We ain't Ninth Letter (yet)

Ninth Letter is the go-to journal for those of us busy with the place of art in literary journals and, for some, the future of the literary journal itself. I'd like to think of Ninth Letter as Versal's older, wiser and employed friend--years of experience, university affiliation, and the money to do art right.

Not that I think Versal is lacking in experience or failing (its) art--on the contrary, we're doing damn good for a journal that is entirely funded by proceeds from our community events and sales. But what we would give for the cash to have color plates wherever we wanted!

In the meantime, our newly appointed art editor Shayna Schapp has taken on the challenge of doing the best we can with what we have: two color plates, the cover plate, lots of potential b&w space, and people. Like the poetry and fiction teams, Shayna has formed a new group of art editors who will join her and Mirabai to curate the art in Versal via the roundtable model our poetry and fiction teams use. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to our new assistant art editors:

Hélène Webers (b. 1987, Maastricht, The Netherlands) is currently studying art history at the University of Amsterdam, with a special interest in modern and contemporary art, and completed Museology at the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam. Since 2008, she has worked as a curatorial assistant at the contemporary art institute SMART Project Space and CASZ (Contemporary Art Screen Zuidas), an urban screen arts initiative.

Dafna Ruppin is a PhD candidate in Media History at Utrecht University’s Research Institute for History and Culture. Born in Tel Aviv and currently based in Amsterdam, she has worked as a literary critic, journalist, editor and translator.

Reed van Brunschot is a Peruvian/Dutch visual artist merging video, performance & fine art. She has studied in the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is currently in Amsterdam at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie's audio visual program. Her work is a playful pop reaction to modern life.

Welcome, welcome.