Special to the Logos
Many literary perspectives abound in the 2024 Quirk literary journal released Wednesday, May 8, at a launch party in the Student Engagement Center at the University of the Incarnate Word.
Contributors from across the country appear in both the print and online version of the journal published by the spring Editing and Publishing class in the Department of English, part of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.
The genres in the physical journal include Rising Writers, Creative Non-Fiction, Fiction, and Poetry, while Visual Arts and last year’s Creative Writing October and November contest winners are exclusively online.
The journal’s cover art is by Lauren Holms, a UIW alumni. Holms fuses nature, vibrant greens and pinks, in addition to a frog carrying eggs on its back which together creates an eye-catching ensemble, according to a statement from the class.
Submissions for the journal were taken until March 29. Then the Quirk team went to work reviewing them. The team included Audrey Carranza, Laisha Cervantes, Giovanna Cordova, Zachary Corona, Zoe Falk, Allyson Garcia, Josh Giles, Oliva Gonzales, Alexandra Hernandez, Emily Leaming, Jett Montes, Lauren Ortiz, Shayleigh Pape, Sierra Sanchez, and Maddie Thompson. Natalia Lopez, who took the course last spring, served the group’s mentor and student overseer. Dr. Joshua Robbins, an associate professor of English, taught the class and served as faculty overseer.
The journal – originally called The Thing Itself -- was initially a publication involving San Antonio’s three Catholic colleges -- then-Incarnate Word College, St. Mary’s University, and Our Lady of the Lake University. When the collaboration ended in 1983, the journal, then renamed Expressions, was continued at Incarnate Word by Dr. Jo LeCoeur, now a professor emeritus of English. In 1995, the journal became Quirk and was regarded as “A Journal of Collegiate Inquiry and Debate.”
“There is no particular theme for this journal,” according to a statement from the 2024 class. “However, if a word had to be attributed to this year’s journal it would probably be ‘endurance.’ Whether it was a situation that required true strength that was present in a poem, social and personal hardships ensured by a teenager, going on a mission in a dystopian world, or the resilience of the Quirk team to get the journal published, each situation embodies endurance.”
