Dear Readers,

 

Welcome to Volume 22 of Lumina Journal. We are so excited and honored to be publishing this selection of prose, poetry, and visual arts with you. We would love to welcome you through the front door into this home for so many beautiful pieces of writing and visual art.

We would first like to begin by thanking everyone on our wonderful team. This year we reached new levels of enthusiasm with our largest group to date. From passionately selecting the pieces for this volume, to having lively discussions at our team meetings, this wonderful group hit the ground running from day one. They embraced Lumina, not just as a journal, but as a community.

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Big thank yous all around to: Our wonderful genre editors and readers for taking the time to carefully review each submission, our copy editors for your keen eyes and precision with these pieces, and our design team for connecting our community via social media with Favorite Book Fridays and Writing Prompt Wednesdays in addition to formatting the online flipbook. Also to our web designer for preventing this group of technologically challenged writers from destroying our beautiful Wix website. 

 

A special thank you to our Managing Editor Shadows Sara Lawler and Avery Barrett. You jumped right into the work, putting together a book and baked goods swap, along with making plans for a print journal next year – stay tuned ;). You contributed greatly to the smoothness of this year’s launch, and we know Lumina is in great hands in the future. We can’t wait to see how you continue to shine next year.

 

Of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t thank the SLC writing program, and specifically our faculty advisor Maddie Mori. Not only do you advise us on how to publish a journal, but you also model how to be professional and empathetic in a leadership role. This journal would not be possible without you. 

 

For our contributors, in addition to our Lumina team, writing has always been a necessity for expression. This is more true today than ever. We are honored to include pieces that touch on the state of the world in 2026. Several pieces speak to the liberation of Palestine and the persecution of trans people, in addition to many other poignant social issues of our time. At the core of every piece, we noticed that everything came back to home, whether that be a physical place, found family, or a state of being. 

 

We would like to thank all of our contributors without whom we would not be able to share such touching writing and visual art. We would not be able to call ourselves a journal without you and your additions to our community of writers.

 

Lastly, we would like to thank you, our readers, for taking the time out of your busy lives to find a piece of home in our journal. 

 

With luminous gratitude,

Max Thibault and Tyson Berardo