A decade into Exposition Review, there are a handful of events that we look forward to every season: The editorial board’s yearly retreat each fall. The launch party for the annual issue each summer. And, in between, the publishing workshop we put together for emerging writers each spring.
For our ninth annual “Share Your Voice!” workshop, we once again invited WriteGirl teens and alums and students from PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud program to this free session with the ultimate goal of publishing their work.
We gathered via video chat on Sunday, May 4, 2025, with folks Zoom-ing in from Los Angeles to New York in order to explore literary journals, build community, and ultimately invite participants to submit to Expo.
Hosted by co-Editor-in-Chief Annlee Ellingson, the workshop included presentations on:
- Finding the right home for your work by friend-of-Expo Sofía Aguilar.
- The ins and outs of writing bios and cover letters by Lauren Gorski, editor of our Stage & Screen, Comics, and Film sections.
- Preparing to submit your work by Annlee.
- Managing rejection promoting your writing when it does get accepted by Flash Fiction Editor Jessica June Rowe.
It can be easy to get overwhelmed, but there is a magazine for everybody. – Sofía
We also revisited what has become a favorite workshop activity: role-playing as frontline readers. In this interactive segment led by Lauren, we picked the titles, first lines, and six-word stories we liked best to help illustrate the reality of what goes on behind the scenes at literary journals.
As you consider places to publish, come back to your ‘why’—why do you want to be published, what publications support your goals, and what brings you the most satisfaction with your work? – Lauren
As always, we saved the best for last, inviting the WriteGirl and DREAMing Out Loud participants to submit their work to Exposition Review for consideration for free. We are thrilled to publish Simi Modupeore Raji’s stageplay “An Herb Most Bruised” and Rebekah Grace de Guzman’s poetry film “Epitaphs in Eagle Rock” in our Vol. X: “Spring” issue.
WriteGirl is a Los Angeles-based creative writing and mentoring organization that matches girls and gender-expansive youth with women and gender-expansive writers who mentor them in creative writing. With nearly 400 volunteers serving more than 700 teens and young adults annually, every year the organization produces dozens of workshops, panel discussions, and special events to help its members get creative, get through high school, and get to college.
Here’s more about WriteGirl.
DREAMing Out Loud is PEN America’s tuition-free creative writing workshop series for migrant writers from all immigrant communities and backgrounds, both citizens and non-citizens. By providing community and professional support to the next generation of immigrant writers, the program seeks to counter anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. and to amplify the voices of many living in this country who are marginalized because of their immigration status.
Here’s more about DREAMing Out Loud.