Submissions are now open for Songs of Survival, the first edition of our literary journal. I sat down (virtually) for an interview with the Vision Chair, Alyssa Henderson, to get the scoop on all things lit journal!
L: Hi Alyssa!
A: Hi!
L: To start us off, tell me a little bit about yourself. Who are you and how did you get involved with Survivors?
A: My name is Alyssa Henderson! I actually heard about Survivors to Superheroes through a friend–Leah Pachkowski, the [board] secretary. She’s a high school friend from my hometown. I just recently graduated from UC Davis–I’m out in California right now–where I majored in English and Film.
I was talking with Leah about how I’ve been having some trouble finding work right now, and she was like, “I’m a part of this really cool organization and they’re working on a literary journal, which seems right up your alley.” And it totally is! I thought it was so cool, and then after hearing about the mission statement and everything this organization stands for, I was like, “This is awesome. I just want to get straight into this.”
L: Nice! What drew you to the literary journal?
A: As a part of my studies as an English major, I did an emphasis in creative writing. Writing has always been something that I’ve been super passionate about. I feel like it’s probably the best way for me to express myself and work out emotions and stuff like that. While I was at Davis, I actually helped work on an on-campus literary journal. It was mostly just reading through submissions and stuff like that, but I love reading what other people have written and contributing to it.
L: So how has it been, working on the lit journal so far?
A: It’s been really exciting, to tell you the truth! Our team is full of really enthusiastic people who are working really hard to get this going. I mean, it’s such a cool idea to just encourage people to submit stuff that they can use as a part of the healing process. One of our big goals is to empower survivors and their family and loved ones, so it’s a great way to let them tell their stories.
L: Absolutely. I love the idea of that–using art to heal and tell your story. Going off of that; who can submit to the lit journal?
A: We can only accept submissions from people who are 18 years or older, just for legal reasons. But we’re accepting submissions of writing, art, and photography both from survivors and their family and loved ones.
L: Oh, that’s awesome!
A: Yeah, it’s really exciting to have that combination of voices and perspectives. The one thing we are saying within our submission guidelines, though, is that with our first literary journal, we’re focusing on a theme of survival. And so, for survivors, we’re letting it be a more abstract perception of that concept–so they have more room to work with it. But with family members and loved ones, we’re encouraging them to stick as closely as they can to the theme of survival.
L: Gotcha! I think that’s a great idea too; letting survivors have free reign over what they want to say and how they want to share their experiences. So, tell me: what is the title of the literary journal?
A: We’ve been working on this one for a while! There’s been a lot of ideas that were tossed around, but we settled on Songs of Survival.
L: What brought you guys to choosing that title? Because you said there were a LOT of different options.
A: We originally–this is actually before I officially joined the team, so I came in kind of in the middle of this conversation–but originally, our plan was to call the lit journal Chrysalis. Kind of on-brand with the imagery of the butterfly that’s in the main logo! We were all super excited about it, but then it turned out that there’s another lit journal that’s already called that.
L: Oh no!
A: Yeah. So we were like, “Okay, we need to rework this, let’s go back to workshopping different ideas.” In the end, it was actually Jamie who came up with Songs of Survival. It fits; playing into that same theme of using art to heal in terms of survival.
L: What is your big dream goal for this lit journal?
A: I mean, I think it would be incredible to keep this as an ongoing thing. But it’s great just having that accessibility to people who are looking for it. Because I know one of the things that I was drawn to with this organization is the fact that there really aren’t that many resources out there for survivors, aside from like, legal documents. So I feel like if this were to have a reasonably sized audience (I would like to dream of a big audience!), it could bring people together as a community and encourage them to share their stories and grow together.
L: For my last question: what would you say to people who are considering submitting but aren’t sure?
A: I would say: just go ahead and do it! I like to boast we’re different from other literary journals in that we’re doing rolling submissions, and we’re really driven to get as many people into our publication as we can. So we’re not doing the whole, “We only accept 5% of submissions” thing or something crazy like that. We want to have people’s voices amplified. So we’re really encouraging people!
Plus, I just think it’s helpful. Speaking from personal experience, writing lets you work through emotions and come to terms with things, and just pour the thoughts inside your head onto the page. Writing is something that can bring people together, which is really important.
L: Absolutely. Before I let you go, is there anything else that you’d desperately like to tell me about the lit journal, that we didn’t get to talk about?
A: There should be social media posts and updated information on the Survivors to Superheroes website very soon! That should have the link to the submission form and more information.
Alyssa Henderson
My name is Alyssa, and I’m a graduate from the University of California, Davis with a degree in English and film, currently working in the tech industry. When I first learned about Survivors to Superheroes, I was instantly touched by its goals to educate, support, and empower survivors because, unfortunately, there aren’t as many safe and helpful resources for young survivors online as there should be. Writing has guided me through challenging times and, with our literary journal, I’m especially excited to help cultivate a space where survivors and their loved ones can creatively express themselves through art and literature as a part of their healing process. In my spare time, you can find me cheering on the San Jose Sharks, attempting to play the bass guitar, and relaxing at the beach.
