“Toyon’s History”
Genres Over Time
Since its beginnings in 1954, the Toyon Literary Magazine has published works from many different genres. While it consistently publishes genres like poetry and fiction, the scope of genres has only grown. Some genres have come and gone: “screenwriting” was solely published in 1958. Other genres have persisted but poetry has always been published in Toyon. There hasn’t been a single issue in Toyon’s history that did not include poetry.
The names of genres have also changed. Sometimes fictional pieces were categorized under “short story” rather than simply “fiction.” From 2008 and onward, there’s been a spike in genres accepted for publication including literary criticism, creative nonfiction, environmental justice writing. Environmental Justice Writing was established in Toyon in 2016, putting focus on environmental writing.
Toyon’s Volume 54 (2008) even had a “spoken word” category, fully accompanied with a CD insert. In recent years, Toyon has sought out more submissions for the Spoken Word category, welcoming the genre to its repertoire. In 2017, the Fuerza Award in Spoken Word was introduced.
Strides have also been made to be more inclusive. In 2016, Toyon began publishing translated works. Historically, Toyon has published many multilingual pieces that use language besides English, but adding Translation as a genre has only increased Toyon’s reach.
- Liliana Del Rio, 2018-19 Toyon Creative Nonfiction Editor
The names of genres have also changed. Sometimes fictional pieces were categorized under “short story” rather than simply “fiction.” From 2008 and onward, there’s been a spike in genres accepted for publication including literary criticism, creative nonfiction, environmental justice writing. Environmental Justice Writing was established in Toyon in 2016, putting focus on environmental writing.
Toyon’s Volume 54 (2008) even had a “spoken word” category, fully accompanied with a CD insert. In recent years, Toyon has sought out more submissions for the Spoken Word category, welcoming the genre to its repertoire. In 2017, the Fuerza Award in Spoken Word was introduced.
Strides have also been made to be more inclusive. In 2016, Toyon began publishing translated works. Historically, Toyon has published many multilingual pieces that use language besides English, but adding Translation as a genre has only increased Toyon’s reach.
- Liliana Del Rio, 2018-19 Toyon Creative Nonfiction Editor
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In 1954 Humboldt State University graced our campus and community with the first edition of the Toyon. HSU’s brand new literary magazine featured only two writing genres. Since then Toyon has continued to learn from experience and expand horizons annually. I would like to take you through the timeline, highlighting updates of genres, according to the digital commons found on the Toyon website.
Genre Timeline: 1954-1957: Fiction, Poetry 1958: Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting 1959-1965: Fiction, Poetry 1966-1986: Fiction, Poetry, Art 1987-1996: Fiction, Poetry 1997-2002: Fiction, Poetry, Art 2003: Poetry, Art, Short Story 2004-2007: Fiction, Poetry, Art, Creative Nonfiction 2008-2009: Fiction, Poetry, Art, Creative Nonfiction, Spoken Word 2010: Poetry, Art, Creative Nonfiction, Fiction 2011-2015: Poetry, Art, Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Literary Criticism 2016: Poetry, Art, Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Multilingual 2018-2019: Poetry, Art, Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Spoken Word *In 2017 the Toyon began to publish Multilingual submissions within writing genres. Key Moments In 1954 the very first Toyon was published, offering only two genres to submit under: Fiction, and Poetry. In 1958 our literary magazine introduced Screenwriting as an included genre, and has never been included since. In 1966 after eight years of print, Toyon added Art as a genre to the magazine. Art was included in every magazine to date, except for an artless gap from 1987 to 1996. In these years poetry dominated the magazine, and Short Story was introduced to the magazine, in place of Fiction. In 2004 another genre was added for the first time, Creative Nonfiction. Also in 2004, when the Toyon staff added the new genre, they name changed Short Story back to Fiction. In 2008 and 2009, Toyon featured a Spoken Word section. The Toyon included a CD for the published spoken word performances. Spoken word would not make a return until 2017! Literary Criticism was added to the magazine in 2011. The genre has been fully embraced by the staff and submissions continues to be featured in our magazine annually. In 2016 Toyon added a Multilingual genre to the magazine. Which allowed the Toyon to proudly consider itself a Multilingual magazine. The following year in 2017, the magazine removed Multilingual as a genre and published multilingual pieces in according genres. Also in 2017, the Toyon made another progressive decision to include Environmental Justice to the list of genres. Today I am writing today as one of three editors for the Spoken Word section for the 2019 Toyon, and as someone who is grateful to be working hands with the magazine. The Toyon has grown and developed into positive, progressive entity. The history of increasing genres shows the Toyon’s value of diverse expressions from diverse people. I am proud and honored to stand behind a magazine with morals of unity and enlightenment through literature and art. -Deanna Abate, 2018-19 Toyon Spoken Word editor |
In 2008 and 2009, Toyon featured a Spoken Word section. The Toyon included a CD for the published spoken word performances.
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The first Toyon Magazine, 1954. This edition only features 2 genres, Poetry and Fiction. The Toyon opens to the first piece, rather than a table of contents.
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The Toyon Magazine, 2018. This edition pays tribute to award winners. Following that the six genres are listed.
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