Upper School’s literary magazine features works not only from Sidwell students but also from teenagers around the world.

For the first five years of its existence, The Fountain Pen, the literary magazine run by the Upper School’s Creative Writing Club, focused entirely on publishing the works of Sidwell Friends Students. But last year, the editors decided to define community in the broadest way possible by opening their call for submissions to high schoolers from around the world. 

In deciding to create an international creative writing magazine, the club embraced the belief that people can be shaped by the stories they read, hear, remember, and share—no matter where those stories originate. And that the more stories, poems, and plays we read by people with different backgrounds and experiences, the more our world expands and deepens.

“Through writing, we can express our humanity fully. And by reading the writing of others, we are given the opportunity to learn from others, develop empathy, and experience awe,” says Nora Giuffrida ‘27, who is one of the magazine’s four editors along with Junnah Sheikh ‘27, Ishani Agrawal ‘28, and Angie Spadafora ‘28. “So, we welcome all forms of writing from students anywhere in the world as long as they are 13-19 years old or currently enrolled in high school.” To date, in addition to submissions by Sidwell students, the magazine has received and published several national and international submissions including one from Istanbul, another from Doha.

The magazine is available online and, depending on the volume of submissions, may also appear in print once or twice a year. It accepts all forms of creative writing including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, creative essays (non-academic), plays, and screenplays. 

“We’ve published lots of interesting works including an anime story explored through classical philosophy, which was pretty amusing, and an epic poem about a mythical version of Sidwell, including the ‘evil lair of Upton,’” says Giuffrida. The editors accept all work unless it is inappropriate, explicit, or violent and the club’s faculty advisor, Upper School Librarian Stephanie Gamble, reviews each piece before publication.

Guiffrida, who seems to love everything about writing, seems baffled about AI. “Only humans can write about the human condition,” she says. “IA creative writing—an oxymoron—seems to be a jumble of clichés. I mean, an IA-generated story or poem would be like painting the shadow of a tree instead of the real colors of the tree.”

The Creative Writing Club meets weekly and draws students who may dream of becoming writers or who simply enjoy telling stories or playing with words. The weekly meetings can include word games like Pictionary to get everyone’s creative juices flowing, a prompt to write for 10-15 minutes, or peer reviews of each other’s work. “We’re all there because we love writing and putting what’s in our imaginations into words,” says Guiffrida. “And maybe some of our creations will end up in The Fountain Pen.”

Check out The Fountain Pen here.