest wins a $200 dollar prize.
The unveiling of the 2018 edition of Lumen will be followed by the presentation of the P. Barry McAndrew Writing Awards and a poetry reading.
The Lumen staff has plans for the future of Lumen.
Going forward, the staff behind Lumen wants to publish short Lumen ’zines throughout the year to help promote the main Lumen.
One of these mini ’zines was released in the Fall.
Sullivan said that releasing more mini ’zines is definitely on the table.
She said, “The Lumen editors are highly interested in doing more smaller Lumen ’zines throughout the year.”