Winter 2022

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Editors

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Fiction Contributors

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Artwork Contributors

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Nonfiction Contributors

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Drama Contributors

“She stood upon a continent of ice, which sparkled between sea and sky, endless and dazzling, as though the world kept all its treasure there; a scale which balanced poetry and prayer” – Carol Ann Duffy.

I have chosen to begin this letter with a quotation from Carol Ann Duffy which captures the aestheticism of winter, and simultaneously expresses art’s ability to be rooted in the grit and dirt of life whilst maintaining the promise of transcendence through its beauty and artistry, which is one of the reasons for its international appeal. At Spellbinder, we believe that art is capable of transgressing not just the boundary between transcendence and mundanity, but also that between people. Art comments on human experience and thereby finds relevance within the lives of people from vastly different backgrounds and situations. In this way, art has the power to achieve ‘endless’ communication beyond the little ‘continent’ on which it exists itself.

We have tried to promote this communicative and inclusive quality of art by offering our contributors the opportunity to interact with each other through Creative Conversations, the combination of our blog, Spellnotes, and our podcast, Spellchats. If you haven’t had a chance to check out our first ever podcast episode, I highly recommend that you do so. You will be able to hear Doriana interview Linda and I about Spellbinder and learn about our ethos and values. This season we have also worked on making our long-term blog more accessible to readers by publishing our posts on Medium, as well as our website.

Furthermore, in my last editor’s letter, I wrote about our, then, upcoming anniversary party. This was indeed a huge success. All of the team really enjoyed getting to know our contributors better and foster the supportive community we have always strived to achieve. Our events are significant highlights within the Spellbinder calendar and therefore we have been busy organising a writer’s workshop this season. Due to unforeseen circumstances we were unable to host this event last month, but we still very much hope to rearrange it for you all soon.

In the meantime, we hope you have enjoyed the festive season and our special December treat for you which was the launch of Spellbinder’s Twelve Days of Christmas Advent Calendar. This featured one Christmas themed activity suggestion and one Christmas inspired recipe from around the world for people to have a go at. We thought that this would keep our contributors busy and celebrate the culinary traditions of the many different countries our staff team and contributors identify with. Check out our Instagram posts if you haven’t already!

You will notice that this issue of Spellbinder is much shorter than some of our previous ones. This has been an intentional editorial decision that we have made in the hope of decreasing our page count and thereby making the publication more affordable for our contributors and loyal readers. Our rigorous editors work incredibly hard to ensure that our publication displays the very best of the art and literature that is bravely sent to us and our contributors never cease to amaze us with their talent, commitment and enthusiasm. We are thrilled that Spellbinder has survived into its second year and cannot wait to see what 2022 will bring for this organisation and its passionate community.

Amber Kennedy, Chief Editor

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We have created a playlist inspired by the Winter 2022 Issue. Feel free to play it while reading the issue: