UAS literary and arts journal to release 2026 edition
- Ellie Ruel
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Launch celebration will be held Thursday night at Egan library
By Ellie Ruel
Juneau Independent
This year’s edition of Tidal Echoes, a journal sponsored by the University of Alaska Southeast showcasing creative written and visual works from Southeast Alaskans, is set to make its debut Thursday night.
UAS English professor Emily Wall manages the journal and advises the student editors. She’s been involved with the journal since its inception 23 years ago through a grant from the chancellor’s office.
“The original idea was to create a UAS student journal, but when I took over managing it 19 years ago, we turned it into a regional journal,” Wall wrote in an email. “The idea was to give UAS students an opportunity to learn editing that was larger than a student-only journal, and to give our students a space to publish on a larger platform. It's evolved since then to showcase writers and artists in our entire region.”
She said her job is a fun and complex one, juggling teaching students about the world of publishing and editing while managing almost 30 people involved in the journal’s creation each year.
“Throughout my education, primarily the writing process has always been about how to correctly put words on the page, but in publishing, I get to see how those words leave paper and enter the public,” wrote Madelynne Brehmer, one of the spring interns.
Brehmer is a junior in the English program and hopes to work in Alaska publishing in the future. She joined the internship program after her piece, “Husk,” was published in Tidal Echoes last year.
Kat Gray, the other spring intern, said in an email that while she’s never submitted work, the editing experience has exposed her to a broader range of works.
“I have been following Tidal Echoes for a while, especially being an artsy person from Juneau. I'd collect copies when they were released each year, and I also often go to places like Friends of the Library and Rainy Retreat to look for older copies — but I have never actually submitted to the journal myself,” Gray wrote. “I think the internship experience has been really important for me as both a writer and artist to get a larger idea of the types of work that people put into the world, and the types of niches I could fill within my own interests and breadth of work.”
While the editors noted the journal receives a high volume of poetry, this year saw some particularly evocative works.
“I think this year we had a lot of submissions that tended towards being very introspective. Both about the self, but also about how one may interact with the people and world around them,” Gray wrote. “There was also a lot of relationship-driven stories — whether that was a reflection between parents and their children, or between the narrator and their friends and lovers.”
One of those stories is “Garbage Day” by Kaida Irvin, which won the Mac Behrend Creative Writing Award given to a UAS student who shows excellence in creative writing.
“‘Garbage Day’ began as an observational piece based on a familiar and usually mundane experience, garbage collection in Hoonah, Alaska, where I’m from,” Irvin wrote in an email. “I was initially drawn to the imagery of ravens and bears scavenging. As I continued drafting, the poem evolved into a more layered commentary on food insecurity in Southeast Alaska. It became a way to gesture toward larger systemic issues, particularly the tension between human consumption and environmental scarcity.”
Part of the way those stories are honored, Brehmer said, is arranging the journal’s “guts” in a way that makes the most sense. After an anonymous read with the selection board, the spring interns go through an intensive layout process with the full manuscript.
“Kat and I put a lot of heart and hard work into arranging the book, and it was simply magical to be able to place pieces where we believed would create a bigger statement,” Brehmer wrote. “Itʼs like our own love letter to all the pieces: making sure they shine brightest.”
The launch event will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the Egan Lecture Hall. Four artists published in the journal will read their pieces, featured artist Davina Cole will present on Ravenstail and Chilkat weaving, and featured writer Jonas Lamb will read poems from his collection “What Turtle Blood Tastes Like.” An artist Q&A will wrap up the event, and journals will be for sale for $5 each.
“This year the work feels so strong and passionate. We laughed and even cried a little when reading submissions,” Wall wrote. “I think the community is going to just love this year's book.”
• Contact Ellie Ruel at ellie.ruel@juneauindependent.com.
