The Writing University has launched a new series of interviews to highlight the various journals and publications across campus at the University of Iowa writing programs. We ask about the publication's history, submission process, etc. Today's interview is with Natalie Muglia, editor-in-chief of Wilder Things.
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1. Hi Natalie! Tell us a little about yourself and your involvement with Wilder Things?
My name is Natalie Muglia, and I'm a senior at the University of Iowa studying English and creative writing on the publishing track with a minor in business administration. I currently serve as the Editor-in-Chief of Wilder Things Magazine, and have done so since January 2022. In this role, I am responsible for the coordination of our editorial, marketing, and design teams to create our semesterly publications. I got involved in Wilder Things first as a writing editor, and worked my way up to the Editor-in-Chief role, and I can say that this experience has been one of the most rewarding parts of my college career. I learned a lot about the practice of publishing, how to manage a team of creatives, and the importance of celebrating and uplifting speculative literature.
2. What makes Wilder Things unique?
Wilder Things Magazine is currently the only literary magazine on campus dedicated to uplifting and promoting works of speculative literature. We define speculative literature as works of fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, comedy, romance, horror, mythos, and magical realism. We find that these types of works are typically looked down upon in the literary canon, and so we provide a space for these works to be shared with the community, and among everyone who fell in love with reading because of genres like these. Wilder Things also publishes twice an academic year (once each semester) with a print volume in the fall and a digital volume on our website in the spring. We accept submissions not just from University of Iowa undergraduates, but from undergraduates across the globe. This magazine is truly one-of-a-kind, and its uniqueness is just one of the many things to fall in love with!
3. When do you accept submissions?
Wilder Things currently accepts submissions once each academic semester. For our print volume, we open submissions in August (typically mid-to-late August until early September), and for our digital volume, we open submissions in January (typically mid-to-late January, until early February). For more information about submissions, we encourage people to check out the submission page on our website: https://wilderthingsmagazi.wixsite.com/wilderthings/submit.
4. How can people get involved?
There are so many ways! First and foremost, definitely submit your work! We love to read your speculative pieces, and it's a great way for us to get to know your writing. Many of our staff members were contributors for previous volumes. If you'd like to become a staff member, we open up staff applications once a year, in mid-to-late April. To stay up to date, make sure you follow us on social media for relevant updates on this process. We also host launch events for our volumes once they publish (in the fall, launch is typically in December/January, and in the spring, we hold launch in May). We highly encourage anyone who wants to know more about us to attend our launch events!
5. Where can people find Wilder Things?
You can stay up to date with all things wilder in several ways. Follow us on instagram @wilderthingsmag for the most up-to-date information about our submissions process, staff applications, magazine updates, and more. For more information on who we are, how to submit, and to view past volumes, visit our website: https://wilderthingsmagazi.wixsite.com/wilderthings. We are also working to get active on our Twitter again, so definitely check us out there as well, @wilderthingsmag.
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Thank you so much!