Behind the Scenes at Bookmarked
- The Bookmarked Team
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
How wonderful it is to craft imaginary people in imaginary clothes, to entertain ears with meter and rhyme, and to stitch smiles and teardrops into script. What good are any of these, though, without a stage, without a group of people to listen, applaud, and, perhaps best of all, celebrate our way with words?
Enter Bookmarked Magazine. Trumpets, please! We want trumpets.
When interest first piled in for a new OCA creative writing magazine and was later whittled down to five eager faces—more than two years ago now, would you believe?—an air of excitement rolled in at the thought of what we could create. We made it our mission to sculpt something that could amplify the amazing work of our department: something that showcases the diversity of voices at OCA, of both new and wizened students, of coursework and passion projects, of all those wonderful fictional worlds, and of our own, real worlds.
We can now safely, and proudly, say that Bookmarked Magazine represents all the flair and ferocity of OCA’s writers. Upon the release of each issue, Bookmarked writers gather to read their work aloud to a small audience, who then have the opportunity to pay lovely compliments that the writers wouldn’t otherwise hear. Many confetti-canon emojis later, writers and guests alike feel truly uplifted. These events are often funny, inspiring, and magical. There’s nothing quite like hearing a writer’s voice both on the page and in the digital flesh. Each event lasts only an hour, so there’s plenty of time to have tea and catch up on your washing afterwards.
The binding of Bookmarked, in alphabetical order, is: Promoter Extraordinaire Anne Eckle, Web Design Wizard Debbie Hudson, Rubric Enchanter Henri Poole-Birrell, The Oracle of Agenda Juanita Ozamiz, and Footage Alchemist Sophie Scrivener. Don’t ask me why we’ve all just become magicians, but there really is something special about this binding. While it’s true that we are writers with a mutual interest in shining a spotlight on others’ triumphs, as an editorial group, we’ve become fantastic friends, which only makes us a better team.
In writing this blog post, we’ve been reminiscing about some of our favourites from the magazine’s past issues. In The Beginning (the title of our first issue), we were immersed in the heartbreak of Peter la Trobe-Bateman’s Begins at Home. His reading aloud of the piece elevated the excitement sown in our private readings; as a result, it has become a moment we return to again and again. Equally thrilling to both read and listen to was Juanita Ozamiz’s radio play, 27th of February 2010, where her camera quivered, and pencil-pots rattled to simulate the chaotic atmosphere of a Chilean earthquake.
In Issue Three, we were enchanted by Brew of Scales by Linda Thurston, in which the following issue found its title—a little naming convention we have followed throughout the series as a tribute to exceptionally crafted lines. Gabriella’s tale of Buffy the Chicken left a lasting impression in Issue Four; we still call back to the plucky hen in meetings and events today. In Issue Five, Sculpture of Light, Holly Smith invited us into the absurd and often comical world of her screenplay, Overpower, while Issue Six’s Dogs in the Suburbs by Kyle Nicholsby affected us so deeply we had to take a break before scoring.
In our latest issue, for the first time, we had a special reading by tutor Suzannah Evans Furnass. She performed her poem, Green, which marries extinction with drag—a fabulous, devastating combination, and answered our questions about writing and creating.
In honour of the pieces named above, and hopefully several others, we’ll be hosting a ‘Best of Bookmarked’ event during the upcoming Student Voice Festival. Keep an eye on your inbox for more information on that. For now, though, past and present issues can be found here. Videos of the reading events can be found under the Bookmarked tab on the Creative Writing Department webpage. And if you still want more, here’s a quick clip of Sophie Scrivener reading her poem All It Takes is One Good Day.
We can’t wait to see where Bookmarked goes next. It’s so lovely and fulfilling to hear all of your positive feedback, to see you smile, tear up, and laugh at the events. If you are interested in having your work featured in OCA’s official creative writing magazine, please do look out for the next submission window. We’d love to hear from you.
Until then, thank you for reading, and happy writing!
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