¡Ven a la fiesta! The editorial board of El Tintero invites all members of the Gustavus community to their launch party taking place Tuesday, May 10 at 6 p.m. on the first floor of Confer and Vickner Halls. This is the fourth annual publication of El Tintero.

Assistant Professor Angelique Dwyer has been involved with El Tintero since she pieced together the first volume as a result of her Social Analysis through Literature and Film in Spanish in 2012.

“The class has a creative component where students write original responses to the works read in class. Often these are response poems, an ending to a cliffhanger, the story re-told from the perspective of another character, the dialogue in a phone call that the reader doesn’t hear or a letter the reader doesn’t get to read, etc,” Dwyer said. “We published those original works we considered possessed a high level of Spanish written expression and clear literary voice.”

Dwyer currently serves as the advisor for El Tintero, next year she will pass the torch along to her colleague Assistant Professor Carlos Mario Mejía.

“As someone who envisioned El Tintero my role was central in 2012. Over the years my role has slowly moved to the sidelines as student editors come in with their own creative vision and enthusiasm, which makes me so proud,” Dwyer said.

El Tintero was published as an online journal because of lack of financial resources to create a printed journal.

“That’s why our logo features the irony between our name El Tintero, the inkwell, and the fact that we are an online journal,” Dwyer said.

Only those on the editorial board and Professor Dwyer have seen the volume and it will remain this way until the day of the launch.

This year the Editor-in-Chief is Junior Andrew Malo.

“I work with an incredible staff of incredible individuals, and I couldn’t do it without them,” Malo said. “Senior Emma Jasnoch and Junior Gisel Murillo are our editors of form and grammar, Sophomore James Ramsburg  is our creative editor, Senior Nate Long is our photographer and Sophomore Sara Blinn is our visual guru and designer. Additionally, Senior Dang Le worked as a co-editor with me and served as my mentor with the technological aspects.”

“Currently all written works are in Spanish, which is a testament to the hard work that goes into creative expression in a different language. Translating words is not enough; it’s about negotiating ideas between languages that are not always communicated in the same way. In that sense, it’s very important to keep the original written works in Spanish to preserve their essence,” Jasnoch said. “I do encourage any reader, regardless of their Spanish skills, to take a look at the written works we have in this volume, create their own experience with them, and be impacted in some way.”

Students interested in having their work published submit original works in Spanish in the fall. The editorial board reviews each submission during J-term then works with the authors of the accepted submissions to get their piece ready for publication.

“The works are chosen based on artistic merit and creative value. We accept a variety of different types of submissions, including narratives, poems, photography, and short films,” Malo said. “We are excited to announce that we have selected sixteen submissions to be published this year.”

The journal is published all in Spanish, with the short films subtitled in English, but that should not discourage people who do not speak Spanish from visiting the journal’s website.

“I really do believe that the journal has something for everybody! For starters, I believe that everyone should learn a second language, whether it be Spanish or a different one, and it’s never too late to start learning something new,” Malo said. “For those learning Spanish, the website is a great resource to read, view, and reflect upon their own use of the language. The journal has an interactive interface, and readers can post comments, share, and like all of the different works. Three incredible photographers submitted gorgeous photos from their experiences abroad that can be seen and appreciated by anyone, regardless of the language they speak.”