Though not always in the form of a literary magazine, the creative community of Connecticut College has consistently found ways to publish its writing, poetry, and artistic output of all kinds. Yearbooks—called Koiné, for those of us too young to remember that era—in the College’s early years published students’ short stories, poetry, comics, and jokes. In the 1930s, students were also putting out the Connecticut College Quarterly. Decades later, an influx of print media produced the aptly named Connecticut College Literary Magazine for a few years in the 1970s, a publication called Fragments a bit later, The Gallery across the 1980s, and the also-aptly-named Connecticut College Literary Journal in between. These are just the publications we still have copies of—there’s no doubt that students have always found ways to share our writing and art with each other, no matter what we’ve called it, or how many copies remain.
One of the first meetings I ever attended at the College, in fact, was an interest meeting for the literary magazine Cadenza—though soon after, the club stopped operating. Luckily for all of us– writers, readers, or not– a team of students, led by Editor in Chief Anna Wong ‘27, are bringing the magazine back.
“I don’t know too much about [the previous Cadenza Literary Magazine] – I saw it at my first year involvement fair, and I believe they went inactive after that, but I would’ve loved to be a part of it,” said Wong, commenting on the history behind their re-founding. “We wanted to create a space like that, and building off of their legacy and connecting with that history seemed like a perfect place to start.”
Last fall, Wong, along with two other English majors, Eliza Brennan ‘27 and Kelli Woodworth ‘27, who are abroad this semester, initiated the process of bringing the club back, with Lara Ehrlich, Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Writer in Residence. This year, their Executive Board, a “rush of creativity,” in Wong’s words, has expanded to eight students: Vice President and Managing Editor Kate Jeffrey ‘26; Nonfiction Editor Dexter Knight-Richard ‘27; Fiction Editor Johannes Van Derbeck ‘27; Visual Arts Editor Hailey Willey ‘29; Treasurer Lucy Thill ‘28; Poetry Editor Maya Daly ‘27; Art and Layout Director Taylor Mastrogiovanni ‘28; and Publicity and Events Coordinator Chloe Davidson ‘28.
“It’s been something we’ve wanted to do—there’s such a vibrant, creative community on campus, with no way to showcase that work. There’s the newspaper, and the fashion magazine, but we wanted to create a dedicated space for poetry, short stories, and these different kinds of creativity,” Wong explained, referring to The College Voice, and to Grey Area Magazine, which released its premier issue in 2021. “I really want us to be able to connect students with others’ work– to be able to showcase your own, and appreciate others’ work as well. Everyone who wants their work to be shown deserves to have it shown!”
Their first publication is planned to be digital, with the eventual goal of having a print publication – “a tangible representation of the creative community on campus.” Wong envisions the new, revitalized Cadenza as a “space to help students develop their works and their ideas, to collaborate and share ideas with peers, and to celebrate and nurture creative voices through our editing process.”
Wondering how to get involved? “Follow our Instagram, and sign up on ConnQuest,” Wong affirmed, and highlighted an upcoming interest meeting on February 11. “We’re going to have interest meetings and a submission form – a place for you to work with us to develop your work. The club will be what you want to get out of it – you can come to meetings, and get involved even beyond submitting works.”
In addition to serving as a publication for the literary arts community on campus, Cadenza also serves as a space to bring creative people of all sorts together. Last semester, they hosted a Collage Night in Coffee Closet, and plan to continue to host events throughout the year, on top of their publications and editing process.
As for her personal motivations to bring Cadenza back to campus, Wong said: “I’m more of a reader than a writer – I wanted to make this space to be sort of ‘patron’ for student work, to highlight and platform people… I don’t always consider myself a creative writer, but creative in other aspects. I’m going to do what I’m best at, and do whatever’s in my power so that others can continue their incredible writing work—and I’ll get to read it!”
