Bosque River Review starts a new story

BY ASHTYN HANSARD

Digital Media Director

During the fall 2025 semester, Dr. Jacob Brewer, Dr. Walter Moore and instructor Meg Cline made their work come to life and began to have meetings for Tarleton State University’s new literary magazine, the Bosque River Review (BRR).

Now, the BRR gears up for their first issue to be launched this April.

In the BRR, many students’ works of fiction, poetry and/or art will be featured, displaying their hard work so others around Tarleton and Stephenville can enjoy a good story or art piece in their spare time.

Although Cline left the project after the fall semester, Brewer and Moore have continued to help lead the student editors throughout the final steps.

While Brewer and Moore may be observing and managing the budget, the students involved are the real leaders. Student editors decide the accepted pieces and make final edits, making it their final product.

During the process of creating this magazine, the students split into two groups: fiction editors and poetry editors.

Andrew Kitchens, a poetry editor, decided to join the BRR due to his love for puzzles and music and found that poetry bridges these two very well. According to him, creating a literary magazine is much more than printing a story.

“In 2026, when the current world order is changing before our very eyes, it's important for us students to make our voices heard and share our ideas with a wider audience,” Kitchens said. “It's our turn to step up and bat, and here at the Bosque we're swinging for the fences.”

Teagan Driscoll is another member of the BRR and is a fiction editor for the nine stories that will be featured. His reason for taking on this genre was his love of editing written pieces.

“What draws me more to fiction than poetry is how I can look at the pacing and development of a story like a puzzle to bring out the most impact,” Driscoll said. “Being able to work with writers in piecing together something that they feel the most proud of is such an incredibly rewarding process for me.”

The upcoming BRR magazine will not be focused on one topic or genre, but rather cover a plethora of options so there is something for everyone. Such genres include fantasy, horror, supernatural and literary fiction.

While also submitting her own fantasy piece, senior Zeina Halili, the Editor-in-Chief for the BRR, has helped put together the magazine and conducted her own interview for a special feature in it.

“Being Editor-in-Chief has been a mix of a lot of things at once,” Halili said. “I get to work with all the editors reading submissions, then working on editing them. I was also able to perform some interviews for the first edition and learn everything that goes into putting something out there for others to read.”

Having this magazine built by students is incredibly important for the members of the BRR.

“The BRR needs to be built by students because we're actively building a community through student work,” Kitchens said. “While I appreciate our professors for their continued support, we're the ones that have something to prove, and we've built this journal from the roots up.”

Halili agreed, noting how having students make the journal makes it feel more personal for other students that are just starting to find their fit in the writing world.

“We are not just looking at pieces, we are holding stories and ideas that people had and are giving them a place to belong,” Halili said. “I think it makes it more intentional and meaningful, because it's coming from people who actually understand what it means to want your work to matter.”

On April 27, the BRR will celebrate the launch of its very first edition. Students, family and residents of Stephenville will be able to find copies of the literary magazine on campus and at select locations.