The Kudzu Review celebrates students' creativity and dedication with a night of literary readings, fundraising, and community

The creative team of The Kudzu Review has an extra incentive to celebrate the end of the Fall 2022 semester.

After months of dedicating their time and effort to review and edit more than 170 submissions, the journal is hosting a night of readings from contributors who are published in the current issue. The party doubles as a fundraiser, as the staff welcomes people to The Bark on Thursday, Dec. 1. The event begins at 7 p.m.

“As Issue No. 69 is the first issue I have been editor in chief for with The Kudzu Review, this issue is especially exciting for me,” Madeline Paskow says. “The masthead is composed of entirely new editors, so we have all had a great learning experience this semester.”

The journal is Florida State University’s undergraduate publication of literature and art and is published biannually, featuring work from undergraduate creatives across the country. Paskow is a senior English-Creative Writing major, and she has previously worked as an editorial assistant for the nonfiction team. This is her first semester as editor in chief.

“To see the fruits of our labor turn out so beautifully is rewarding and so special to me,” she says.

Paskow explains that the journal is a combination of teams—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and visual art—that met regularly throughout the semester to share opinions and feedback on work submitted to each section.

“Each section has a hard-working, knowledgeable, and passionate editor who guides the team,” Paskow says. “The managing editor, Thomas Hart, is responsible for most of the administrative and organizational work at Kudzu, and he has worked incredibly hard this semester to find efficient ways of overcoming the challenges that come with being a student-run magazine.”

The social media team has worked to create promotions for the magazine and engage with FSU students as well as the broader writing community. The layout team had what Paskow refers to as “the daunting task” of designing both the print and digital magazine, which she adds is “visually appealing and an art form in itself.”

English department doctoral candidate in Creative Writing-Fiction Bridget Adams is the faculty advisor to The Kudzu Review. She admires how devoted and invested the editorial staff is to creating an exceptional publication.

“The culture of the magazine means that work that is complex and unique is consistently chosen for publication,” Adams says. “From choosing work to publish to designing the journal to promoting it on social media, The Kudzu Review is entirely student-run, and Issue 69 again showcases the talent of our undergraduates.”

The fundraising aspect of the evening at The Bark includes items to purchase, including $5 zodiac books and baked goods. A silent auction will be held to win a gift basket from a local business.

The most rewarding component of publishing undergraduate students' work is getting to celebrate emerging talent—the people who are just beginning their journey of sharing their work.

— Madeline Paskow

Paskow is looking forward to the entire evening to cap off the journal’s outstanding accomplishments, especially hearing the contributors' share their work with those in attendance.

“The most rewarding component of publishing undergraduate students' work is getting to celebrate emerging talent—the people who are just beginning their journey of sharing their work,” she says.

Adams appreciates Paskow’s “tireless and creative” leadership for the journal.

“She's spent a lot of time coming up with ways to expand The Kudzu Review and put together an exciting new issue,” Adams adds. “Under her leadership, we are publishing interesting work, creating new funding streams, and engaging more and more undergraduates in participating in The Kudzu Review, whether as editorial staff or contributors.”

Paskow oversees the journal's community functions, Adams says, coordinating the semester’s events with the help of the journal's staff, including the Dec. 1 fundraiser.

“Because of her hard work, we will again be fortunate enough to publish a print issue,” she says. “Working with Madeline is a dream; her dedication is inspiring.”

By closing out the semester with a celebration of the journal's accomplishments and release of the most recent issue, Paskow is already looking forward to The Kudzu Review’s next successful publication of undergraduates’ works.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve as editor in chief and very excited about our spring print issue,” she says.

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