Editorial
Jen Jakob, Managing Editor
Jen Jakob (she/they) is an emerging poet based in Ottawa, Ontario. Her poetry is centered in sapphic love, mental health, and human existentialism in nature. She is currently pursuing a B.A. in English and History at Carleton University and is an active member of the literary scene both on campus. Their contributions include the roles of co-president and founder of the Carleton English Literature Society, and the managing editor and co-founder of the Sumac Literary Magazine. Jen is also on the editorial team of flo. literary magazine in Ottawa as their poetry editor.
Amadou Oury Barry, Corresponding Editor/Website Architect
Born in Guinea, Africa in 2001, Amadou (he/him) is in his fourth year of his B.A. English Literature degree. Throughout his life, he’s always been drawn to stories. Whether it be Breaking Bad, The Last of Us, or Bioshock, he just can’t get enough of great narratives. So much so that it was only natural he’d start writing short stories of his own. So when you see him, he’ll either be doing that, listening to great music, playing a dope video game, or passionately arguing about his opinions. It depends on how he feels.
Vanessa Ippolito, Secretary Editor
Vanessa (she/her) is currently pursuing a degree in honours English with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. If Vanessa could create a literary magazine, it would be called Austenland (granted she can get the trademark) and include all things Jane Austen: book/adaptation reviews, fanfictions, visual art, etc. Vanessa will read just about anything, but lately any comics with interesting female MCs. Throughout her journey as both a creative writer and English student, Vanessa realized that she has a penchant for editing and would one day love to edit fiction novels.
Sophie Shields, Editor/Website Architect
Sophie (she/her) is currently in her fourth year of Global and International Studies. If Sophie could create a literary magazine, it would be a multilingual magazine, inspired from Edmonton’s The Polyglot Magazine! Sophie enjoys poetry and postmodern fiction. Her favourite novel is If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino and her favourite poetry collection is Words for War: New Poems from Ukraine. Sophie joined Sumac because she wanted to explore the inner workings of publishing and play with the intricacies of the written word through editing.
Autumn, Editor/Artist
Autumn (she/her) is currently in her fourth year of her B.A. in English Literature. If Autumn could create a literary magazine, it would be called Pomme de Terre: A literary magazine surrounding found objects specifically relating to food. Autumn enjoys classic and postmodern literature, and her favourite novel is The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai.
Amirah Alam, Editor/Artist
Amirah (any pronouns) is in their fourth year of B.A. English. If she could create a literary magazine, it would be a magazine about small critters. Amirah’s genre of interests include diasporic literature, fantasy, sci-fi, and YA. Amirah’s experience with the Sumac team has been such a journey and experience. :’) He looks forward to seeing where the team ends up later in life, many of us being writers ourselves.
Taylor Taniguchi, Editor
Taylor (she/her) is currently in her fourth year of her B.A. English Literature degree. If Taylor could create a literary magazine it would be focused on historical fiction pieces and/or lesbianism. She would call it “Corsets”. Taylor loves fantasy and science fiction. Shoutout to The Hunger Games. Taylor wants to get involved with the publishing industry one day, and the experience of putting together this literary magazine was an excellent introduction to that world.
Baylen Purcell, Editor
Baylen (he/him) is currently pursuing a B.A. in English Literature. If he could create a literary magazine, it would be stylized like an old newspaper and publish serialized historical fiction. He enjoys storytelling in just about every medium, from novels to narrative games. Baylen joined Sumac partly because it was in the impressive book arts lab at Carleton University, and partly because he wanted to learn the process of curating and editing short stories. Outside of school, he is a fan of staring at animals, genealogy, and researching odd people from the nineteenth century.
Hannah Shapiro, Editor
Hannah (she/they) is a fourth-year English student at Carleton University. Hannah’s genres of interest are: Speculative Fiction, Postcolonial Lit, Queer Lit, Magic Realism, Horror, Folklore, and all forms of poetry. Her favourite writers: Ocean Vuong, Carmen Maria Machado. In addition to this class, Hannah works full-time at Carleton, stage manages for local theatre companies, volunteers for a 2SLGBTQ peer support line, and loves learning new things. After dropping out of an M.Ed. last year, she is now hoping to start a Masters in English or Creative Writing in 2024. Hannah has poetry published in Bywords, Rough Cut Press, Acropolis Review, and QT Literary Magazine. They can be found on instagram and twitter @_hannahshapiro_
Maya Blumenfeld, Editor
Maya (she/her) is in her fourth year of Journalism at Carleton University. If Maya could create a literary magazine, it would be focused on the psychological thriller genre! Maya enjoys horror, thriller, mystery, and the occasional chick-lit. She joined Sumac because she loves to write and to read others’ writings!
Anthony (Tony) Fournier, Editor
Tony (he/him) is in his fourth year at Carleton University. If Tony could create a literary magazine, it would only publish stories with unreliable narrators. It would be called “Ol’ Reliable”. Tony has always been fond of high fantasy and sci-fi. Tony is interested in the publishing industry and wanted to see what it took to get a piece of literature from concept to reality. Additionally, he hoped that what skills he learned would be transferable to work experience down the road in whatever literary field he decides to pursue.
