“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

On May 10^th 2023, a launch party was held to celebrate the successful release of Elsewhere Issue 5. Elsewhere is an annual English literary magazine that showcases excellent writing and photography by students across UIC and beyond. Produced by Year 4 students in the English for Professional Communications (EPC) concentration of the English Language and Literature Studies (ELLS) programme, with the support of faculty and fellow students, the magazine has garnered a considerable reputation over the years.

The theme of the fifth issue is ‘Breakthrough’, which expressed the most urgent aspiration of our creative team at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we started producing this issue of Elsewhere. It was a period when we yearned for freedom, dreamed of breaking boundaries, and longed for a world in which we could dwell amongst flowers. Accordingly, issue 5 came into being with the brightness of hope offsetting the depression and confusion. At the start of 2023, to our surprise, the longed-for ‘breakthrough’ suddenly occurred, and we emerged from the fog and panic of the COVID era.

We were delighted to have Professor Tze-ki Hon, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; Professor John Corbett, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; Dr Charles Lowe, Head of the Department of Languages and Cultures, and many academic staff members from ELLS attending our launch event as guests of honour.

The celebration began with an opening speech presented by Professor John Corbett, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He gave full recognition to students' hard work and conveyed his expectation for the development of the EPC concentration as sound basis for a future career in editing and publishing.

Professor John Corbett delivers a speech

Dr Benjamin Barber, the instructor of the course that produced the digital version of Elsewhere was unable to join us offline; however, he expressed his heartfelt best wishes and congratulations through a video message. Following this, Chen Siyi and Chen Haoyuan, the student editors-in-chief, shared with the audience their experiences of the production and publication of Elsewhere.

The editors-in-chief waiting to give their speech

Liu Yu, one of Award-winning students, recites a poem

Significantly, we were honoured to interview two guest speakers with an established career in the publishing industry —— Ms. Gao Hui, who is responsible for external publications at the Beijing Xiron Culture Group, and Mr. Anthony Bird co-founder of Honford Star, an independent publishing house. They were invited to share their professional experience in publishing with the audience.

Interview with Ms. Gao Hui

Interview with Mr. Anthony Bird

Q&A Session

Dr. Charles Lowe, Head of the Department of Languages and Cultures, delivered a closing speech that brought this launch party to a successful end.

Dr. Charles Lowe delivers a speech

Delicacies at the tea break

Selling the magazine

Like its predecessors, the latest issue of Elsewhere has maintained high standards in its attractive design and layout. We are confident that it has enriched the Elsewhere tradition in the innovation and creativity of its contents, which address the theme of ‘breakthrough’. Thanks to the joint efforts and creativity of EPC staff and students, we believe Elsewhere has become a mature and established publication.

Voices from Staff of Elsewhere Issue 5