The Texas Wesleyan literary magazine “Aries” is publishing their first magazine in 10 years. Revived by two creative writing classes, entries are read, selected and edited by students. The advanced creative writing students will be making the final decisions.
English and creative writing instructor Dr. Gina Warren said, “It’s this cool collaborative effort between the two classes–I’m mostly facilitating and helping the students figure out how to run a magazine.”
Russell Bowman, a third year criminal justice major in the advanced creative writing class, said that he and his classmates are each focusing on a different area of writing when it comes to judging submissions. “I’m part of the poetry aspect,” he said. Bowman also hopes to contribute his own pieces to the magazine.
Ashton Williams, a physical education major and fourth year in the advanced creative writing class, is also looking forward to working on the magazine further. “So far we’ve got to promote it on social media and send out an email with the details to students,” she said. “It’ll be a fun process when it gets going.”
Dr. Price McMurray, associate professor of language & literature, had been previously involved with “Aries” for many years.“Originally [“Aries”] started in-house, but over the years it got to the point where… all the contributors were off-campus,” he said. “What we’re really trying to do here is to bring it back and to make it more of a community publication. And I think linking it up with the creative writing faculty should really help with that.”
Warren is encouraging all student writers to submit. “Being on campus and having the opportunity to share your creative work can build a sense of community around writing, which is oftentimes so solitary,” she said.

“I’m optimistic about it,” McMurray said. “I think we’re going back to something more manageable and also more relevant to students.”

Students and faculty wishing to submit to “Aries” should email their submissions to [email protected] by March 19. Student submissions made before March 11 will be considered for the Emerging Writers contest, which offers prizes up to $100. A maximum of three poems, 2000 words of fiction, or 2000 words of nonfiction are accepted per submission, and submissions should be double-spaced and in 12 point, Times New Roman font. Entries will be selected no later than the beginning of April. Dr. Warren is available to answer any questions about the submission process at [email protected].