Co-founder and editor-in-chief of arts-and-literature magazine, Octarine
While at university, I co-founded Octarine magazine alongside Harry Menear, Amber Donovan-Stevens, Georgina Pearsall, and Roman Gabriel. Octarine is a limited run magazine of themed issues that connected written submissions with artwork made by its art team. I worked at Octarine all three years of university, moving from a Managing Editor role for the first two issues to an Editor-in-Chief role for the final four. I also participated on a joint project between Octarine and campus publishing society, Eggbox titled Prompt. Prompt requested visual submissions from students, then asked for written responses to these, publishing them side by side.
I was also published several times in Octarine, including Octarine 1: Passion, Octarine 2: Utopia and Dystopia, Octarine 3: Horror, Octarine, 4: Pride, Octarine 6: Revolution, and Prompt. I was awarded Editor's Choice for her submission to Octarine 1: Passion, a short story titled, "Excerpts" (based on anonymous submissions, by the way).
Excerpt from "Keith Goes to the 7-11" in Octarine 2: Utopia and Dystopia
"The Sun threw shards of heat on his shoulders. He considered cracking open one of the six now, but decided against it. He still had to walk past the religious supermarket and the family’s apartment was above it. He didn’t know why exactly, but he felt there was something inherently wrong about drinking on the Sabbath in front of people to whom the Sabbath actually meant something. But his throat was beginning to crack and he daydreamed about the hiss of the can top.
When he got home, he used the same Swiss army knife key chain to open the peaches. He considered just eating them with his hands; the sweet smell set off his hunger in loud pangs. That felt too uncivilized, he decided, as he got the spoon out from the sink. He stuck the beer in the fridge. His thirst had gone away, replaced by hunger. He could save them for later."
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