果冻传媒麻豆社

History and Mission 

Thistle, an imprint of the 果冻传媒麻豆社’s revered national literary magazine Fugue, was founded in 2022 by undergraduate Fugue interns, the MFA Program in Creative Writing, and the Department of English. Its mission is to publish the finest original undergraduate student fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and hybrid forms each year and to give aspiring editors hands-on experience with all facets of literary publishing, from acquisitions and editing to design and marketing. The journal, published in beautiful print editions at the end of each Spring semester—and distributed to the university community free of charge—is produced and edited exclusively by and for students.

Current Leadership

The current Editor-in-Chief is Victoria Rowles. Victoria may be reached at thistle@uidaho.edu between December 2024 and May 2025. Professor Michael McGriff serves as Faculty Advisor. 

Availability

Physical copies of Thistle are available to students in the seating nook outside the Department of English Main Office (Brink Hall, Room 200) and in the There There student lounge (Brink Hall, Room 226). Thistle is professionally printed in a paperback edition of 400. Copies are distributed to the university community for free on a first-come, first-served basis. 

ENGL 486: Thistle Editing and Publishing  

English 486 is offered for 3 credits during the Spring semester of each year.  You may take ENGL 486 up to two times (6 credits, max). Enrollment in ENGL 486 is by permission only. If you wish to enroll in ENGL 486, please reach out to the current Faculty Advisor Michael McGriff during course registration and express your interest. Due to the limited space, experienced students and Juniors and Seniors may be given preference. Participating in this class gives student editors hands-on experience with all facets of literary publishing, from acquisitions and editing to design and marketing. In ENGL 486, students work under the leadership of the current Editor-in-Chief. Thistle is run as a real-world literary journal, so think of taking ENGL 486 as working for a small publishing company. Students in this class will be broken into editorial groups and work collaboratively with the Editor-in-Chief to ensure that, by the end of the Spring semester, the class has published the new issue of Thistle. Participants in this course will also interface with the editorial team of Fugue, who will visit ENGL 486 to offer advice, share expertise, and lead small discussions about publishing and editing. NOTE: ENGL 486 is rigorous, demanding, and functions according to a tight, real-world production schedule. A willingness to work long hours, collaborate, compromise, solve problems in a group setting, and share ideas is central to the success of Thistle; if this sounds exciting and meaningful to you, we hope to see you in ENGL 486.

Submitting Your Writing to Thistle

For the current submission guidelines, please click the Submissions tab.