PCC Inscape Magazine
​Art, Culture, Criticism & Creative Writing
​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

CLICK TO VIEW THE COVER ARCHIVE

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

Masthead


2019-2020
Special Projects Managing Editor Coco
Assistant Managing Editor Alicia Wilson
Print Issue Editors Kristen Simental, Amanda Ly  
Poetry Editors Alicia Wilson and Sean Ban
Fiction Editor Kristen Simental
Non Fiction Editors Perla Vogel and Karina Diaz
Blog Editors Karina Diaz and Coco
Associate Editors Marvella Vega Victoriano, Shula Aixian Yuan, Karina, Amanda Ly, Perla Vogel,
Interviews and Staff Writers Amanda Ly and Kristen Simental
Social Media Content Editor Coco
Web Editor Sean Ban
Web Issues Associate Editors Marvella Vega Victoriano, Karina Diaz, Coco, Sean Ban, Shula Aixian Yuan
Editor at Large Andrea Vazquez 
Alumni Board Jodie Shull, Amanda Vong, Thomas Price, Adrian Ernesto Cepeda, Kathleen McGovern, 
Printing Eladio Fernandez, PCC Office Services
Feral Parrot Logo Kiyoshi Nakazawa
PCCInscape Logotype & Graphics Consulations Mathew Digges
​
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Writer in Residence Committee  Vanitha Swaminathan, Brian Adler, Emily Fernandez, Shellie Samtani
Visiting Writer Series sponsored by the Pasadena Festival of Women Authors  Kirsten Ogden, Mikage Kuroki
Grant Writers Simona Supekar, Kristin Kaz
Annual Poetry Day Committee Ekaterini Kathy Kottaras, Emily Fernandez
Scholarship Committee Dan Staylor, Kristin Kaz
Inscape Awards Committee Alicia Wilson, Sean Ban, Amanda Ly, Coco, 
Octavia Butler Prize Founding Fellow Rene Aguilar-Weber
Inscape Faculty Advisor Dr. K.E. Ogden  
Dean of English Department Dr. Took Took Thongthiraj

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 Advisor.  This prize can be awarded to any genre and any medium. This is a cash prize.

The Octavia Butler Student Fiction Prize
Awarded to an outstanding short fiction story submitted by students at PCC and selected by the faculty of PCC and guest judge.

Please Donate - we need you now more than ever.
Consider donating to these prizes by sending your checks, made payable to Inscape Magazine - PCC English Department, attention Inscape Magazine Faculty Advisor, C-245, 1570 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 
Past Winners of the Editor's Prize

Editorial Staff

Enroll in ENG 7 - Inscape Magazine Staff to directly contribute to the magazine. You may also contact the current Faculty Advisor in the English Department and arrange to enroll into ENG 20 for 1-unit of Special Projects to work on Inscape Magazine.

CLICK TO VIEW PAST STAFF MEMBERS

Spring 2020
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@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, Johnny Mendoza, Genesis Montalvo, Kirsten Ogden, 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: Jimmy Santiago Baca, Arisa White, Samantha N. Simpson, W. David Hall, Donika Kelley, Shelley Wong, Adrian Ernesto 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! (RIGHT?! That list is INCREDIBLE!)
 
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 a copy 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.