A new literary journal is set to be unveiled to showcase the work of English graduate students, who previously did not have the opportunity to publish their work.
Aelurus is the newest literary journal to debut at WSU, designed for graduate students to publish in and work for. It is the brainchild of graduate student Ryan Evans, who had been considering the idea for the last year. Aelurus is now one of four different literary journals at WSU. The rest are Metaphor, Epiphany and Ergo, which are geared mainly toward undergraduate students.
Evans announced the literary journal two weeks ago to a well-receiving audience of English faculty. Evans recalled sitting in a science-fiction writing class with future Aelurus faculty adviser Victoria Ramirez and several other students. During a discussion about the written work they produced as graduate students, Evans asked where their work could be published on campus. Ramirez suggested they start their own journal.
“Think of it — you write a paper for a class, a teacher reads it, end of discussion,” Ramirez said. “What are you going to do with it? You do all those hours of work for your grade, but not for much else. Now, if you’re published, a wider audience gets to read  it. And that would excite me as a writer, as a student, as a scholar.”
Evans talked about how important it is for graduate students to be able to show their work on a nationwide scale. He said it was very important to both their education and their careers that they be able to publish their work — especially because, according to him, master’s degrees are becoming less and less important, and getting published is becoming more and more important. He said Aelurus helps students to do this.
“To get published for an English student is one of the most important parts of being a graduate student,” Evans said, “especially if you want to go on to get a Ph.D.”
Juliana Lund is another graduate student who became involved with Aelurus after participating in the class discussion with Evans and Ramirez. She is now the assistant editor and primarily in charge of the Aelurus website. She talked about the other benefits for graduate students like herself that come with working on publishing the magazine.
“I think it will be good for staff members to get involved in the publishing side of things,” Lund said.
As of right now, Aelurus has a staff of about 15 students. Ramirez commented on the benefits of working for the magazine, and not just getting published in it.
“For those people working on a journal, Aelurus, what great opportunities for professionalization,” Ramirez said. “They’re getting on-the-job training, and they’re just a joy to work with; I’ve been working with them.”
The first edition of Aelurus is expected to come out in the spring of 2012. The likelihood of it being debuted in print form currently depends upon whether or not it can receive funding. If it cannot receive enough funding, then it will be published and available for anyone to read online.
For more information on Aelurus, students may visit their website: www.weber.edu/aelurus.