Vol. 68 | Call For Submissions

Spectrum Literary Journal is currently open for submissions. For volume 68, we will be navigating the artistry in embracing failure. 

Spectrum is a national journal of art and literature that is annually published by UCSB’s College of Creative studies. The publication was founded in 1957, marking it as one of the oldest literary journals in the UC system. Through a broad range of genres and subject-matters, Spectrum aims to showcase both the scope and depth of human experience.

As writers, we are not only acclimated with the art of failure, but we might also consider it to be an integral part of our creative process. Parsing through internal blockages, receiving criticism, crafting revisions, liberally wielding the delete button, and starting over. Because we know what it means to fail, we are able to reconstruct our words in order to convey meaningful sentiments and narratives. There is immense beauty in welcoming the state of being wrong — and learning from it. Consider the following excerpt from Robert Hass’ poem, “Faint Music”:

“I had the idea that the world’s so full of pain

it must sometimes make a kind of singing.

And that the sequence helps, as much as order helps—

First an ego, and then pain, and then the singing.”

We implore you to draw from this excerpt and ask yourself what value failure holds for you. Place yourself inside the kaleidoscope of failure, close your eyes, and allow yourself to listen to the “kind of singing” Hass describes. What do you hear? How can you fail “in every new and beautiful light,” as Paisley Rekdal suggests in her poem “Strawberry”? We are curious to read about the intricacies of such an experience. 

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Please click here to familiarize yourself with our submission guidelines and to submit your work. We look forward to hearing from you. 

Amitha Bhat, Editor-in-Chief

Vol. 68