Attendees at the 2023 national FUSE conference at SUNY Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo photo).
The Forum for Undergraduate Student Editors (FUSE) is a national organization that provides a network for undergraduate student editors and writers in an effort to improve the undergraduate literary community. This year, SUNY Geneseo hosted the organization's annual conference.
Rachel Hall, professor of English, was the lead organizer for this year’s FUSE conference. Hall has been taking students to the FUSE conference since 2014.
Lili Gourley ’24, an English creative writing major, and Jess Marinaro ‘24, an English creative writing and sustainability studies double major, helped plan the conference with Hall along with Madolley Donzo ’24 and Nina Fichera ’24. Gourley and Marinaro’s work included organizing and chairing a panel with fellow student Sara Wilkins ’24. ‘What the F*ck is Up with Censorship’ delved into the history of censorship in literary journals. They agreed that the opportunity to organize and facilitate the panel was a novel experience. It gave the seniors an opportunity to discuss how obscenity and censorship affected the growth of literary magazines over time.
The most exciting part of FUSE to students and faculty was the literary magazine showcase of participating universities' literary journals. The event allowed students to derive creativity from the many different literary journals, including those that were publishing for the love of the journal with little to no resources from their institutions. FUSE also gave students the opportunity to discuss best practices of editing and publishing a literary journal.
Hall's goal this year at FUSE was to focus on the editing and publishing aspect of literary journals, instead of merely the creative writing. Becky Tuch, who writes and curates Lit Mag News, a best-selling Substack newsletter dedicated to literary magazine publishing, was chosen as this year's keynote speaker.
This was the first time FUSE was hosted at a public institution. Eight colleges from across the Northeast attended, including Shippensburg University, Wells College, and SUNY Fredonia.
SUNY Geneseo is home to three literary journals run by students: Gandy Dancer, Recess Magazine, and Iris Mag.