By Annika Salant, December 9, 2025
Student editors have shared art and spoken truth through Harvest International, Cal Poly Pomona’s student-run literary journal, for 55 years.
In response to the cruelty of the Kent State massacre in 1970, students banded together and protested “through community and creativity,” according to the Harvest International website. What started as a coping mechanism for a grieving community has evolved into a safe, collaborative space for students to express their emotions through art.
“That’s the heart of what Harvest has always been doing,” said Kristin Prins, an associate professor in English and modern languages and the Harvest International adviser. “We’re just trying to give students a space to work through what they think about the world in a creative work.”
The editorial team decides how many publications are released per semester, Prins said. This year, the team released three zines focused on themes picked by the editors, “Memento Mori” and “Root & Reverie.”
“What’s Past is Prologue,” the team’s first zine of the semester, is a tribute to the creative minds that have attended CPP.
Released in September, the zine highlighted 12 hand-selected pieces written by CPP students over the past 50 years. “Memento Mori,” the October issue, focused on the macabre through all forms of creative media, highlighting the thrills of spooky season.
“Roots & Reverie,” the November release, called readers to reflect on stories about finding family, community and themselves. The team will also be dropping its main issue digitally in December.
The switch to a digital forum was a strategic move to make the journal more accessible and incorporate a multimedia element, according to English education student and editorial member Natalie Gonzalez.
“We live in a more digital era, so we have expanded the types of submissions we get,” Gonzalez said. “Where before it was just poetry, we now receive video art, short videos, voice recordings, and it’s really interesting to see it expand.”
According to Prins, the team’s shift toward a broader scope of media has also impacted the tone of Harvest International’s final issue. Instead of restricting students to a theme like previous zines, the students decided to welcome works regarding any topic in hopes of encouraging students to submit works that reflect their current feelings and inspirations.
“I think it’s such a good and interesting way of getting to know Cal Poly and our student body to see what students are doing when it’s not required for class,” Prins said.
Harvest International closed its search for submissions Dec. 7. According to Hortencia Heredia, an English student and member of the editorial team, publishing original works is as empowering as it is nerve-wracking. She encourages all interested students to submit their art, no matter how daunting it may seem.
“Something I recently learned in my linguistics class was that adults typically stop learning because they’re embarrassed, and we don’t really put ourselves out there,” Heredia said. “That really resonated with me as an elder student. So, for any writers who are too scared to show their work, this is the time.”
The editorial team will release the finished zine at the end of the fall 2025 semester. Be sure to follow the Harvest International Instagram page for updates on their final release and check out their website to view previous zines.
Students who are interested in joining the Harvest International team in spring 2026 can register for ENG 4990 under the Journal Publishing Activity.
