Hippocampus Magazine Has a New Associate Editor + Other Exciting Staff Updates

A note from the founder/publisher, Donna Talarico:

Rae Pagliarulo

Rae Pagliarulo is a force of nature. She showed up at HippoCamp — and she has been an important part of our organization ever since. First, she came on board as writing life editor (after an irresistible cover letter), where she enthusiastically solicited columns that would help writers learn how to fit our craft into already-full lives. Just about a year after, she transitioned into a newly created flash editor position and has upped our game in that sub-genre of CNF.

Aside from this editorial prowess, Rae was instrumental in kicking off our Friends of Hippocampus Magazine program at last year’s HippoCamp. (And if we’re being honest here, she’s the one who gave me the courage to ask our community for help; not only is Rae a writer and editor and all-around awesome person, she’s also, by day, a kick-ass nonprofit professional.) Rae’s leadership ability and dedication to Hippocampus and HippoCamp is clear — she’s gone above and beyond in helping put an online magazine together: her role has expanded into many behind-the-scenes efforts and initiatives, too. With all of that in mind:

I am excited, delighted, and proud to share that Rae has been named associate editor of Hippocampus Magazine.

Rae will remain flash editor; this new role recognizes and elevates her work on Friends, our inclusion efforts, HippoCamp and other events, and much more. Along with this, she’ll also collaborate with the flash team in a new way… see below for more on that.

It’s an exciting time for Hippocampus. We’ve been behind the scenes working on streamlining and adding efficiencies to our submissions process. Our masthead has grown, as new section editors took ownership of pieces of the magazine. Then we added the a flash editor role, and from that developed a new structure that we plan to carry over to the essay/memoir team.

Thanks to the passion, time, and hard work of this group, we’ve became a stronger team, and a stronger publication. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

–Donna

A note from Rae Pagliarulo, associate editor:

Like so many members of the Hippocampus community, I tripped over the entrance to this wonderful world somewhat accidentally, and now, I have a completely different writing life because of it. I am not in this position because I’m the only one that has serendipitously careened from published writer to conference presenter to staff member and beyond – I’m in this position because I WOULD NOT leave Donna alone! I’m thrilled and honored that over the last several years we have built a working relationship that plays to each of our unique strengths, and allows us to do what we love most – working our butts off to make Hippocampus Magazine, Books by Hippocampus, and HippoCamp the best, strongest, most inclusive, and most dynamic ventures they can possibly be. This community is what it is because of the people in it. Thank you for trusting me to help make it great.

Wendy Fontaine and Vonetta Young have been my ride-or-die readers since I took over as Flash Editor in February 2019. We have waded through the slushiest of slush piles together, working hard to not only find the best flash essays, but to make thoughtful and compassionate edits so those essays would shine and reverberate for all of the Internet to see. As I take on more responsibility in my new role, Wendy and Vonetta have graciously taken on Assistant Flash Editor roles, and we have expanded the size of our reading team from 3 to 12 overnight! This means we can work together to review submissions in a more timely manner, and widen the spectrum of perspectives and identities that we feature in the magazine. I’m so grateful to Wendy and Vonetta for their hard work and humor as we keep slushing away together!

–Rae

Want to Join Our Team?
We’re looking to expand our essays/memoir reading panel and also to fill a few new volunteer positions: two social media/content writers and one visual content creator. You can read about the roles here.