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About

Polyphony Lit

Polyphony Lit is the global online literary platform for high school students. We invite high school students worldwide to submit creative writing, join our editorial staff, write blog posts, take workshops, and grow into leadership roles. Because developing young writers is central to our mission, our editors provide feedback on every submission.

We offer three awards for excellence in writing through the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards for Young Writers, one each in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, and the student editors publish an online magazine featuring their favorite pieces from each genre. 

Since our founding in 2004, we've received submissions from students in 84 countries and 52 U.S. states / territories. Our student editors have given feedback to every submission, over 21,000 and counting!

View our 2024 Impact Report

Polyphony Lit is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (2008), incorporated in the State of Illinois.

Editorial Philosophy

In the service of our Mission and Beliefs, we ask our editors to adopt the Polyphony Lit philosophy, which aims to be both encouraging and constructive to emerging writers. We ask our editors to:

  • Believe each writer's words are valuable.

  • Be committed to one aim: helping the author write the best poem, story, or essay they can write.

  • Avoid a cookie-cutter approach to reading for acquisition (editing with an eye toward publication). Our student editors hail from all over the world and represent a variety of cultures and literary tastes which help us create a magazine that we hope will be reflective of the world at large.

  • Give clear and specific feedback about a work's strengths and areas for improvement.

  • Strive to find successes buried in the work of all writers, regardless of their level of experience.

  • Constantly work to acquire more knowledge of literary devices, narrative elements, and poetry forms, which are tools to skillfully encourage richness and clarity.

  • Learn to recognize devices and techniques that make good writing.

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Editorial Process

The Polyphony Lit Editorial Staff, comprised of volunteer high school students from all over the world, provides editorial feedback to every submission, excluding seasonal contest entries, and decides which pieces are accepted for publication in our triannual online and print publications. Each piece is read and commented on by two Junior Editors and one Senior Editor. The final decision on publication is made by an Executive Editor, Genre-Managing Editor, or Editor-in-Chief. At the conclusion of the editing cycle, editorial comments are compiled and sent directly to the submitter. Since we seek to provide editorial training for young writers, our editors also receive feedback on their commentary from other editors.

 

Response time may vary, depending on the size and availability of our volunteer staff, but we are always searching for ways to streamline the process.

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Junior

Editors

  • Are first to read poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction submissions.

  • Write specific and general comments about the piece and then recommend "accept" or "decline."

  • Receive feedback on their commentary from other editors as the piece advances along the editorial pipeline.

  • Sometimes serve as readers for Polyphony Lit's seasonal contests.

Meet 

Our Team

Staff

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David Galloway

Diretor-executivo

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Julian Riccobon

Diretor-gerente

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Shawn Waterman

Gerente de Operações

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Anshi Purohit

Social Media & Outreach Manager

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Chelsea Zhu

Assistant Manager

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Nina Ballerstedt

Teaching Assistant

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Sosena Audain

Teaching Assistant

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Emilie Guan

Teaching Assistant

Vaidehi Ghotkar

Teaching Assistant

Ava Chen

Teaching Assistant

Fundador

Billy Lombardo

Editor-gerente 

2004 - 2020

Capa e arte do site

 

As colagens de desenhos de Tony Fitzpatrick, artista, poeta e ator, enfeitaram as capas da Polyphony HS por nove anos e são destaque em todo o nosso site. Tony Fitzpatrick é um artista de Chicago mais conhecido por suas colagens multimídia, gravuras, pinturas e desenhos. O trabalho de Fitzpatrick é inspirado na cultura de rua de Chicago, cidades para as quais viajou, livros infantis, desenhos de tatuagem e arte popular. Fitzpatrick é autor ou ilustrador de oito livros de arte e poesia e, nos últimos dois anos, escreveu uma coluna para oNova cidade.A arte de  Fitzpatrick aparece no Museu de Arte Moderna de Nova York, no Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Chicago e no Museu Nacional de Arte Americana em Washington, DC. O álbum Yellow Moon dos Neville Brothers e os álbuns El Corazon e The Revolution Starts Now de Steve Earle também apresentam a arte de Fitzpatrick. Em 1992, Fitzpatrick abriu um estúdio de gravura com sede em Chicago, Big Cat Press, que existe hoje como o espaço de exposição de artistas Firecats Projects. Antes de ganhar a vida como artista, Fitzpatrick trabalhou como apresentador de rádio, barman, boxeador, pedreiro e ator de cinema e teatro. Para saber mais, visite www.tonyfitzpatrick.com

Estudantes estagiários

Somos uma organização gerida por estudantes. Além do trabalho editorial, os estagiários trabalham em web design, tarefas de back-office, marketing e mídia social, planejamento de eventos e muito mais. As inscrições para estágios de verão serão abertas em abril.

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About Us Page Art by Julian Riccobon, Yuchen Shi, Maggie Yang, Faith Zhang, Cecilia Yang, Austin Liu, and Tony Fitzpatrick.

"Strangling Blue" by Maggie Yang was previously published in The Adroit Journal, Issue 42.

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