This 2023 volume is Tab Journal’s eleventh year, and its print issue draws from traditions of how reading materials are made available to readers. Certainly, text is contained in objects such as books, journals, newspapers—with their scale, weight, and page-turning demands. These objects take on their weight based on cover material, size of page, binding, and ink. A single volume of The Compact Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Edition) weighs 14.8 pounds and comes with its own magnifying glass.
And how are such objects themselves contained? The shelves where books and journals are stored are exclusive to people who can reach, grab, unstack, and navigate codex systems, all within the rooms and buildings that shelves—and readers—occupy. Henry Petroski writes in The Book on the Bookshelf, “Books and bookshelves are a technological system, each component of which influences how we view the other. Since we interact with books and bookshelves, we too become part of the system. This alters our view of it and its components and influences our very interaction with it.”
In Volume 11, Tab Journal questions access in relation to interaction and portability. With digital and audio formats of reading material, what is the place for print? Tab Journal strives for flexibility in a physical interaction yet defies the traditional anatomy of a codex—a spine, page signatures, and an obvious cover. It is not waiting to be chosen from a shelf. Instead, the print issue takes its storage with it in the form of a pouch where other things can join in its container, just as a phone or tablet is a portable container for poetry and much more.
To request one or more copies of the print issue, please use the Contact form.
The online issues in the 2023 volume pick up elements of the print issue’s design, and the entire website is updated to reflect this and shape the reading experience.
Special Issue: California Coastal Commission Poetry Contest
Every year, Tabula Poetica selects finalists for the Coastal Poetry Contest for K-12 students hosted by the California Coastal Commission. This year, Chapman University students in Tab Journal Editor Anna Leahy’s MFA poetry writing class served as the mid-level judges.
Tab Journal is thrilled to share the poems of young Californians as part of this collaboration with the community and Annie Frankel, the Public Education Program of the California Coastal Commission. You can also view the winning art and poetry selections at the California Coastal Commission’s website.
Kindergarten–1st Grade
Winner
Harbor Seals
Madison Quan
Honorable Mention
Down by the Ocean
Lana Babic
Two Waterfalls
Simon Litvinenko
Ocean Waves
Adeline West
2nd–3rd Grade
Winner
Monarch
Randie Byrd
Honorable Mention
Ocean Love
Leanora Bazar
Oh, What a Dream
Madelyn Dennis
My Home Beach
Savannah Liu
By the Seaside
Melody Ran
You Are the Thing I Love Most
Kayla Brianna Zamora
4th–6th Grade
Winner
The Seaweed Life
Maria Klaehn
Honorable Mention
Morning Tide
Logen Duhem
The Wonders of the Golden State
Uma Fox
The Beach
Nikita Pisharody
The Reef
Alice Zhang
7th–9th Grade
Winner
Hello California
Genevieve Watson
Honorable Mention
Morro Bay
Mahala Colebrook
sea & sky
Sierra Elman
Sand Crab
Dylan Feakins
…and the ocean
Crystal Zhu
10th–12th Grade
Winner
A Beach of Unblown Glass
Kaylia Roark-Hernandez
Honorable Mention
El Eco de Mil Corazones | The Echo of A Thousand Hearts
Landon Amavero
Tide Pools
Audrey Goddard
The Beach at Night
Carissa Kelly
Waters, Infinite
Angelyn Liu
