Meet The Aletheia, a journal for undergraduates at the University of Houston

By Sarah Ondras

Aletheia (ἀλήθεια): Unconcealedness, truth.

And that it is.

The newest literary and arts journal based out of the University of Houston, The Aletheia, strives not just to provide a voice through the arts for its student body, but also to create a sense of community within the interdisciplinary arts world.

The publication is comparable to others in that it features fiction, poetry, and visual art, but what differentiates it from traditional journals is its acceptance of the unconventional, such as lyrics, scripts, film, and music. In addition to the printed format that is released as chapbooks biannually, The Aletheia also has an active website that publishes monthly exclusive online content, including student, faculty, and alumni features. The chapbook itself is also available for viewing online.

To get a better idea of the journal’s origins and its general goals, I asked Megan Harrington, an editor and the business and marketing director at The Aletheia, a few questions.

SO: Starting up a journal is a big task, and keeping it going is an even bigger one. Did you and your team have any experience working on journals or did you learn as you go? And how is managing The Aletheia going thus far?

MH: We had a little experience when we first started out in various ways. Reyes Ramirez, our chapbook designer, was the editor-in-chief of a literary magazine in high school; Kristen Flack, our web designer, works as an intern for Inprint, so we were able to gain insight from the people there; and I’m our business and marketing director and the coordinator for the Center for Creative Work at the Honors College, so I had a little knowledge on how to run an organization that is arts based. We have, however, also learned what to do and what not to do as we’ve gone along.

In terms of how managing has gone so far, I’d say that it has been pretty easy because we are all so invested [in the journal]. We are also lucky enough to have good relationships with our readers and artists. We like to try to maintain contact and create a community of artists with our journal. This is helpful in terms of marketing and events because they all are willing to lend a hand and get the word out. They are confident in what we put out, which makes it easier for others to do the same.

SO: At what point did you decide that the “normal” format for journals was not cutting it and that other forms of art, such as music and video, deserve a presence?

MH: Well, for one thing, the idea of including all forms of art is one of the reasons we started The Aletheia in the first place. We wanted the journal to be a venue for all types of expression and we did not want to limit the definition of that. In addition, we understand that the popularity of print-only journals is dwindling and that the Web is the new frontier in terms of publications. We thought that doing both would be the best of both worlds–we could still hold the tradition and prestige of a print journal, but also have to ability to fray boundaries by using the Web. Using both is the best way, in our opinion, to utilize creativity.

SO: What do you think The Aletheia is providing for students and Houstonians that other local journals are not?

MH: Well, like you mentioned in the last question, we are giving students a vehicle to publish things like music and film in addition to literature and art. What is also really important to us that is unique to The Aletheia is the one-on-one relationships that we try to pursue with the artists that we publish. We want our journal to be a community.

We also don’t ever want to adhere to a particular theme for our journal. The Aletheia means “unconcealing.” We want to show what is there and allow the artists to create our vision, as opposed to the journal calling for a certain type of artist. I think this is also why we have been able to create such a diverse community with our writers and readers. 

SO: Do you have any submission advice for those wanting to get published? 

MH: Submit and submit often. We have monthly features so we want submissions year round. We are also open to conversing with the artists, so if we have a piece that we feel strongly about but isn’t quite ready to be published, we often contact the artist and see if they will work through the editing process with us. Also, don’t be afraid to submit work that you feel is unconventional or experimental. We are open to all sorts of new things and we want to learn from the artists and learn what they are trying to do through their art.

The Aletheia is now accepting student submissions for their Spring 2012 issue. Submissions to be the monthly student feature are accepted anytime.

Visit their website at www.thealetheiajournal.com

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