…El Tintero
In an effort to create a more public forum for students studying Spanish at Gustavus to publish and share their creative works, students and faculty have teamed up to launch a new film and cinema online journal called El Tintero (The Inkwell).
The site was launched this fall and currently includes poetry, creative writing, and cinematography created by students from past Spanish literature and film courses.
Although the idea for El Tintero was inspired by students’ work produced in class, the faculty advisor of the journal and Professor of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Angelique Dwyer said that anyone interested in submitting work is welcome. Ian Shay (Fall Editor) and Trevor Oestenstad (Spring Editor) will oversee the editing and publishing of content to the journal.
The journal will accept submissions on a rolling basis and will publish biannually (See pull-out box for more information on submission deadlines and publication dates).
Dwyer said the concept of El Tintero is much like that of the English Department’s biannual publication of the literary journal, Firethorne.
“We love Firethorne in that it provides a place for students to have a creative voice,” Dwyer said. “We know our Spanish students have the same abilities and passions, but we currently don’t have the funding for something like Firethorne, so we’re putting it on the web.”
The advantage of this type of publishing, according to Shay, is that it allows editors to update regularly and allows for larger projects like cinematic storyboards and film projects to be shared on the site.
“Having it on the web means you have this limitless supply of space, and it’s visible for people around the world,” he said.
The future of El Tintero will be greatly shaped by the support and enthusiasm of the students and faculty who inspired the endeavor. Dwyer spoke glowingly of this year’s editorial team.
“Trevor really knows how to use language beautifully—in both Spanish and English,” she said. “And [Shay] is truly a model student in every sense of the word. We think they’re the perfect team,” she said.
Shay said Dwyer’s personality and teaching style will definitely have an effect on the journal.
“She is bright and approachable. She manages to mix both strong academic skills with pop culture and sharp wit. She makes classes interesting for students. This will translate into El Tintero being very interdisciplinary and into students feeling comfortable submitting. The openness she has will translate into a lot of creative liberty for El Tintero.”
While the physical existence of El Tintero is new, the stage was set for the project long ago due to a reshaping of courses within the department. When Dwyer received her position at Gustavus in 2010, she began immediately collaborating with fellow Professor Nancy Hanway who also shared Dwyer’s interest in writing and publishing. The two talked about developing a course with a creative writing focus, which turned into modifying the “Literature and Film” course already in existence. Much of the material on El Tintero today was inspired by the creative assignment options in the new textbook for the class.
After giving students the option between more traditional options and more creative routes, Dwyer found that several of them chose the latter. It was upon reading the returned work that Dwyer thought, ‘we have to do something with this.’
The future appears bright for El Tintero. Dwyer reported that they’ve already received submissions after having only been officially launched for a few weeks. In fact, they’ve even had submissions from an individual from St. Peter’s sister city, Petatlán, Mexico and a poet from El Salvador.
This globalization of El Tintero is exciting to Dwyer who says they may consider adding a separate section on the site in the future to include work done by those outside of the immediate Gustavus community.
“I can definitely see this as a way to build community here on campus and hopefully, as a way to build community abroad,” she said. “That would be awesome.”
Shay echoed these sentiments.
“I hope that it becomes a well-established part of the Gustavus and St. Peter community and that we grow and keep growing,” Shay said.
To submit creative works in Spanish write the editorial team at eltintero@gustavus.edu. To check out the site, visit https://gustavus.edu/mlc/spanish/eltintero/Spanish_at_MLLC/El_Tintero.html
Submission dealines:
Fall submissions due by Nov. 5, Spring submissions due by April 15.
Publication Schedule
Fall work published in February. Spring work published in August.