MUNCIE, Ind. - The Broken Plate is a student-run art magazine that has operated at Ball State University since it was founded in 2004 and is overseen by professor Katy Didden. The magazine takes submissions for all the pieces of art that are shown in it from emerging artists and authors to established artists and authors who have either gone to Ball State or never even visited campus.
The deadline for the submissions is from Sept. 15- Oct. 31 every year. This year, though, it is extended to Nov. 10 for students in an effort for the Broken Plate to connect with the student body more.
Managing editors of the Broken Plate, Rowan Hartje and Taylor Dennis, feel like there is a disconnect between the organization and the student body, and they look to solve that problem.
“We’re accommodating for the Writer-in-Residence event, it’s happening later than it usually does. It usually happens mid-October, but it's happening at the beginning of November. So we’re giving students who might find out about the Broken Plate through that event an opportunity,” Dennis said.
The Writer-in-Residence event is something Ball State holds every year, typically with a young adult author to help expose people, especially children, to more literature. The Writer-in-Residence usually holds readings and other events in those couple of days. This year's event will have Christina Diaz Gonzalez, who has written books such as Invisible, Concealed and The Red Umbrella. It will be held Nov. 3-6, excluding Nov.4 at The L.A. Pittenger Student Center Ballroom and Ross Community Center.
“They are also partnering with the Muncie Community Schools to provide events for the larger Muncie community and to provide free books for those students as well to increase the strength between Ball State and the community to give opportunities for those students,” Hartje said.
RELATED: Writer-in-Residence Christina Diaz Gonzalez
The Broken Plate comes out every spring at the In Print Festival, which will be held March 19-20 at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Ballroom. The magazine is looking for any form of art, from written literature to pictures of physical pieces.
“We take creative non-fiction and we take fiction pieces and poetry. As far as the art goes, we take pretty much anything you can take a picture of and submit.” Hartje said.
Dennis says that it's a good way to get started if someone is looking to kickstart their writing career by getting their work published, especially in a magazine.
“I was published for the first time by the Broken Plate last year and that kind of gave me the confidence to apply to do something like this, and now I’m the managing editor of it, so I think it’s just a good thing to be published as a writer to find a place where your work can grow and where you can feel like your apart of and contributing something,” Dennis said.
Contact Landon Jones with comments at landon.jones2@bsu.edu.
