By Natasha Saar, written April 2023
I’ve been a member of my university’s (Loyola University Maryland) literary magazine, Corridors, for just about two years now. Corridors publishes original student work, including pieces of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, and photography. For years, Forum and Garland, two of Loyola’s student-run literary arts magazines, operated as two separate staffs. While the former solicited, reviewed, and published submissions of nonfiction and art, the latter did the same with fiction and photography. They were joined together as Corridors to even better share the talents and passions of Loyola University writers with the university at large. It’s been a great time sifting through submissions, selecting them, editing them, and just about everything you can think of when you hear the title of editor.
While Corridors Editor-in-Chief Samantha Dickson is not in charge of looking through submissions, she’s in charge of just about everything else. Normally, I can hardly see past her veil of managerial woes, but one interview later that has changed. Now, you, too, can see what a leadership position in a publishing house looks like, even if said publishing house is confined to the university level.
Can you give a quick introduction about you, Corridors, and your role with the literary magazine?
I am a graduating senior at Loyola University, [and] I am majoring in writing and philosophy, and I’m the Editor-in-Chief for Corridors . . . I joined my freshman year.
We actually have two Editors-in-Chief. Grace Perry works with the design, text, and actually puts the final product together—my role is that I take on a more managerial position. I develop a schedule and make sure that the Corridors team is following it, that everything is as punctual as possible, and that all communication channels are open. I also keep a pulse on any potential problems my staff might have to see how I can help out.
Me and Grace [are] also working on choosing staff members for next year, since we’re both going to be graduating.
How long have you been Editor-in-Chief?
I’ve been in my position for two years, but I’ve been with Corridors since I was a freshman. I spent my first two years as a nonfiction editor. At the end of my sophomore year, I applied to be the head of editing fiction/poetry. On our application to be a staff member, we have it set up that you number your preferred positions one to five. On a whim, I put Editor-in-Chief as my number two option. I ended up in that position!
What’s the most difficult part about being Editor-in-Chief?
When I first started, it was the managerial aspect because prior to Corridors I had no experience managing people on any sort of scale. Unfortunately, my predecessor didn’t give me much instruction. It was getting thrown in the deep end.
Since then, I’ve become a lot more confident with—for the lack of a better term—ordering people around. Experience and practice made me a lot more comfortable in my position! At this point, the worst part is the email anxiety.
Which issue of Corridors that you’ve worked on has been your favorite and in what way?
Well, last year [2022] was my first year as EiC, so it was already stressful and a huge learning curve. We had an issue with the printer where we didn’t have the paper type we usually use. We had a big discussion on what the book should look like. Normally we have an off-yellow, sort of white color to have a sort of older look to it. But the printer didn’t have that so we came up with a sort of cityscape for the cover (above), and just leaned into the modern, sleeker feel. It’s my favorite look of a piece I’ve worked on, so I’m happy for the trouble.
How is the current issue of Corridors coming along?
We have our mockup! It just arrived, our next move is to look it over and look out for some more glaring mistakes. Once it looks good, we give the okay to the printer. In two weeks, we’re going to have 300 copies.
Are you a writer yourself? If yes, what are you working on currently?
Like most graduating seniors, my goal is to get a job. Thankfully, Corridors has turned out to be a really great experience and I’m asked a lot of questions from my employers about it. How we set it up is surprisingly similar to indie publishing houses, so it’s been a big help in the process.
In terms of personal work, I am a writer. I’m on-and-off on a bunch of different projects but have been very busy. After graduation I hope that I’ll have some time to put my work out there on a more regular basis.
What do you love most about writing? Where do you find your inspiration?
I love fiction and fantasy especially—I grew up on dragons. So when I talk about fiction, I talk about how it’s a gateway to reality that can safely explore often very tense and difficult situations that we face every day. It lets us face things in a way that doesn't directly feel like we’re facing our problems. So, to me, it’s more than entertainment, even if I approach writing with that in mind.
Who is your favorite writer and why?
This is a hard one! With school, it’s been hard to read or write as much as I would like . . . I’m currently reading Stephen King’s The Stand, as well as Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series. Though the first series that always comes to my mind is Christopher Paolini’s The Inheritance Cycle. It was an establishing force in my love for the fantasy genre.
What do you like about Baltimore?
I didn’t grow up in a big city, so I was really excited when I was coming to school that I was going to have access to one. There’s always something to do here and that’s probably something everyone says, but if I’m looking for something I can always find it. I’ve found park spots I love, natural spots that I like if I need a break . . . there are lots of great spots outside for inspiration.
What are your plans after graduation?
I really enjoyed publishing. I’m not very particular about the medium so I’ve been keeping my options open. I’ve also been dabbling in the news industry, editing and writing articles for a Los Angeles-based company, so I’d also be happy to work in that industry as well. It’s influenced me as a writer a lot.
Thank you, Samantha, for taking the time to talk to Natasha about running Loyola University’s literary magazine Corridors.
Samantha Dickson is a senior at Loyola University Maryland, majoring in philosophy and writing. She’s the Editor-in-Chief of her university’s literary magazine, Corridors, and is currently an intern at MXDWN Entertainment.
Natasha Saar is also a senior at Loyola Maryland University, majoring in English literature with minors in writing and classics. She’s Yellow Arrow Publishing’s spring 2023 publications intern, works on her campus as a resident assistant, and is a genre editor at Corridors.
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