I served as Managing Editor from 2022-2023 and Editor-in-Chief from 2023-2024 to produce two issues of phoebe per year: one print issue and one online contest issue. In both roles, I co-led an eleven-person organization by facilitating staff meetings, liaising with Mason administration and outside vendors, and communicating with a large network of writers and artists. In addition, I read for the Fiction editorial team, created and developed social media strategies, and implemented new systems for the editorial staff, including weekly update emails and regular retrospective meetings. Click on the magazine covers below to read each issue!
Welcome! Our team is thrilled to share our Spring 2024 Contest issue with you. This is my third year as a member of phoebe — I first joined as a fiction reader, then as Managing Editor, and most recently, had the honor of serving as Editor-in-Chief. I have been proud of every issue, and this edition is no exception. In these pages, you will encounter a survivor who finds refuge with wolves, a haunting meditation on American empathy, and a trio of hands that experience all of life at once. Also in this issue: a love letter (of sorts) to Robert De Niro, a turbulent family vacation, and a 2000s teenage romance over AIM.
One of the special things about phoebe is that the staff changes every year, and thus, the journal changes every year. This has been an exceptional year, and I have been so grateful to work with this hard-working, creative, and thoughtful staff. As we say goodbye to our most recent graduates (including myself), we welcome a new staff who are leading the way for our first-ever summer issue. I think of them whenever I look at Katy Stewart’s evocative, enveloping cover — the journal is in very good hands.
A special thank you to our readers from George Mason University’s MFA and BFA programs in Creative Writing, our genre editors, and, of course, our contest judges. Below, you can read commentary from our judges: Nick White, Erika Howsare, and Jenny Molberg.
Again, thank you for reading phoebe, whether this is your first issue, or you’ve been here since the 70s. We hope you’ll be here for the next one. I certainly will.
— Sophia Ross, Editor-in-Chief
Issue 53.1 of phoebe was my first print issue as Editor-in-Chief. The issue featured fiction from Carly Alaimo and Brian Russell Roberts, nonfiction from Debra Dean and Sam Paul, and poetry from Alex Tretbar and Jen Frantz. Our cover features the painting “Ensomhet” by Spokane artist Kel Hudson. In addition to overseeing the production of the issue and managing a staff of 11 people, I took an active role in choosing the fiction pieces, and editing both the print and digital versions of the magazine. As EIC, I was in frequent communication with our contributors about the issue’s release, and led the social media campaign advertising the issue. As a result of our work, we were able to increase submissions for Issue 53.2, and several of our contributors shared the issue on their platforms. Our website traffic went up significantly, as did our followers on Instagram and X. We also sold a record number of print issues.
It’s finally here – our 2023 Spring Contest issue! Thanks to our readers from George Mason University’s MFA and BFA programs in Creative Writing, our intrepid genre editors, and, of course, our incredible contest judges, we are now ready to introduce to you the winners and runners-up from our Spring Contest. In these pages you will meet a parrot named Pretty Bitch, tour the halls of a children’s hospital in tandem with the deep sea, and explore the fragmenting of a pastoral landscape.
Below, you can find the comments from our contest judges: Jamil Jan Kochai, Lacy Crawford, and Tyler Mills. We hope that you are as captivated by these pieces as we are.
– Sophia Ross, Managing Editor
In addition to producing Issue 52.2 of phoebe after the Editor-in-Chief went on leave, I undertook the task of establishing the journal as a 501(c)(3) organization. phoebe is now its own entity separate from George Mason University, and is able to accept donations and pay contributors independently.
As Managing Editor, I assisted in production for Issue 52.1 by leading staff meetings, communicating with selected contributors, and copyediting both the print and digital issues. I took an active role in producing the digital issue by creating the WordPress posts used to display the prose and poetry in the issue, and connected each article to a main page.