Flight
Dear Readers,
In our search for a theme to build this issue around we sought inspiration from the events that surround us at this time of year. We subsequently alighted on the theme of flight, a theme which our contributors weaved into their pieces in a myriad of different ways.
We chose this theme as reflective of the time of year we find ourselves in as students. With the third term of Durham coming to a close people are approaching graduation, people are returning home, people are setting off on holidays, international students are boarding planes. The durham student collective disperses across countries and continents leaving behind their year in the city as they migrate away, some to return but others gone forever into graduate jobs, travels, or feeling their way along a path they haven’t quite figured out yet.
This was the inspiration for our theme, but alongside this when we think about the purpose of writing we can see another connection with our theme. Writing at its heart takes readers on a flight of their own, unfolding a new world, a new reality below them, external and internal to the minds of the character that inhabit it. The reader is swept through streets and through houses, flitting between the minds of characters and observing them. Lifting us out of our lives to fly away, for a while.
So we invite you to read through our wonderful pieces of work, take flight through the worlds and places, characters and ideas our contributors have crafted. See where it takes you…
Happy reading!
From the Lighthouse Team
Letters from the Editors
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Rory McAlpine
Editor-in-Chief
Despite an unfortunate delay we are delighted to be able to publish last years term three issue titled ‘Flight.’ As always it is deeply important to us to allow authors to display their work proudly and have the opportunity to share it with our readership. With the final issue of last year now complete, we can look forward to another year where ‘From the Lighthouse’ can continue building and fostering Durham’s literary community, publishing work that embodies its calibre and creativity.
So I want to write a very simple message. As we start a new academic year whatever position you find yourself in and whatever past experience or relationship with writing you have, come along to our workshops, or our events, or dare I say it pick up a pen and submit to us . We love reading your work and we would not exist without it.
So as we begin again I thank everyone who has been a part of our journey before and warmly welcome everyone who will join or continue on our journey in the months to come
Rory
Mia Hyde
Editor-in-Chief
It’s fair to say that ‘Flight’ has experienced a bit of turbulence over the last few months. But we’ve finally landed, thanks to an incredibly patient and supportive team, bringing you into a luxury island of some incredible literary talent. Although small, it’s definitely worth the journey: from Izel’s historical take on the emotional turbulence that physical flight induces, to Jiyan’s disturbingly gothic dramatisation of an antichrist ascension, we really invite you to fly across a vast range of different genres, minds, times, and worlds. Rory and I are so excited to be at the helm this term, and with such a passionate new team. With so many new ideas for this year, we can’t wait for FTL to really take off—and take your writing and your mind to exotic, interesting places. So, spread your wings, and let your imagination fly free in reading this outstanding issue of FTL!
Mia
Fiction
Featuring stories by Dayi Feng, Izel Ilkten-Salman, Annie Park and Jude King.
Issue 10: Sections
Drama
Featuring a short play by Jiyan Sheppard.
Section Editor Letters
Max Brandau
Drama Editor
Flight is an extremely versatile concept to apply to drama, as it can act a literary role within the text, but also be expressed through physical means in a performance piece. Jiyan’s piece tackles this concept from an especially unique angle, drawing in the reader with its simultaneously ominous and fascinating tone.
Max
Talia Jacobs
Poetry Editor
Talia