NIC’s annual literary magazine, Trestle Creek Review (TCR), is currently accepting submissions for its 35th edition until midnight on Sunday.
“I have always felt grateful and excited that the editorial staff has found my work interesting and wanted to publish it,” said Erin Davis, an English professor at NIC whose work, “Pandemic Walk,” was published in the No. 34 edition of TCR. “It’s particularly meaningful to me that TCR is student-driven and that NIC can boast of having such a high-quality literary magazine.”
TCR is a student-published literary magazine where students work under the direction of student editors, as well as the class editorial advisor, Jonathan Frey.
“My favorite part of being an editor for Trestle Creek was the sheer amount of material I got to see,” said Hannah Raschke, 19, an NIC alumna and former fiction editor for TCR in spring 2019. “Everything from short poems to longer essays and photography was given a chance and a discussion.”
The class reviews submissions received year-round during the spring semester and publishes a new edition in May most years, with the exception of 2020, when it was released in September as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the college to cancel and postpone events.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Gray Pocius, 19, a student head editor for TCR studying secondary English education. “Last spring through us through a loop. We had to transition completely online and that impacted the flow of editing, but we still managed to put out a magazine that we were proud of. I think we’ll be able to do the same this spring, regardless of what happens.”
Students, faculty, staff and alumni of NIC, as well as any resident of the Inland Northwest, are encouraged to submit their work. Submission must be made electronically in any genre of literary or creative work, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction and black-and-white artwork.
“As a head editor, I have a more intimate experience with the magazine and I get to curate what the collection looks like,” said Pocius, who said he is hoping to become a high school English teacher. “It’s a really neat opportunity.”
Submissions for TCR can be sent via email to tcr@nic.edu. Click here for more information on specific submission guidelines.
“I love that TCR receives submissions from writers, poets, and artists from all over the Inland Northwest, setting students, amateurs, and professionals with a long list of published work all together into a unique magazine every single year,” said Rashke, who is getting ready to graduate from Western Washington University in June with her B.A. in English Literature.
TCR can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
“I enjoy literary arts because they allow us to connect with the personal and the universal elements of human experience simultaneously,” Davis said. “When we open ourselves up to a new story, poem or essay, we open ourselves up to new perspectives that can help us understand ourselves and others in different ways — all while being entertained at the same time.”
Copies of Trestle Creek Review No. 34 can be found in the following locations in CdA: North Idaho College (at the Cardinal Card Office, in the SUB and in Molstead Library), The Well-Read Moose, The Art Spirit Gallery, The Long Ear, Calypsos Coffee and the Cd’A Public Library.