Penumbra

Danya Herman ‘26 and Evie Herman ‘26

Penumbra: A space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light.

Since the late 1970s, GFA’s literary magazine has been the heart of creative expression at our school, illuminating our community’s voices and visions on its pages. All lovers of literature and the arts can agree that, to some extent, we turn to the page to search for clarity and a way to make sense of the tensions in our lives and world. Forming something beautiful out of pain and struggle can help illuminate a path forward, and by weaving stories of ambition, grief, sorrow, joy, nostalgia, and hope together, Penumbra does just that: shine light on the shadows and uncertainties around us to connect, inspire, and elevate GFA’s collective voice. 

Penumbra Dedication ‘25

Pictured Penumbra Staff ‘25

Each year, students and faculty are invited to submit their writing and art to Penumbra, which are then read anonymously by both the editors and staff. Starting last year, we’ve held contests, sharing and celebrating the winning submissions with the upper school. The Penumbra team then works together to create a new edition of Penumbra that we unveil to the GFA community at our annual dedication ceremony in the spring. This book serves as a testament to the incredible talent and hard work of our students and faculty. We also, three years ago, launched Penumbra Weekly, an online edition of Penumbra that showcases select writing and art from our submissions each week. 

Penumbra is not only the place where we publish and celebrate student and faculty writing and art, but also a community where writers and artists can learn and grow together. In addition to continuing to work with and give feedback to GFA middle schoolers on their writing, this year, we launched a workshop series open to anyone in the GFA community. 

To start off this series, in October, we hosted Professor Andy Grace, a published poet and English professor at Kenyon College, on Zoom. He led us through a writing exercise using his poem “Field Guide for How to Pioneer the Midwest” and gave writing advice to our team. Then, in December, we held our first writing workshop. This was a generative workshop with poetry prompts, specifically using poems by Bob Hicok, Mary Oliver, Elizabeth Bishop, and Joanna Klink. Our next generative workshop in January was on short fiction, with prompts based on pieces by Jamaica Kincaid and George Saunders. Then, we held two revision and feedback workshops for students to bring pieces from these generative workshops or other writing they’ve done, and work together to revise each person’s drafts. 

Now, the Penumbra Editorial Board and Staff are finishing reading and rating the writing and art submissions we received, and we are gearing up for our book-making process. Starting in the spring, we will compile all of the pieces that make it into the book and finalize our designs for the layout and cover. 

We hope you will read the next editions of Penumbra Weekly, this year’s edition of Penumbra, which we are excited for you all to see this spring, and continue to visit the Penumbra archives on our website. All of the art, writing, and hard work poured into our pages each year reflect the budding ideas and voices in our community. Penumbra is where tomorrow’s light–the creative thinkers of our GFA community–is first illuminated.