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For the avid reader, flipping through the pages of a new book holds some excitement, especially when the book is filled with their own work, or the work of their friends and fellow classmates.

Every year, the English Division invites students to submit their work to be considered for publication in Inscape, PCC’s literary magazine that is published every spring.

This year’s edition of the magazine, Volume 66, was published in early May and can be purchased in the English Division office and the PCC Bookstore for $5 a piece or in a bundle of three for $10, according to Christopher McCabe, an instructor in the English Division and adviser of Inscape.

“It is another beautiful issue, a wonderful representation of the creative talent and spirit of our students. It’s also an important record of today’s PCC students. Their interests, experiences, even worries are right there in your hands. You can touch and hold it for years to come,” McCabe said.

“For writers, it is great day when they see their work in print. For the editors, they get to shape something that did not exist before. It is months and months of hard work, but when it is published, the editors are thrilled. They can be proud,” McCabe added.

Mary Nurrenbern, a senior editor who worked on Inscape for two years, said that this year’s volume has an artistic feel to it and she is very proud of the finished product.

Nurrenbern, credited as “Shanti,” her artist name, throughout the magazine, said that students get several things out of being published.

“There is a great satisfaction of being published, a feeling of accomplishment. Also, if your future is in being a writer, you have more to add to your portfolio of work,” she said.

“Lastly,” Nurrenbern added, “There is a connection with the reader, a feeling that hopefully someone will enjoy what you have written, that it will make then laugh, think, feel, and that the work you put into it was well received.”

Funded mainly by the English Division and Student Affairs, Inscape is put together and designed entirely by student editors, according to McCabe.

To avoid bias when making selections, the editors are not told the names of the authors of the submitted writings. Besides choosing the stories and poems that go in the magazine, the editors also have to lay out the magazine and choose art and photos to accompany writing selections.

“It is a student publication – written by students, art and photography from students, work selected and edited by students. Sometimes I disagree with the choices, but ultimately I leave it up to the student editors to make the major decisions,” McCabe said.

“But, who cares? I just help us make our deadlines,” he added.

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