CORRECTION: A previous version of the article misstated the month the machines began printing stories. The story has been updated to reflect the change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Erin Campagna woke up and checked her email, as she does every morning.
When Campagna read the message she received from Arts Everywhere’s editorial board, she screamed. Her roommate came in to check on her, and Campagna said, “I’ve been published!”
Arts Everywhere’s editorial board is accepting fiction, non-fiction and poetry submissions — like Campagna’s — from UNC students and local authors. Stories that the board publishes will be available in eight dispensers scattered across campus.
Hannah Griffin, a sophomore who serves on the editorial board, said the program allows writers who may have a hard time getting published to have that experience and build their confidence.
“We want to create that opportunity for students to get their work published because that's not something that a lot of students can necessarily do in an easy way,” Griffin said. “So because we have that ability and power, we want to make that possible for as many people as we can.”
Before her work was published by the editorial board, Campagna, a sophomore, submitted her work to several magazines and was rejected every time. She said her publication in the short story dispensers helped her get over those rejections.
“I know that when my work got selected, I thought, 'Oh, they think I'm a good writer and they like what I've written,’” Campagna said. “That encourages me to write even more.”
More than 75,000 stories have been printed from the machines since April 2019. Arts Everywhere Fellow Moira Marquis, a doctoral candidate in the English and Comparative Literature Department who oversees the editorial board, said the increased visibility the program provides gives students a better chance at careers in the writing or publishing industries.
