Working as the General Editor on INK 2021 has been inspiring, eye opening, and above all else fun! I’m so proud to have been a part of this student-led project. The past year has been unbelievably difficult, but the invaluable insight we gained along the way has been poured into this journal. This edition of INK is embracing what I find to be the most important aspect of art: a distraction from the present moment. During lockdown, book sales soared as everyone desperately tried to fill their days with joy. I hope that readers can find solace within this year’s theme: Nostalgia and Escapism.

 

I want to thank the hugely talented editorial team who worked tirelessly to make INK 2021 something we can all be proud of. I also want to say thank you to our In-House Illustrators who blew me away with their beautiful artwork. The MA Publishing cohort, whom I’m now proud to call my friends, have been an enormous blessing. In particular, I’d like to thank Emma Gill for your ability to organise any situation, and for your obsession with spreadsheets! A massive thanks goes to Rebekah Meek, for your words of prayer and support, and for your gorgeous cover design. I’d also like to thank Lynda Cooper and Miranda Spicer for all of your wisdom, guidance, and care, as well as Roger Lane for your time and patience in helping bring the journal to a physical reality. Of course, thank you to my parents and my flatmate, Cara, for always caring for me, and making me copious mugs of tea!

 

Congratulations to the winners of each category: Grief by Morgan McIntyrefor Fiction, Beauty Blooming Out of Starved Dirt and Decay by Holly Peters for Non-Fiction, Circe by Nancy Bluebell Dowman for Poetry, and Let’s Fly Away by Alice Radford for Artwork. Finally, I cannot say thank you enough to all the students who submitted to INK 2021. From English and Creative Writing, to Mathematics and Statistics; from undergraduate level, all the way up to PhD, there were so many incredible submissions this year. You are the ones who make this journal possible. Thank you.

 

- Elizabeth Stoddart, April 2021