Renamed review celebrates 50 years

On April 21, Palatine Hill Review (PHR), formerly the Lewis & Clark Literary Review, will release their 50th edition “Growing Pains.” 

The issue will be distributed that day at the release party, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Frank Manor House Armstrong Lounge. “Growing Pains” contains student poetry, prose, photography and visual art, along with one staff work. 

Co-Editors-in-Chief Jillian Jackson’s ’23 and AJ Di Nicola ’24 have been facilitating the book’s creation this year. According to Jackson, helping students enter the world of publication is central to PHR’s goal.

“Our mission is to empower the student writers and student visual artists on campus,” Jackson said. “For many of them, this is their first publishing credit which is really exciting and can be not only a great thing to put on their resume but a great experience to know that someone out there believes in their art and wants to put it out in the world.”

Students have certainly taken advantage of the opportunity this year. “Growing Pains” will be a 332-page double issue, due to a massive influx of student submission right before the deadline.

“We didn’t plan for issue 50 to be a double issue or an extended issue and then the student body decided it was going to be one,” Jackson said.

The influx of submissions also created an influx of work for the editors.

“I pulled my first all nighter trying to get this thing straightened out,” Di Nicola said. “I spent probably 36 hours straight on the review. I do not recommend (it) and we’re trying to avoid this in the future. That was also a thing I did at my own volition.”

Despite the heftiness of the time commitment, it is still, as Jackson said, “a labor of love.”

“Bone Meal,” the forty-ninth edition, won first class honors from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and was also longer than previous years.

“That was probably our biggest book in the last couple of years, at least it was like 180 pages and that was the first time in, again, a couple of years that we had tried to really increase our design capabilities,” Di Nicola said. “It was really exciting to see that.”

In addition to the praise that they received from the APC, PHR also received constructive criticism on certain elements of “Bone Meal’s” layout that guided their work on this years issue.

“Growing Pains” is unique from previous issues in that it will feature reprints of alumni work from past issues. For many of the alumni, their first publishing credits came from PHR. Additionally, the 50th edition has four alternate student-designed covers — selected through a contest in the fall — all of which are in the same color scheme. Each issue will have the other covers inside as well.

The color scheme is important to making the volume “a cohesive work of art,” as Di Nicola said. Design Editor Elizabeth Huntley ’25 worked with the design board to decide on a palette.

“When it comes to design, (the) design board does meet during fall semester to decide collectively on a color palette, on body and title fonts and things like that,” Huntley said. “So that way, that’s the theme throughout the entire book. So it’s unique between years, but still, within each book, cohesive.”

Crafting the student submissions into one longer work can be very meaningful. “When I graduate, I think (PHR) is going to be what I miss most,” Jackson said.

Submissions for PHR’s 51st edition open Friday, April 14, and graduating seniors are welcome to submit. Additionally, anyone is welcome to apply for the editorial board regardless of major and leadership will provide training on how to respectfully engage with student submissions. Submissions can be sent in to tinyurl.com/litsubmit24.