English students launch magazine inspired by unheard voices

The second year English students have created the magazine aiming to provide a ‘voice for the voiceless’ as part of their Literary Cultures module

English students at National Justice Museum

English students visiting the Right to Vote exhibition at the National Justice Museum

Students in their second year of our BA (Hons) English course have produced and launched a magazine as part of a new module exploring Literary Cultures. The theme for the magazine was ‘Seen and Heard’ and the students interpreted this as an opportunity to highlight unheard or silenced voices across history.

The module aims to equip students with employability skills by giving them ownership of every element of the creation and launch of the journal. Students took on specific job roles during the process such as event management, editing and marketing, managing their workload and time to produce the journal and successfully launch this April. The module also allows students to experiment with professional Online Journal software, allowing them to develop the technical skills required for a career in publishing or academia in the future.

The group drew from a wide range of sources to act as inspiration for the magazine, aiming to be inclusive of as many silenced or unheard voices as possible. The project began with trips to cultural sites across Nottingham including Bonington Gallery and the National Justice Museum. The students were particularly keen to explore the current ‘Right to Vote’ exhibition at the National Justice Museum, which explores the struggle for voting rights for women in the Suffragette movement, as well as modern day debates around the voting rights of silenced voices such as refugees or prisoners.

Beth Heath-Harvey explained how inspiring the trip was for herself and her fellow English students. “I think the visit has been really influential in moving our ideas forward and I feel ready to start pulling together the content for the magazine now.”

The magazine covers issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, mental health struggles and gender stereotypes among others, drawing on contemporary sources such as The Hunger Games, as well as much older texts, such as the short stories of DH Lawrence. The students were able to write about subjects that they feel passionate about, whilst gaining work experience skills. This has left the students feeling more confident about choosing a future career. Priya Kudhail told us: “I really like the concept of this module, it’s really different to everything we’ve done before.”

The launch took place this month on our Clifton Campus, and featured readings of articles and poems, which feature in the magazine. It was a fantastic celebration of the hard work and enthusiasm students have put into the magazine this term.