Meet our Masthead
Editor-in-Chief:
Ian Lutz
A second year graduate student in the Children's Literature track, Ian is a Manhattan native who likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. While loving all expressions of literature from poetry to fiction to nonfiction, Ian especially loves Touchstone's excellent staff and the writers who contribute to our literary magazine. He has worked as an English teacher in Japan for six years, and is currently writing a bilingual picture book about pen pals.
Fiction Editor:
Maggie Steuer
Maggie is a Second-year graduate student currently pursuing her MA in Children’s Literature and serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Expository Teaching I. Maggie received her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University in the Spring of 2020 and hails from Kalamazoo, Michigan. In her research, she works with adaptation studies in order to focus on how womanhood and gender are perceived through children's literature. In addition to working at Touchstone, she serves as the Secretary for the ChALC and as a Library Ambassador. When she is not sprinting from one activity to another, she is reading, writing, embroidering, or knitting while watching various Pride and Prejudice adaptations or Romcoms.
Poetry Editor:
Aimee Lamoureux
Aimee is a first-year graduate student studying Poetry on the Creative Writing track. She holds a B.A. in history from NYU and a M.A. in life writing from CUNY. She is from the northeast. She likes books, the beach, and the Boston Bruins.
Poetry Assistant Editor: Zoey Dutcher
Zoey is a first year graduate student on the Creative Writing track! She adores poetry and intends to use it as the focus of her studies. Zoey loves literature and writing deeply, and finds joy in photography, nature, and people as well. She is very excited to be a part of Touchstone Magazine!
Nonfiction Editor: Fereshteh Majdi
From Mashhad, Iran, Fereshteh graduated with her bachelor's degree in English language and Literature from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in 2020. Outside her coursework, she enjoys watching series, reading books, and listening to podcasts.
Social Media & Communications Manager:
Natalie Liptak
Natalie Liptak is an instructor of introductory and professional writing at Kansas State University. She is a recent graduate of the K-State English MA program. Natalie specializes in children’s and YA literature, with particular interest in translation and multicultural narratives. Her academic interests also include comparative literature, folklore, and disability studies. Outside of her teaching and own studies, she enjoys photography, listening to music, and martial arts.
Social Media & Communications Intern: Supriya Bolla
Supriya is a first-year Computer Science student pursuing the advancement of technology in theater, music, and media. Between playing the viola, working as a lighting designer, and living in the library, Supriya always found her solace in her local literary magazine, Elementia. As an avid writer, designer, and slam poetry fanatic, she has submerged her hands in Touchstone, with incredible excitement to embrace the KSU literary community.
Readers
Fiction Reader:
Destiny Munns
Destiny is a first year English MA student at Kansas State University. She studied as an undergrad at the University of Florida where she earned a degree in English with a minor in Classical Studies (she briefly considered a minor in Business before discovering her complete inability to do math). On the off chance she isn't teaching Expos Writing II or studying for her own classes, she spends her time crocheting or cuddling with her cats and playing low-stakes video games.
Fiction Reader:
Grace Odgers
Grace Odgers is a junior at K-State majoring in English Creative Writing with minors in Leadership Studies and Business and a certificate in Film Studies. She enjoy swriting realistic fiction and creative nonfiction, and aspires to one day work as a screen writer! In her free time she loves to watch movies, hang out with dogs, read, and watch sports.
Poetry Reader:
Margo Losier
Margo is a long-time lover of music and poetry; they received their BA in English at the University of Florida and took several poetry workshops in undergrad. They have been writing music since middle school and poetry since high school, and they have a particular soft spot for poetry that is musical in its rhythmic structure and contains internal rhyme. A poetry book they're currently enjoying is Sailing the Forest, selected poems of Robin Robertson. They look forward to working on Touchstone and reading the poetry of K-State students!
Nonfiction Reader: Gabriell (Gabe) Padua
Gabe is currently a first-year graduate student in the Kansas State's English Department. One of his biggest interests is theory, specifically postcolonial theory applied to a Filipinx context. More specifically, he is interested in how the literature we read shed light on BIPOC experience, and with that what kind of ideas we can derive from such stories. He believes that the stories we tell are important, but the ideas and frameworks informed by such theories are just as important, hence the decision to read non-fiction for Touchstone. In his free time, he likes to read, learn new things, watch professional wrestling, stuff himself with food, and sleep like bears do in the winter.
Nonfiction Reader:
Matthew White
Matthew is a first-year graduate student in the Literature track at K-State. He received undergraduate degrees from the University of Central Florida and Western Washington University. He enjoys reading old novels, long walks on the beach, and marathon writing sessions in sufficiently ran hipster coffee shops.