SVSU magazine Still Life celebrates new issue with full house

Still Life, a Saginaw Valley State University-based literary and art magazine, celebrated its third issue’s release to a full crowd at the Saginaw Art Museum on Thursday night.

The magazine began in 2017 after Still Life editor Chris Giroux received an SVSU Center for Academic Innovation grant. Giroux and fellow editors Helen Raica- Klotz, SVSU’s Writing Center Director, and Hideki Kihata, SVSU art department chairman, started the magazine to show the Saginaw community that anyone can produce art and poetry.

During the reception, Giroux announced that Saginaw neurologist and author Dr. Debasish Mridha has agreed to fund the magazine for the next three years.

Still Life will also begin accepting submissions from artists and poets from Midland. Previously, only Bay City and Saginaw creatives could submit, as SVSU has writing centers in these communities.

The standing room only event also doubled as a celebration for Still Life winning first place honors in the American Scholastic Press Association’s magazine category for its first two issues. Raica-Klotz said these awards show the quality of the Great Lakes Bay Region’s art and writing talent.

Throughout the night, those published in Still Life’s third issue shared their works, and attendees were invited to share original or favorite works. Among works shared was a never-before-read poem from the famous Saginaw poet Theodore Roethke, read by Saginaw Art Museum Director Michael Kolleth.

Still Life will be accepting submissions for its fourth issue until July 15 on the SVSU website.