The English Language and Literature Studies (ELLS) programme released their own English magazine called ‘Elsewhere’ on 12 November. It took ten months to prepare this magazine before it debuted.
The debut issue of 'Elsewhere'
The idea of ‘Elsewhere’ originally came from ELLS’s previous C-Magazine, which was founded four years ago, as well as showcasing ELLS students’ achievements and skills.
From collecting the works, to editing, designing and finally marketing, the magazine ‘Elsewhere’ had been prepared by students. The launch party was also organised and held by students from ELLS.
Year 4 CELL student, Li Yifan, addressed to explain that “Else” is a homophone of “ELLS”, which suggests that ‘Elsewhere’ is a magazine edited and published by the ELLS programme. This magazine consists of four sections, including academic writings and reviews, photos taken by student photographers, and examples of creative writing including plays and short stories. The recommendation section of the magazine contains short pieces written by editors to recommend books, music and films, as well as TV series.
Programme Director of ELLS, Dr Edith Yan
More than 100 students and staff members attended the launch party in the Staff and Student Activities Centre (SSAC). Dean of DHSS Prof Mei-hwa Sung, Programme Director of ELLS Dr Edith Yan, and the instructor of ‘Elsewhere’ as well as Assistant Professor Dr Heather Duncan, gave speeches to appreciate the amazing work students had put into Elsewhere.
DHSS Assistant Professor, Dr Heather Duncan
DHSS Teaching Assistant Gao Yixuan, a comparative literature major graduate of University College London and a graduate of the 2017 UIC's CELL programme, shared her experiences as an editor of C-Magazine. She suggested students in the English language field should read and write more.
When asked about the biggest trouble they had faced, Dr Duncan and student editors all mentioned the challenge of budgeting during the printing process. For the first time, the magazine was printed in full colour since students had sought sponsorships to support better printing. They also shared a story behind the copyright issue using an example of a photographer that offered his works for free after finding out that the magazine was created by students.
Dr Duncan said “I am so proud of the first issue of ‘Elsewhere’. Our students have gone above and beyond to produce a magazine that showcases the best of what we do in the ELLS programme. This is the first time we've produced this magazine as part of the Editing and Publishing Practicum, and so we were all a little uncertain about how it would work and how successful we'd be. I am so impressed with the ownership our students took of this project and the amount of extra time and effort they put into it. When you turn the pages of ‘Elsewhere’, the care and love they put into it really shows.”
Year 3 ELLS student Bao Zhifei bought a magazine after the launch party. A short story review written by her was selected and published in this issue of ‘Elsewhere’. She said it was a great opportunity for her to share her writing and learn from her peers with ‘Elsewhere’ magazine. Zhifei also shared that she will take the same publication courses as the editors of this magazine next year. Reading her peers’ writings and looking at the designs of the magazine would help her perform better in this course.
‘Elsewhere’ has been on sale since launching. Readers can purchase them on Tuesday and Wednesday in front of the Learning Resource Centre. Back issues of C-Magazine are also available at a favourable price. For alumni who have graduated and would like to order, the magazine is available through ELLS’s official WeChat account.
Reporter: Wen Yuchen (ELLS, Y3)
Photographer: Liang Jianhao (IJ, Y4)
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He, Marissa Furney, Étienne Fermie
(from MPRO)
