Publishing & Editing

Roanoke Review, a national publication of literary fiction, poetry, essays, interviews and art, was founded in 1967 by Roanoke College student Edward A. Tedeschi and Professor Henry Taylor, who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1986. For over half a century, the Review has cemented itself as a home for new and established authors writing in both traditional and experimental forms. 

Roanoke Review has a student staff of about 20 people, including managing editors, social media managers, events coordinators, interviewers and acquisition editors. Students from any academic discipline are eligible to work at the Review — and all students who serve on the staff earn course credit.  

Student staffers of Roanoke Review have gone on to careers in publishing, editing, event planning and social media management. The training and real-world experiences you gain by working on a renowned publication not only make great additions to your resume, but they also allow you to face the challenges of the job market with confidence in your own skills. 

For information about joining the staff of Roanoke Review through Roanoke College's internship program, visit the publication's website.

Students in our programs build practical job skills in editing and research, developing and maintaining tone and voice, and hooking readers with an engaging narrative whether in a novel or newsletter. These qualities help them excel in diverse professions such as:

• Social media writer (in fields such as education, business, and health care)
• Grant writer (in fields such as research, health care, and for non-profits)
• Editor (for business online and print publications, newsletters, and news media)
• Content strategist (in corporate settings and fields such as health care and education)
• Public relations (for both online and print publications and news releases)

A documentary project as part of an independent study at Roanoke helped Lauren Harrison uncover her passion for storytelling.

Video camera in hand, she followed her family's ancestry trail to many places, including West Virginia, Pulaski and Appomattox. She found gravesites, scoured birth and death records and even uncovered a church founded by one of her ancestors. With encouragement from her faculty advisor, Harrison applied for graduate school at Columbia University's School of Journalism. She won a full tuition scholarship.

After graduating from Columbia, she worked as a reporter at the Chicago Tribune through a two-year residency program. She joined the staff at Newsday, one of the 20 largest-circulation newspapers in the United States, in 2010 as a features reporter covering arts, culture and entertainment in Long Island, New York.