About
The Pensieve is an online literary journal dedicated to publishing fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry by emerging writers who have had few opportunities to publish their work, if any. We currently publish on the first, third, and the occasional fifth Wednesdays of each month. Most of the fiction we publish is stand-alone short stories, but we also host a few continuing series from our regular contributors.
The name of this journal is inspired by an interesting magical artifact described in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This device, called the pensieve, was a large basin of water. The wise wizard Albus Dumbledore would touch his wand to his temple and withdraw a silver thread of memory, then place it in the pensieve. When the protagonist, Harry, plunged his face into the water, he was able to observe and live the memory which had been selected.
The pensieve has become for us an icon, a metaphor for the act of writing and reading. It is usually a struggle to find the right words to put down on paper, the words that best express our thoughts and memories. But when a writer has artfully constructed a literary work, regardless of the genre, the readers can be immersed—almost unconsciously—in a world and life their mind has imagined. For us, this is what represents literary beauty. We hope that the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry we share with you here, in The Pensieve, will resonate with you in that most immersive manner.
If you would like to receive email notifications when we publish a new work, feel free to subscribe. If you would like to offer your own writing, please visit our Submit page.
After more than forty years of immersion in a highly technical career, Kelly is now pursuing the dimension of literary art in his work. Although most of his literary creations have been focused on the personal essay, he experiments with other genres such as short stories and poetry. In 2014, he retired as the Assistant Vice-President for Information Technology at Brigham Young University, where he directed the technical work of 250 full-time and 600 part-time employees. Now, he spends his time teaching, learning, writing, and reading, trying to make a difference in the lives of others.
Elizabeth graduated from Brigham Young University in 2018 with a bachelor's in English and minors in editing and Portuguese. Since then, she has worked as a freelance editor and writer as she also works on her creative writing and takes care of her young children.
The name of this journal is inspired by an interesting magical artifact described in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This device, called the pensieve, was a large basin of water. The wise wizard Albus Dumbledore would touch his wand to his temple and withdraw a silver thread of memory, then place it in the pensieve. When the protagonist, Harry, plunged his face into the water, he was able to observe and live the memory which had been selected.
The pensieve has become for us an icon, a metaphor for the act of writing and reading. It is usually a struggle to find the right words to put down on paper, the words that best express our thoughts and memories. But when a writer has artfully constructed a literary work, regardless of the genre, the readers can be immersed—almost unconsciously—in a world and life their mind has imagined. For us, this is what represents literary beauty. We hope that the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry we share with you here, in The Pensieve, will resonate with you in that most immersive manner.
If you would like to receive email notifications when we publish a new work, feel free to subscribe. If you would like to offer your own writing, please visit our Submit page.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Kelly McDonald
After more than forty years of immersion in a highly technical career, Kelly is now pursuing the dimension of literary art in his work. Although most of his literary creations have been focused on the personal essay, he experiments with other genres such as short stories and poetry. In 2014, he retired as the Assistant Vice-President for Information Technology at Brigham Young University, where he directed the technical work of 250 full-time and 600 part-time employees. Now, he spends his time teaching, learning, writing, and reading, trying to make a difference in the lives of others.Elizabeth Derrick Smith
CONTACT
Questions or concerns? Send us an email: liz@thepensieve.site or kcm@thepensieve.site
