The Watershed Journal is a “grassroots literary magazine produced in the mountains of Northwestern Pennsylvania” dedicated to empowering readers and sharing voices from the mountains of Northern Appalachia! Keep reading for our Q&A with the folks behind The Watershed Journal and visit their website, where you can find podcasts, online exclusives, and more…
If you like what you read here, be sure to connect with The Watershed Journal on Twitter and Facebook!
Header image is a composite of photos by Joe Taylor (left) and Greg Clary (right), both courtesy of The Watershed Journal.
Can you tell us a little bit about The Watershed Journal?
Our extremely local literary magazine publishes quarterly in print and online. The production team thoughtfully combines writing and imagery to provide an immersive and diverse experience for our readers. What sets us apart from other literary publications is our goal of inclusion; we define ourselves based on who we publish rather than who we turn away. We firmly believe that those who choose to live in or write about our region of the Pennsylvania Wilds have unique voices and stories that matter!
Who makes The Watershed Journal happen?
Our production team is a two-woman crew, backed by a passionate and involved Board of Directors. Jessica Weible first pitched the idea of publishing a magazine in a writer’s group meeting in late 2017. Several volunteers jumped on to kickstart the effort and by June of 2018 we had our first magazine with 40 pages of local writing and photography. The local community has responded enthusiastically and our readership grows with every issue. We’ve honed our process and improved our professionalism since that first publication, but our basic philosophy to uplift and encourage local storytelling has remained strong.
And you wanted The Watershed Journal to focus on rural Pennsylvania specifically…
Because we live here and want to be published! There are a lot of talented writers, photographers and artists living in this area, many of whom have only recently begun to share their work. We created a magazine not to compete with big-city publishing, but to better represent the experiences and perspectives of those living in our region. And we believe that there is a broad audience for these stories and images – what’s happening in our part of the Wilds is beautifully diverse and fascinating.
How or where can our readers find The Watershed Journal?
There’re lots of ways readers can engage with the work of our writers and artists. Our print magazines are distributed at six local businesses – Fusion Atelier in Brookville, Rosie’s Book Shoppe in Dubois, Artfunkel’s and Cricket Song Cafe in Clarion, B’s Books in Punxsutawney and Through the Woods in Clarington. Digital readers can find our e-magazine on Amazon starting with the recent Summer Edition. Our web guru, Sarah Rossey, also publishes Online Exclusives every quarter on our website, as well as our semi-weekly podcast Writers of the Watershed and blog The Tributary.
Can anyone submit to The Watershed Journal?
The Watershed Journal’s production team runs our magazine on a basis of inclusion and strives to publish as many eligible, local submitters as the magazine can hold. Ours is a rural region, accustomed to exploitation and full of rich tradition. We are dedicated to serving this underrepresented region and giving a voice to the writers, photographers and artists who call our portion of the Pennsylvania Wilds home. Writers from the following Pennsylvania counties are eligible for print: Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Venango, and Warren.
For more about The Watershed Journal, visit their website at thewatershedjournal.org and connect with The Watershed Journal on Facebook and Twitter!
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