Managerial
Lane Haugen, Managerial/Website Architect
Lane (she/her) is a fourth-year English major with a minor in Sociology. Lane has a passion for helping others tell their stories and is excited for the chance to uplift Carleton’s voices. If Lane could create a literary magazine it would be called “Series, Theories, and Queries” and feature discussions, fanfiction, and questions that originate from completed or ongoing book series. Lane enjoys novels with strong character development, romance, fantasy and historical fiction. She is a co-founder of the magazine and a part of the managerial team. When she’s not at school or working, you can find her crocheting, watching movies, and hanging out with her cat, Clover.
Laury Gabikini, Managerial
Laury Gabikini (she/her) is a fourth-year student currently pursuing an Honours Bachelor in Communication and Media Studies with a minor in English at Carleton University. As a newcomer in the campus’ literary scene, she is a co-founder and managerial member for Sumac Literary Magazine. When she isn’t writing essays or reading Substack articles, you’ll find her reading non-fiction novels, watching movies, conducting research on current interests, or binge-watching Claire Saffitz on YouTube.
Emily Udle, Manager/Website Architect
Emily (she/her) has a double major in English and Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies, with a minor in Professional Writing. If she could create her own literary magazine, Emily would publish the work of Maritime Canadian writers who have moved away from the coast, but still write about home. Emily’s research interests involve the connections between writers and their time and space, and she is excited to have co-founded this magazine which explores the literature of Carleton University and its communities. While her first love is language, Emily also enjoys film photography. linkedin.com/in/emily-udle
Halen Raymond, Managerial
Halen (she/her) is a fourth year English Major with a concentration in Drama Studies and a Minor in Film Studies. If Halen could create a literary magazine, it would be centered around movies that are so bad that they’re good! As a film minor (probably the scariest intro to any sentence), Halen has such an appreciation for movies that are just straight up awful in a campy, fun way. She thinks her literary magazine would be focused on dissecting a new film each week or month and having fans create fanart for the cover, perhaps including fun fanfiction, and a look at what the general consensus is (basically a vibe check) around a film for that week or month! Halen doesn’t have a name yet but she does have a lengthy list of potential films that she thinks would be fun to include in the literary magazine 🙂
Andre “Wizard” Rigby Dupuis-Critchley, Managerial
Andre (he/him) is in his fifth year of English Honours with a Concentration in Creative Writing. If Andre could create a literary magazine, it would be ADDed Issues. His genres of issues are broad-spectrum, but horror was the first genre ever read to him when he was five. He never really lost that pull. Andre is also. So. Tired.
Promotional
Regan Girard, Promotional
Regan (she/her) is currently pursuing a degree in English Literature from Carleton University. If Regan could create a literary magazine, it would be about romanticising your life, being spontaneous, and embracing your inner child in your early 20s!!! Or maybe about the hit reality tv show Survivor. She is still on the fence about that one. Regan loves a good YA murder mystery or romcom but she’s currently going through her Hunger Games and Percy Jackson renaissance. Regan joined Sumac because it’s been a well-needed change from writing academic papers – she got to create something she’s passionate about with her classmates! Regan is a romance writer and poet, lover of diner breakfasts, birthday parties, and farmer’s markets, cries at book dedications, and has pen pals around the world!
Emma Peters, Promotional
Emma (she/her) is a fourth year student pursuing a Bachelor of Arts Honours Major in English with a minor in Communications and Media Studies. If Emma could create a literary magazine it would be Taylor Swift themed! Emma is the Marketing & Communications Manager on the Promotional Team during Sumac’s beginnings and First Edition publication. She joined the Sumac Literary Magazine team to gain experience in creating and publishing a lit mag from the ground up. She says it has been an enriching and fun experience, and that the team has been great to work with.
Hannah Sheehan, Promotional
Hannah (she/her) is currently in her fourth year of COMS at Carleton University. If Hannah could create a literary magazine, it would be about fanfiction. Hannah Joined Sumac to gain real-world experience in the publishing industry and she enjoys marketing, scriptwriting, and film.
Alex Gallant, Promotional
Alex (he/him) is in Honours English at Carleton University. If Alex could create a literary magazine it would be a sci fi/speculative fiction literary magazine. His favourite stories are Sci Fi/Fantasy and Romance stories. Alex joined Sumac to gain experience in a developing magazine, and involve himself as close as possible to the growth of the literary community. Alex loves literature and poetry, and hopes to contribute in any way possible to the community. He wanted to see what the vetting process and coordination was like so that he could understand what really goes on behind the scenes. Alex would like to submit some of his own pieces in the future to other magazines as well.
Teaching Team
Course Instructor: Chris Johnson
Course Teaching Assistant: Sarah Pelletier
