When we jokingly sent each other messages about starting a literary magazine, we never could have imagined the huge amount of support we’d receive for this project. After many, many meetings on campus, at cafes, and online, we are so pleased to announce that Symposia’s first issue is live. We received an unprecedented amount of submissions, and it was such a privilege to be able to read work from talented young writers all around the country. Jumping into the editorial process as young students has been equally daunting and rewarding, and we’ve learned so much on the way. More than anything, we’ve learnt that there is so much creativity out there that we all need to be supporting and uplifting.

This issue contains work from 10 poets, varying in style and subject matter, but all linked with a thread of tenderness. Throughout the gradient of poems, locks of hair fly loose, capybaras bathe in onsens, and werewolves unleash their fury. Lush images are laid out for us: pears, white t-shirts, sewage drains, art nouveau table lamps, beings made of clay. We loved reading the work of these emerging poets, vibrant as the golden spots on a chrysalis, the butterfly trembling and ready inside. We hope you’ll enjoy this lush selection as much as we did.