By Gracey Murphy
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Entering freshman year at a new place with no friends or family can shake real fear into the bravest of souls. However, those first-year students on the Iowa Writers living-learning community get to the chance to skip the new-student jitters and get straight to work on what they love: writing.

Ink Lit, released every semester since 2011, is written and designed by students and alumni of the community. They will release their ninth edition at 7 p.m. today at Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque St.

Writers will read selections from both the magazine and other pieces of their work. Following, there will be a reception in the Prairie Lights Café. Ink folks will accept submissions for Ink Lit No.10 until Feb. 15.

Daniel Khalastchi, associate director of the Frank N. Magid Center, will introduce the launch.

“When I get to stand up and introduce Ink it’s especially meaningful and exciting for me because, for many of the writers who are included in this magazine, it’s the first time they’ve seen publication,” Khalastchi said. “Here, we’re providing them a platform to share their work and share the work of their peers, so I get very emotional and very excited.”

With the tools learned in Ink, first-year students can hopefully continue to flourish in their writing paths.

UI senior Kelli Ebensberger joined Ink her freshman year and has made her way from editor-in-chief to assistant publisher, her current position.

“I came into wthe Iowa Writers living-learning community not necessarily wanting to be a career writer,” Ebensberger said. “That’s something great about this is, as a teaching tool, it’s giving people the experience as editors, proofreaders, copy editors, and creators. For me, the Iowa Writers was just as encouraging as a reader and an editor as it was for the writers.”

Ink Lit takes submissions from both freshman students and alumni of Ink Lit. While the freshmen are given direction and aided by alumni and professionals at the Magid center, this is really their project that they accomplish by themselves.

“If you can help run a magazine, and if you can learn that responsibility early, I just think it helps you immensely no matter what profession you go in to,” Khalastchi said. “And it also seems to help students with school. They find a community faster, they are invested in what they are doing on campus in new and exciting ways.”

However, the students at the writers’ community are not the only ones who can contribute. Alaina Handrick, a first-year student studying journalism and political science, is not in the community but still had a piece published and will read at the launch.

“I missed speech team, which was reading out loud competitively, and since Iowa has nothing like that this is a really great opportunity to get back in it and have fun,” Handrick said.

Handrick and the other writers will each be given three minutes to share their work tonight.

“A lot of young freshmen come to this school because of the writing legacy and this gives them a chance to kind of duke it out on their own,” Ebenserger said. “They get to stand in the legacy of Prairie Lights and see all the alumni who have been in there, see their friends there, and see the Magid Center.  It gives them a sense that they’re in a place where they’re valued.”

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Ink Lit Launch

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque

Admission: Free