Inscape Magazine
Art, Culture, Criticism & Literature at Pasadena City College
Our Credo
The universe, according to poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, is made up of "inscape." Inscape is the unique inner nature of every thing & every person: the eclectic, the human, the becoming, & the unexpected -- a compost of imagination & inquiry. We are ecclectic & eschew branding. We change with each semester, as our magazine is imagined, created, designed, & developed by a unique staff-collaborative made up of volunteers, students who enroll in ENG 20 - Independent Special Projects, & students who enroll in the English 7: Inscape Magazine Production class. We welcome collaboration with other artists on campus & off campus, & we seek only to celebrate the power of language & the importance of art & play in today's world.
About Inscape Magazine
Inscape is Pasadena City College's, student-run, literary journal. The magazine has been in continuous printing since 1943, when it was formerly known as Pipes of Pan (Vol 1-29) hand-typed and hand-lettered by PCC students. The magazine is archived at the Pasadena City College Shatford Library. Inscape publishes at least 1 print issue per year, and pending funding and your generous donations, we also publish "Specialty" publications such as folios, chapbooks, online issues, and more throughout the year. We encourage you to support our cause -- the development of new readers for contemporary literature, and the education of our students who recieve hands-on experience in editing and publishing.
The magazine's primary goal is to support student learning about the literary publishing industry, and to celebrate literature. PCC students learn how to write for, design, market, and publish the magazine and its specialty publications. The themes and projects are dependent upon the individual interests and talents of each unique group of staff members. Students have opportunity to learn how to conduct interviews with some of the most celebrated contemporary writers in the nation, and they learn how to write and edit content for the blog, the magazine, and social media. Students learn to examine and develop markers and criteria for high caliber work from the Pasadena City College community and beyond. Developing a love for reading and for literature and art is a primary goal. Understanding the power of language to change the world is a primary learning outcome.
Submissions for the main PRINT issue are exclusively open to people directly associated with PCC, such as students, faculty, classified staff and alumni. Special projects (like chapbooks, broadsides, online issues, etc.) are open to everyone. Please see our call for submissions and themed projects and issues through Submittable.
Submissions for our ONLINE issue and SPECIALTY PRINT PROJECTS including blog posts, hybrid work, uncategorized work, fiction, literary/creative non-fiction, critical review and literary analysis, poetry, photography, and visual art, is open to everyone.
Inscape's aesthetic fluctuates and molds to the taste of the current semester staff, marking Inscape as a relevant and unique projection of Pasadena City College's community, and of creators from around the world.
We accept submissions mostly year-round, but please note that because we are rooted at an academic institution, submissions sent in December, January, July, and August may take a little longer for us to get to. We appreciate your patience and kindness.
Past Faculty Editors Include:
Jane Hallinger, Manny Perea, Chris McCabe, K.E.Ogden
Awards
Thanks to generous donations from Faculty, Classified Staff, Administrators, Alumni, and Readers like you, we are able to offer the following awards:
The Handley Creative Writing Scholarship Award
Awarded to 1 or more current PCC students each spring who have published work in an issue of Inscape Magazine during that academic year. The Editorial Staff reads through and develops a list of finalists, and the Creative Writing Faculty at Pasadena City College selects the winning entries. This is a cash prize.
Past Winners of the Handley Award:
The Inscape Magazine Editor's Prize
Pending funding, the Editor's Prize is awarded to the best submission published in an issue of Inscape Magazine in the current Academic Year. Students select the award winners in consultation with the Faculty Adviser. This prize can be awarded to any genre and any medium. This is a cash prize.
Consider donating to these prizes by sending your checks, made payable to Inscape Magazine - PCC English Department, attention Inscape Magazine Faculty Adviser, C-245, 1570 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA
The Handley Creative Writing Scholarship Award
Awarded to 1 or more current PCC students each spring who have published work in an issue of Inscape Magazine during that academic year. The Editorial Staff reads through and develops a list of finalists, and the Creative Writing Faculty at Pasadena City College selects the winning entries. This is a cash prize.
Past Winners of the Handley Award:
The Inscape Magazine Editor's Prize
Pending funding, the Editor's Prize is awarded to the best submission published in an issue of Inscape Magazine in the current Academic Year. Students select the award winners in consultation with the Faculty Adviser. This prize can be awarded to any genre and any medium. This is a cash prize.
Consider donating to these prizes by sending your checks, made payable to Inscape Magazine - PCC English Department, attention Inscape Magazine Faculty Adviser, C-245, 1570 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA
Editorial Staff
Enroll in ENG 7 - Inscape Magazine Staff to directly contribute to the magazine. You may also contact the current Faculty Adviser in the English Department and arrange to enroll into ENG 20 for 1-unit of Special Projects to work on Inscape Magazine.
PAST STAFF MEMBERS
Fall 2019
Summer 2019
Spring 2019
Fall 2018
Fall 2017
PAST STAFF MEMBERS
Fall 2019
Summer 2019
Spring 2019
Fall 2018
Fall 2017
ATTENTION ALUMNI
If you are an alumni of PCC English courses, Creative Writing courses, or Inscape Staff, we want YOU! We are in the process of setting up an Alumni page on the PCC Inscape site and we are also looking for Alumni interested in serving on the PCC Inscape Editorial Board.
Please email us at pccinscape(at)gmail.com with your photo, a brief bio in 3rd person that includes your PCC experience, and what you're up to now. Feel free to include your personal website and/or links to publications. Please also let us know if you are interested in being on the Editorial Board as an Emissary, an Editor-at-Large, or a Contributing Editor.
Thank you.
Please email us at pccinscape(at)gmail.com with your photo, a brief bio in 3rd person that includes your PCC experience, and what you're up to now. Feel free to include your personal website and/or links to publications. Please also let us know if you are interested in being on the Editorial Board as an Emissary, an Editor-at-Large, or a Contributing Editor.
Thank you.
The Creative Writing Program at Pasadena City College
The Creative Writing program at Pasadena City College is a hidden secret no more! Enroll in Creative Writing classes taught by award-winning Creative Writing Faculty, including Brian Adler, Akilah Brown, Emily Fernandez, Brian Kennedy, E. Kathy Kottaras, Kirsten Ogden, Manuel Perea, Elsie Rivas-Gomez, and more! Our Creative Writing program boasts an outstanding Writer-in-Residence program each Fall funded with a generous partnership with the Pasadena Festival of Women Authors, and a top-rate Visiting Writer's Series co-funded by the Student Services Fund and your generous donations. Past visiting writers include: Adrian Cepeda, Mike "The Poet" Sonksen, Genevieve Kaplan, Sean Bernard, Steph Cha, Morgan Parker, Natasha Deon, Angela Morris, Devi S. Laskar, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Cory "Bess Kepp" Cofer, Dan Kwong, Brandon Cesmat, Javier Zamora, Mel Donalson, Urith Walker, Luivette Resto, Brian Turner, and more!
Disclaimer: The content and ideas of Inscape reflect the editorial taste of the student staff and the views and ideas of the individual authors and artists. The magazine and its content is not meant to reflect the views or ideas of Pasadena City College or the PCC Board of Trustees. All rights remain with the authors and artists. Inscape reserves the right to reprint in anthology or for promotional purposes the content accepted for publication. Our staff is also open to providing editing suggestions for writers's works that will be considered for publication in the magazine. Inscape is a non-profit, educational magazine and authors and artists are not paid for their work. However, authors and artists published in the print magazine receive 2 copies of the print magazine when provided with an SASE, or they can pick up a copy in the English Department, C245 at Pasadena City College.
