Literary/art journal relaunched this year

IVCC’s River Currents literary journal is flowing again, revived from a pandemic slump and migrated online.

As a prelude to the publication’s relaunch, a special online issue representing the “lost years” during Covid was released this month, and students are working to produce the 2024 issue in April, which will also be online. The book is curated and designed by students and contains students’ stories, poetry and art – and, this year, its first-ever music composition.

The book was last published in 2019. With the pandemic’s online learning phase and a slow return to campus and extracurricular activities, submissions slowed to a trickle in 2021 and 2022 and there was no publication. Submissions picked up in 2023, and they were compiled with the so-called “lost years” into the special issue, said River Currents Adviser Tracy Lee.

“The world slowed back down,” Lee said, leading to a flood of submissions for the 2024 issue. “It’s hard to have the time to write or create for publication” during a crisis, she added. “Those are luxuries.” Recent compositions did not dwell on the pandemic, she said.

Lee’s excited by River Currents’ comeback. “Students need to be able to share what they have to say. River Currents has always been a lasting record of IVCC talent.”

Like the College, the literary journal can trace its roots back a century. Each year, the student staff invites submissions from the student body for each spring publication. Print issues were distributed for free.

Moving to online content has advantages, Lee said, because students can access the web’s electronic files easily for their portfolios. She doesn’t rule out future printed special issues or collections.

Graduates who submitted during the “lost years” were notified their work would indeed be published and included in the special issue. All the contributors will be invited to a launch party on Monday, April 29, from noon-1:30 p.m. in C-316, where lunch and refreshments will be provided. Lee’s happy to bring back the reception, another tradition.

Visit www.ivcc.edu/rc for more River Currents.