Zzang: About Zzang Poetry 'Zine

Zzang: About

Zzang is a free poetry 'zine from New Jersey. It is hand-crafted out of the home of its creator Erika Salomon. It spawned from Erika's frustration in that, though she wrote plenty, her work never reached an audience greater than a few of her friends. She knew other artists who felt the same way, and decided a local poetry 'zine would be the perfect cure.

Originally the title had no meaning; it was just a cool noise. However, research revealed that "zzang" is Korean slang for "the best." Perfect.

The goals of Zzang are: 1) To provide a medium for unknown artists to promote their works, 2) To offer a new selection of poetry to readers, 3) Provide a motivation for artists to keep writing, and 4) Keep alive the interest in poetry.

There is no set interval between the publishing of each issue of Zzang. A new issue will be published as soon as there are enough poems to make one, and Erika's time allows for it to be completed.

Zzang is an open 'zine, and accepts submissions of poetry. There are no guidelines, restrictions, or regulations placed on submissions. All poems are considered, and an effort is made that each artist who submits a poem gets published at least once. A response is guaranteed to any poem that is submitted with an email address.

Top

Find Zzang. With help from the wonderful teachers in the English department of Shawnee High School, Zzang is distributed to about 100 students in the school. Erika also drops Zzang off at several independent music stores, such as Tunes, Backstage Music, and Music Stop. To request a copy of any issue or of future issues, email Erika at: pepperjkat@home.com.

Top

Erika Salomon is eighteen years old and currently in her senior year at Shawnee High School in Medford, New Jersey. She has lived in south Jersey her whole life, but will be moving to a dorm room at the University of Maryland -- College Park in late August of 2001.

Erika has been writing poetry for six years. In August of 2000, she founded a small local poetry magazine titled Zzang, which is Korean slang for "the best". Zzang publishes poetry from a large part of New Jersey, most of which is composed by other high school students. Since August, four issues have been printed. Erika is also an editor of her school's literary magazine the Shawnee Art/LitMag. In this post, she helps select poems to be published and design the layout.

In the last year, Erika has become active in the online poetry scene through online publishing and poetry forums. She has made the poetry of Zzang available online as well as publishing her own work at sites such as Poets2000.com. In response to requests from contributors to Zzang, she has constructed the Zzang Poetry Forum, at which are book and website recommendations, essays and discussion on the art of writing poetry, and monthly writing prompts. Erika is also a moderator of the Poetry 2000 Message Forums which includes many resources for writers including critique and useful links. She also participates at a few other poetry boards, though to a more limited degree.