The EHS Lit Mag is back for 2023 and excepting submissions until March 31.

English teacher Lindsay Loesche, who’s been running it for the past five years, said students can submit artwork, poems or short stories to the Lit Mag.

“It’s a way to showcase the talent the kids have at the end of the year and kind of give them a place to publish,” Ms. Loesche said.

Sophomore and short story editor Alyssa Ragsdale said the Lit Mag “is a great opportunity,” because everyone has the option to attribute their work or stay anonymous.

“My hope is that [Lit Mag] is a space where students feel safe to share their own work and explore the work of others,” Ragsdale said.

Before COVID-19 hit, the Lit Mag was published as an actual magazine and put together by the kids participating, featuring only writing. At the end of the year, the participants would either hand out the magazines for free or sell them.

When the school went remote, they decided to create an online form of it. Now, they can publish things that they weren’t able to in the physical copies, like artwork.

“…Because things have been a little bit unsure in past years, we’ve done a website that the kids put together,” Ms. Loesche said. “I honestly think it looks great.”

This year’s theme for the magazine is “Restless,” which was chosen by a group of about 12 students on the Lit Mag committee. When the meeting was held, they brainstormed ideas, distinguished their favorite five and voted for the winner.

“The kids kind of wanted something that was showing movement…moving forward rather than looking behind,” Ms. Loesche said. “Our last couple of issues have been much more focused on ‘we made it through’… this is like ‘alright, what do we do next? Where do we go from here?’”

Ragsdale said the committee wanted to leave the topic vague so students could come up with their own interpretations.

“In [keeping the theme vague], we let the creative minds of student run free as they put together whatever is inspired by the word ‘restless,’” she said.

The word “restless” can, to some people, mean “state of change, dissatisfaction/discomfort or sleepless nights,” but she said the committee doesn’t want anyone to feel constricted “by this rough definition of theme.”

“We want it to really be a way for the kids to express themselves,” Ms. Loesche said. “I think that if you’ve got a talent, and you’re just sitting there hiding it, we want to see it.”

The publication will officially be available in May on the “Edwardsville High School Literary Magazine” website.