Greetings, fellow literature lovers,
This year’s theme for Sumac is “Planting Roots.” As the third issue of this magazine, we wanted to continue with past themes of adventure, but also play with the idea of finding home. Just as the staghorn sumac grows its roots on the land we share, we at Sumac Literary Magazine are establishing ourselves in this community.
We received quite a few submissions that explore the ideas of finding familiarity and comfort in places, objects, and food. In fact, if Sumac received a nickel for every time we received a submission featuring potatoes, we would have three nickels—which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened thrice. So, we decided to integrate them into our theme in some way, hence the focus on roots (and root vegetables).
A lot of hard work and love went into this issue of the magazine, and we want to acknowledge everyone who helped us along the way. First and foremost, thank you to all of the contributors who submitted to our little magazine. Whether your piece made it into the final product or not, it was a joy and a pleasure to read your beautiful words. We wish we could have included all the pieces that were submitted. We also want to thank all the fine folks on the Sumac team that busted their butts to make this magazine what it is. And a very special thank you to the mentors who guided us along this journey, including Larry Thompson, Master Printer; Kiah Russell, our Teaching & Learning Technician; and our very diligent and very patient instructor, Chris Johnson.
Overall, curating this magazine has been such a remarkable experience for all of us. Without further ado, we present the third issue of Sumac Literary Magazine, “Planting Roots.”
Cheers,
The Sumac Issue 3 Editorial Team
The Sumac Issue 3 Editorial Team consists of students who participated in Carleton University’s ENGL 4139 course during the Winter 2025 term.
