It’s an evening full of both excitement and nervousness. Over a dozen people filled auditorium chairs, talking and laughing with one another. Within a few minutes, the room suddenly became silent. A CSUN student stood behind a podium on stage and presented the first contributor of the night.

On April 19, students, alumni and others celebrated the release of the Northridge Review spring 2024 issue. The launch party featured a stand-up where writers of the publication recited original literary genres to the audience.

The Northridge Review is a journal produced by students in English 412. The publication prints literary genres such as poetry, art and prose, among others. In the course, students are taught an overview of literary publishing, which includes editing, designing and manufacturing books, according to the CSUN University Catalog.

“I would say that even though this class can be a lot of work, it’s worth it,” said Ysabella Gonzalez, managing editor of Northridge Review. “It’s a lot of fun and you learn a lot of new things, especially with printing and how to make books and what really goes into the process.”

This semester, the black paperbound journal featured a red stencil rose on the front cover. The design elements represented the Northridge Review’s theme: “Roses for CSUN and the Matadors,” as well as the literary genres inside the publication.

“It’s a very collaborative effort,” explained Hanna Davis, assistant managing editor of Northridge Review. “As a class, we all pitched several designs and voted on them to pick what we liked the best.”

Every semester, students produce a new issue of the Northridge Review using literary genres that were selected by previous editors in the course. Before the semester ends, Davis said, current students choose pieces for the next publication.

“English 412 is actually just editors,” Gonzalez explained. “It’s not a contributor class, it’s an editor class.”

While some contributors of the journal do major in academic areas of study like English and creative writing, submissions for literary genres are open to anyone on campus. The entry deadline for the fall 2024 issue, however, has already concluded for the semester.

“CSUN students are prioritized, but we’re open to alumni and the community as a whole,” Davis said. “We don’t really accept work from the outside because we get enough submissions from students and alumni.”

Throughout the semester, editors spent numerous hours producing the Northridge Review. Despite its complexity, for Gonzalez, it was worth seeing the result.

“It’s kind of surreal being here with the launch party,” Gonzalez said. “It was nice to be able to put this together for everyone and have contributors be able to come and read their works.”

The Northridge Review’s spring 2024 issue launch party occurred at Noski Auditorium. Although the event has passed, copies will be sold at Sierra Tower in room 727. There are no online editions available at this time.