By Samantha Berkhead
Editor-in-Chief
Art doesn’t always revolve around happiness.
The Rampallian was born last year when Becky McKeown, ’11, decided to combine her love of literature with her hunger for dark, gritty poetry and prose.
“A lot of literary magazines don’t publish dark, experimental works,” McKeown said. “I wanted to create a publication to showcase the grittier side of literature and art. When I’m really craving poetry, it’s because I’m in a broody mood and I want to read something I can relate to. That’s what The Rampallian offers.”
The Rampallian, which has released five issues since its inception, is a collaborative effort between McKeown and five other recent St. Bonaventure alumni: Andrea Westerlund, ’10, ’12; Ashley Waterman, ’12; Cameron DeOrdio, ’11; Nick Greene, ’10, ’12 and Samantha House, ’11.
DeOrdio said he agreed to help his friend McKeown with The Rampallian because of his interests in publishing and creative writing.
“I was also happy to have an excuse to stay in touch with some fellow Bonnies,” he said. “I enjoy the chance to broaden my reading base. Also, having to think about what’s working and what isn’t in stories so I can cast my vote helps me develop a more critical eye for my own writing.”
All six editors currently live and work across the country and stay connected through email and social media. When judging submissions, each editor reads and votes “yes” or “no” on a piece. If a piece earns a majority vote, it gets published, McKeown said.
The word “rampallian” is defined as “a mean wretch,” and so the magazine’s editors aim to reflect this definition.
“We all keep in mind The Rampallian’s mission of publishing work expressing feelings of darkness, sarcasm, anger and/or heartbreak when reading and voting on submissions,” McKeown said.
McKeown and DeOrdio agreed that the style of works published in The Rampallian sets it apart from other literary magazines.
“I think The Rampallian really benefits from Becky’s having a strong sense of the kind of work she wants to publish, which contributes to a definite tone that marks rampallian stories, poems and pictures as specifically ‘Rampallian,’” DeOrdio said.
The Rampallian has received submissions from people of virtually all ages, professions and geographic locations, according to McKeown, which continues to come as a surprise.
“We get people from all over the world,” she said. “We’ve had teenagers submit and we’ve had people in their 80s submit. We’ve had people who run their own lit mags submit. We’ve had professors, students and professionals in various fields submit. We’ve had people going through tough times with depression, illness, disability and poverty submit. We even had a former Amish man submit. It just shows me that literature and art are common threads in many different peoples’ lives. I think that’s really powerful.”
The Rampallian’s first international submission was especially surprising for McKeown.
“I was floored when we received our first submission from outside the U.S.,” she said. “It was an unbelievably cool thing that an artist from Italy wanted to submit to our little magazine. That same issue, our fall 2012 issue, also features a cover photo taken by a young woman from the UK.”
McKeown said she and her fellow editors welcome submissions of all forms, including visual art.
“We mainly receive poetry, though we also accept short fiction and art submissions,” McKeown said. “We specifically look for darker pieces, and we really appreciate black humor. We always need art, so if you’re an artist, please submit!”
To submit to The Rampallian, send pieces to editor@therampallian.com. For specific guidelines and rules for submitting, visit therampallian.com/submissions.
The Rampallian is available for purchase both in print and online formats. Prices vary by issue. To purchase a copy, visit magcloud.com/user/therampallian. Purchases of the print version come with a complementary PDF file of the issue. Fifty percent of proceeds go to the charity of choice for each issue.
McKeown said she believes the literary magazine continues to be relevant in an age when print media seems to be on the decline.
“I think poetry, fiction and art are always going to be something people crave,” McKeown said. “If you look on popular sites like Tumblr, poetry is constantly being shared by hundreds of thousands of users. A lot of lit mags are going completely digital, which I considered doing when I started The Rampallian, but I knew how much I loved holding a magazine in my hand, so I decided to do both. A lot of our contributors buy the print copies even though they get a free PDF version, so I think it matters to them to hold their work, too.”
