Hello everyone!
This semester, I completed my virtual internship with UNLV’s English department as a poetry publication intern. My advisor and I collaborated to assemble a book of poetry, set to release in 2023. During my internship, I had to gather and communicate with potential contributors, write and organize the book itself, and (with the fatherly encouragement of my advisor) I self-authored a piece for the anthology.
Earnestly, I can say that I couldn’t have done this internship without an in-depth knowledge and passion about poetry and its history. As an English major with a Creative Writing concentration, this internship was right up my alley. Having taken a class where we published a student-made anthology, I felt more than prepared for this job. It felt as though it was a cumulation of everything I had learned in my core English classes.
To succeed in an internship like this, I recommend future students take a creative writing workshop class that is focused on poetry. I’d also suggest taking a more intensive course like ENG 461A, The Study of Poetry and Poetics. Both of these courses will allow prospective interns to understand not only the basics of poetry, but also how to give fair criticism while keeping an open mind. Kindness and empathy is integral for this kind of job and literature helps us gain a better understanding of how others go through the motions of life.
Hilariously enough, I will not be seeking out a career that is related to my major. I’ll be pursuing my MA in Social Work! The connection between this and poetry may seem non-existent, but I feel both are closely related. Both of these disciplines are, at its core, all about understanding the nature of the human condition. My experience as an intern has truly solidified that for me. If you’re like me, and you’re pursuing a career that isn’t related to English, I still recommend doing an internship like this! Seeing and feeling that connection between the “unrelated” is crucial for any career.
As of now, I am not pursuing poetry or book publication as a career because I feel a bit more passionate about Social Work. Ideally, I would pursue both if I could! If I decide to pursue this career path in the future, I would need connections with others in the industry. The work I’ve completed in this internship and in my other classes have prepared me quite well. And so, finding a
job in this area would be a matter of networking!
