LESSONS LEARNED
Thinking Outside the Box By Drew Gieseke | Photos courtesy of OLM
O
utside Literary Magazine is a local publication that cultivates and celebrates artistic talents in the local community. It’s almost entirely run and consists of work by high school students in the Saint Louis Public Schools district. The idea for OLM came from a conversation between Lizzy Petersen, former managing editor of St. Louis’ River Styx literary magazine, and M.K. Stallings, director of that city’s UrbArts youthoriented nonprofit. Stallings wanted to nurture and develop writers for the VerbQuake spokenword program and recognized that schools needed a way to support students who hadn’t yet competed – and Petersen agreed. Their solution? A student-run publication that helps kids adapt their work for the page. Six years after its founding at Central VPA High School, an SLPS magnet school, OLM has become a force for creativity in the community and has inspired and published more than 100 high school students throughout the area. Petersen assists in leading the way as the program’s director. “My role is to help support the vision of the student editors and contributors,” she says. Available both in print and online at OutsideLitMag.com, the publication is shaped and led by student editors. OLM accepts writing and art in various forms submitted by students across the district, including everything from essays to fiction to poetry. In 2022, it even began accepting short videos, recorded performances and musical pieces. No matter what types of art are featured, the program always puts students first with a creativedevelopment process that follows professional magazine production. “In the first half of the year, we develop a shared vision for that year’s magazine [by] looking at a wide variety of literary magazines – local and national, [do-it-yourself] and established,
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| LadueNews.com
Program Stats OLM has published 111 students and trained 25 editors since its launch. Each issue attracts more than 1,000 readers. Amid the pandemic, OLM has reached 2,290 readers, and 82 creatives have participated.
online and print,” Petersen explains. “From there, I support them as they develop the submission guidelines, develop a communications plan and create marketing materials. I answer questions, help them navigate difficult decisions and support the execution of their vision.” Traditionally, the program is held after school with alternating writing workshops open to all students and editorial meetings for editors, who have applied for their staff positions. COVID-19 caused some disruption with the after-school program, so the team at CVPA introduced a contributing editor program that engaged students in the school’s creative writing class. Since its founding in 2016, the program has
grown and expanded to meet the needs of the students and their audience. Helping to make this possible is outside funding through donations from the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, The Saigh Foundation, Wells Fargo, the Will Flores Fund and many individual donors. This generosity and the work of Petersen and other adult collaborators have made the program a resounding success for the students who participate. “Outside Lit Mag has been a defining part of my young adulthood,” says Leah Williams, who was managing editor of the publication from 2017 to 2021. “OLM has continuously brought me closer to the art and writing community in St. Louis and beyond.”
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Outside Literary Magazine, outsidelitmag.com
