Welcome to Mosaic 55!
Mosaic Art & Literary Journal is excited to open up another year of good reads and great work.
Since 1959, Mosaic Art & Literary Journal has showcased the work of dedicated writers and artists. What started out as a casual poetry group has since become one of the West Coast’s oldest literary journals. We like to think that part of that is due to our commitment to quality, creativity, and outreach – and because we’ve been in the hands of passionate editors.
Mosaic is a fantastic lit mag in its own merit: from the custom water-color covers of 1982, to the multimedia edition of 2008, to 1993’s nuts-and-bolts binding, we’ve sought to bring good work together under creative “roofs.” In fact, each edition is so unique that we’ll bring a selection with us to open mics for the audience to peruse. Often at our readings, local authors will find their pieces in our older editions. We get excited when we realize that we’ve been part of their creative development!
But there’s another reason that Mosaic is such a meaningful publication – one that we hope many people will get to experience first-hand. Mosaic acts as a catalyst for vital relationships between editors, contributors, and the community. Let’s talk about that.
Housed at the University of California, Riverside, Mosaic provides students with meaningful literary experiences. Our editors are passionate about good art. They come from a variety of backgrounds, and, well, may have a greater craving for Oreos than your run-of-the-mill editorial team, but their commitment to finding and publishing quality pieces is unconditional. Many of our editors are interested in pursuing careers in writing, visual art, and publishing, so Mosaic’s publication process is valuable to the way we build our knowledge base.
Our editorial board is on the lookout for compelling, well-crafted pieces – from contributors like you! Whether your niche is travel essays, mythology-inspired photography, or detail-driven short stories, we want to find the best creative work and show it to the rest of the world. Our contributors have come from as close as UC Riverside faculty to as far as China. We’re serious about publishing polished, engaging pieces – so get drafting!
At its heart, Mosaic is about community. One of the ways we demonstrate that is by cultivating involvement in the Riverside arts scene. Thanks to our partnership with the Gluck Fellows Program of the Arts at UC Riverside, we’ve been able to connect with the city in unique ways. Our goal is to build creative spaces for budding and seasoned writers alike. We’ve done readings at local bookstores, at bars, at coffee shops, with other great lit mags like The Inlandia Institute, and we’ve even hosted an art print workshop at the Riverside Art Museum. If you’re ever in our neck of the woods, check our Facebook page for events and updates!
We’ve got some great changes coming this year – contests, articles, events, and more. Be prepared to see more of us online – and we want to see more of you! Like us on Facebook, send us your creative work, and drop in at a reading (or five). We’d love to chat. And on that note –
Submissions are Open!
Send us your fiction, narrative nonfiction, poetry, plays, visual art, and photography! Submissions will close on January 31st, 2016. Make sure to review our submission guidelines for details.
We hope you’ll join us this year as we celebrate 55 years of writing, reading, and wonderful art. Happy submitting!
Alex Villamor
Co-Editor-in-Chief, 2015-2016
Mosaic 