The Northridge Review literary magazine features art, fiction and poetry created and written by CSUN students, who work with one another during a content selection and production process that involves several different interacting and student-led groups.

Students in the English 412 Literary Magazine class choose the work featured in the magazine. With the help of Mona Houghton, faculty adviser of the Northridge Review, the students are divided into two areas, a Poetry Board and a Fiction Board.

“How all the students’ work is chosen is very subjective,” Houghton said. “However, since the work is presented to a group, I trust it will be something the university will enjoy.”

Houghton said any student could submit his or work to the magazine.

Jennifer Wooters, senior English major, was on the Fiction Board and the Layout and Design Board of the Northridge Review in Spring 2005.

“The stories should stand out by having clear and vivid language and plausible characters,” Wooters said of submitted projects.

Wooters said reviewing students’ work was enjoyable, but it also entailed a lot of work. She said she sometimes would work on layout until midnight.

Nelly Assadourian, a CSUN graduate, was the managing, layout, design and desktop publishing editor.

“I cared about making it look a certain way,” Assadourian said.

The class decided on the colors, fonts and where the stories and poems will go. Assadourian said she input all of the content into the design program.

The Layout and Design Board decided by democratic vote that the B3 parking structure, then during its construction phase, would be on the cover of the Spring 2005 issue. Assadourian took the photograph, Wooters said.

All of the student artwork was chosen in the same way, as were the written submissions, Assadourian said, who was also on the Art Board. The Art Board selected art that expressed subjective opinion as well as the political climate at the time, she said.

“I thought about the layout and content and tried to make the art work with the content,” said Assadourian.

Wooters said the work selected for publication in the magazine is based on the personal preference of those who are on the board.

While Wooters is not a fiction writer, she said she enjoys analyzing literature in combination with the input of the class, making it a qualified group.

“There was a lot of debate,” Wooters said. “People would get really attached to a student’s work and would fight for it to be in the magazine.”

Paul Castillo, junior journalism major, was among the chosen authors to be published in the Spring 2005 edition. His short story, “Flow Like Water” was published in the magazine.

“I wrote it a couple years ago and submitted it last October,” Castillo said. “Three months later, I was surprised to hear that they had chosen me.”

He said his method for writing short stories involved thinking of a beginning and an end and then filling in the in-between, and “Flow Like Water” marks the first time that Castillo has ever had a fictional story published.

The Fall 2005 edition of the Northridge Review will be out in a couple of weeks, Houghton said.

The Spring 2005 edition of the magazine is on sale now at the Matador Bookstore. Meanwhile this semester’s new editorial board will now decide on the content of the Spring 2006 publication.

Students who are interested in having their work published in the Spring 2006 edition need to submit their written work before Oct. 3, and their artwork before Oct. 19, 2005.

Ariana Rodriguez can be reached at ariana.rodriguez@csun.edu.