Painted grape leaves from neighborhood pub

Folio

Holy Family University's literary magazine since 1959

If to create art is to engage in the act of discovery, then emerging artists’ findings—your observations, epiphanies, critiques, your passions & desires—are a constellation, each voice flickering on & illuminating something anew. Folio endeavors to be your sky, dear lights, your blank page, your expectant lens, your canvas or darkroom. 

Our publication stands against hate of all kinds, respecting the sacred individual in every living thing; we seek art that furthers understanding, defies convention, but that acknowledges the histories that led us here, to this moment, too. Founded in 1959, Folio published works by students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Holy Family University for 61 years; the writing and art represented in the archives documents the human quest for meaning through such upheavals as the Vietnam War, 9/11, and the COVID-19 global pandemic. But beyond our own journal’s history, we believe that acknowledging the realities of institutionalized discrimination and historical colonial rule leads to more embodied, rounded, versatile, and meaningful art. How can we move forward, towards envisioning new, safer realities for all of our planet’s inhabitants, without also looking back, learning in order to then revise? Holding the past close, as mirror and lesson, as record and pulse, Folio turns, now, to a new chapter—digital, national, forward-thinking, and student-centered. We seek submissions from undergraduate students across the United States that, too, move forward long-standing artistic traditions, pushing limitations and experimenting meaningfully. 

Browse the Folio Archives