At its core, The Bayou Review is a space for exploration.
The Bayou Review, University of Houston-Downtown’s student-run literary and arts magazine, is tied to the course ENG 3332 Literary Magazine Production, in which students learn firsthand how to publish a literary magazine on a short timeline. The editors—Alexa Beltran, Alex Dangtuw, Samara Gaona, Titan Lightfoot Carrillo, Maryann López, Jordan Moon, Taylor Smith, and Rue Thompson—have had total creative control over the Spring 2026 edition’s contents, while Faculty Advisor Dr. Lau Cesarco Eglin serves to provide guidance and to challenge the students.
They read every submission, identified what moved them and why, engaged in spirited discussions—is this piece objectifying or subversive, clever or cliché—and took responsibility for editing about five pieces each. The handling of social media, emails, documentation organization, and graphic design was distributed across the team. All the while, the students work under significant time constraints, having less than two months to call for, review, and filter down hundreds of submissions and then finalize layouts for the printer.
This semester’s team chose to let the large batch of submissions they received dictate the direction of the magazine, explaining, “Part of the beauty of putting together an issue with no set theme is the opportunity to welcome different styles and themes and to discover the pulse of our collective concerns. This pulse comes from not only local artists but those far-flung voices that complete the picture of our current world.”
When asked about key challenges and takeaways from this course, most students acknowledged that effective collaboration—from effectively articulating their thoughts to making space for others to compromising on content—carried a learning curve, however, this process gave students invaluable experience. “Thanks to the unique dynamics that formed throughout our collaboration, I found myself looking, learning, and analyzing each piece from a different perspective, and learning how to be selective,” said Dangtuw.
While there were several contributions that drew a positive consensus from the team, the editors highlighted a visual art submission as a piece that strongly resonated with the group: “Spider Web and Water Drops by Roger Camp was a piece that inspired child-like awe and sparked curiosity because of the positioning of droplets that reflected the light, making the artwork seem as though it was glowing from within. The more you study this image,” the editors lauded, “the more that it reveals its secrets: the life in the webs.”
They also held up the literary piece “Dear Girl, Dear Boy,” originally written in Romanian by Ioana Nicolae and translated by Clara Burghelea, as an example of the kind of works they hope to see in future editions. “We thoroughly enjoy and encourage translation submissions from languages all over the globe.”
That spirit of openness runs through the entire issue, and readers can experience it firsthand. If you’d like to read “Dear Girl, Dear Boy” and more, you can pick up The Bayou Review at OMB South 250. All are welcome at the distribution party in that same room on Tuesday, April 21, from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m.