Jane Li knows all about the nerve-wracking wait to learn if your work will be accepted for publication. Last year, just before the April deadline, she submitted one of her illustrations to Toronto’s celebrated Young Voices magazine. By late June, she still had no response.
The long, agonizing waiting period gave her the jitters.
Jane was already an accomplished visual artist, thanks in part to a unique program that offers promising young people a chance to harness their creative talents. The Young Voices program at the Toronto Public Library — of which the Young Voices magazine is a part — helped Jane find an outlet to express herself.
“When I first got involved, I was a hopeful 12-year-old who became passionate about art from the doodles in math class,” says Jane, now 17. She discovered Young Voices while poring through a stack of back issues of the magazine at her local library.
“The program was very important in guiding me to find my own voice. Unlike school assignments, Young Voices allows for a wide array of creative freedom and artist license.”
That summer, Jane would tense up whenever the telephone rang, waiting to find out if her work was among the lucky few to be chosen. She knew creators were contacted by the library early in the summer. By July, when she had still heard nothing, she steeled herself for disappointment.
Finally, the call came. The news was beyond her wildest expectations. Her illustration was not only accepted, it was featured on the cover of the 2016 magazine.
“When I found out I was accepted I was jumping with joy. I got the call while running some errands so I actually danced around on the street right after I hung up!”
Young Voices is published each spring and features written and visual work from Toronto youth aged 12-19. While the magazine’s aim is to publish high-calibre creative work, for many teens, it’s also a venue to explore and express complicated personal feelings in a safe space.
Amanda Murgel, for one, learned that it’s OK to feel awkward. The fifteen-year old student at Bishop Allen Academy felt validated when a deeply personal poem she had written about feeling alienated and alone was selected for last year’s magazine. Reading her work in front of a crowd at the magazine’s launch, she realized for the first time that other young readers were just as nervous as she was. Her awkwardness is now a point of pride, something she understands as a valuable part of her identity as a writer. The whole experience left her feeling more comfortable in her own skin.
“It is important because it helped me express how awful I felt inside. It gave me the chance to share those feelings with others. I learned I could achieve something with my creative voice.”
The magazine also offers the opportunity for young writers to develop their inner editor. Benjamin Gabbay, 21, first discovered it in 2010through the library’s Young Voices Writers Conference. He soon joined the writers’ group at his home branch. In 2012, he began to volunteer with the Editorial Youth Advisory Group (EYAG), the editorial collective which selects and edits work for the magazine.
According to Ken Sparling, communications officer at the library, the magazine receives approximately 500-700 submissions each year. Of these, only 85 are selected. With so much great material, choosing work can be challenging.
“As EYAG volunteers, some of our most important jobs come in having to review and judge submissions from young artists,” Gabbay says. “I’ve learned about the things that can make a piece of writing objectively good — namely, how any work that is given a high degree of attention and intelligent editing can stand out like a diamond in the rough.”
Gabbay is currently studying music composition at the University of Toronto and remains active in the arts world. He has self-published a novel (Wingheart: Luminous Rock) and also works as a web and graphic designer.
For Young Voices creators, this early nod of encouragement can serve as a critical first step in identifying their passion and pursing their art more seriously. Photographer Jack Burman placed a short story called “The Funeral” in the magazine’s first issue, back in 1965. Now 67, he’s gone on to achieve notable success in the art world. His stunning photographs explore themes of death and dying, an interest already evident in his Young Voices piece. He says such projects “are deeply generous and courageous in offering youth an opportunity to take risks with their craft, and as a means of reaching out to others.”
Young Voices will accept writing and visual art from young people aged 12-19 until April 4, 2017. Copies of the magazine and submission guidelines are available online at the Young Voices website: http://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens/young-voices-magazine.html
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