Read All About It: Sliced Bread Magazine

Our "Read All About It" series will look at different student publications on campus that showcase the diversity and talent of our campus.

Title: Sliced Bread Magazine

Established in: 2007

Editors-in-Chief: Jasmine Mithani, Sophia Chun, John Lutz, Sara Maillacheruvu, Parker Chusid, and Tatiana Goderstad

Headquarters: There are three key locations: a room in Harper for weekly meetings, Crerar for laying out submissions on InDesign to send to the publisher, and Harper Cafe for editors’ meetings

Craziest/ most memorable submission: The comic called “iMessage.” It’s featured in this article and can be found in Sliced Bread’s next issue, which will be released O-Week.

How to get involved: Apply the first few weeks of Autumn Quarter at slicedbreadmag.com

Where to find it on campus: Student cafes, campus libraries, and on their website

Sliced Bread’s name is actually indicative of its purpose–the literary magazine attempts to give a slice of everything produced on UChicago’s campus. This “creative outlet,” as editor and third-year Sara Maillacheruvu calls it, is meant to provide campus community members the opportunity to express themselves and show off meaningful and sometimes very personal works of art. The magazine accepts just about anything for submissions: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography, drawings, paintings, and even sculptures or CGI.

“At a school that can be as challenging as UChicago, I think [a creative outlet] is necessary: you can get bogged down with essays and exams, and art offers such a powerful escape,” says Maillacheruvu.

None of the original editors could have imagined how popular such an outlet would become when they started the magazine in 2007. Although the magazine was originally only released once a year, in 2014, they switched to publishing biannually to account for the large volume of submissions.

Printed written work is quickly becoming a thing of the past in this new digital age, so Sliced Bread is looking to expand its presence and push the creative envelope in other ways to accommodate submissions that don’t quite fit the traditional literary mold. In collaboration with the student podcast “The Vein,” Sliced Bread editors have launched the podcast “Bread Beat,” where written works are presented as short online podcasts. Additionally, authors interested in writing long-form pieces have the opportunity to present their work online as an illustrated serial.

As the publication’s mission statement notes, the magazine isn’t looking to become a literary artifact but to “encapsulate the variety and excitement of life itself” in the present age. Between maintaining Sliced Bread’s traditional form and focusing on new initiatives, including a possible website overhaul and a 10-year-anniversary issue, the editors devote a lot of time and energy to the magazine

“Between arranging meetings, corresponding with authors and staff, and making sure that things are generally running smoothly, there’s a lot to tend to,” said Maillacheruvu, who joined as a staff member in autumn 2014 and became an editor in spring 2015.

However she and her other editors maintain that the work pays off and that it is also an educational experience. “Sliced Bread receives a diverse body of submissions, and I’ve learned a lot about art through this diversity, as well as in the diversity of opinions our staff brings,” said Maillacheruvu.

To experience these diverse works of art, head over to slicedbreadmag.com or look out for the next issue coming out during O-Week!