Tulgey Wood is not only for the prose
By April Lukenbach
Staff Writer

For 33 years the Tulgey Wood has been a free, annual publication of Hutchinson Community College, coming out every spring.

It publishes the poetry, creative writing and essays of students at HCC, while student editors provide layout and editing.

It made its first appearance in 1972. Bob Gassen and Jim Guynter, HCC instructors, were the original sponsors for the Tulgey Wood. Bill Sheldon, English instructor, is the current sponsor for the publication.

“With these editors my job is pretty easy,” Sheldon said.

The student editors, Dustin Hawkins and Justin Nisly, are in their second year of being co-editors. Sheldon has only good things to say about them.

“They are both strong writers and insightful editors,” he said.

Sheldon has been the sponsor for many years; even he isn’t sure how long.

“ I do know when I started,” Sheldon said. “In the mid-90’s I guess.” 

Steven Hind was a long-time sponsor of the literary magazine and gave Sheldon his start as co-sponsor.

“I was interested in creative writing. I just asked if Steven Hind needed help,” Sheldon said. “When he left, I just kind of took over.”

Last year, the Tulgey Wood had enough submissions to pick and choose what went into the magazine. Sheldon said that just because an individual’s submission wasn’t published doesn’t mean they weren’t strong writers. The vast majority of the submissions came from the creative writing classes although in the last few years, more have come from outside of the class.

In order to submit anything to the Tulgey Wood one must get a submission form which can be found on the door of Sheldon’s office, Lockman Hall 210. The editors also have submission forms. One must send the submission attached to the form. The final date for submission is, March 29. There are usually about 400 to 500 copies printed per year. They will be in Lockman Hall and during the last week of school. They can be found in the newspaper boxes.