Palomar’s award-winning annual literary magazine, Bravura, crosses yet another milestone this year with the celebration of its 50th year of publication.

Since 1959, Bravura has given a creative voice to the student body of Palomar College in a variety of genres.

“What is great about Bravura is that we feature many writers who do go on to become English teachers, go into business and creative arts as well as transfer programs, we find their voices represented,” said faculty adviser Carlton Smith.

The literary magazine is edited, produced and published by the students in the English 137 class and is led by advisers Smith and Rocco Versaci, who have been involved with the publication for over 15 years.

“(The class) puts together all the different writings, photography, poetry and comics that people have submitted around school,” explained English 137 student Gabriella Pleasant .

“Bravura reflects the creative voices on campus and gives opportunity to literary and visual artists to present their work,” Smith said.

A celebration has been held for the last 10 years at the end of the semester when the magazine is published but this year is a special occasion.

“This year is going be different because we will have a larger celebration that will also work as a retrospective of the different writing voices and student voices that have been represented over the years from the1960s all the way to the present”, Smith added.

This year’s Bravura gala is a retrospective celebration with pieces that will be read by the Bravura staff, speech students and drama students.

“This is not a normal teacher-student environment…this is much more collaborative and interactive…just working with [our advisers] has been an amazing experience,” added Bravura student Dayna Giehl.

This year’s Bravura will be published on May 5 and put up for display at the library.
The gala will feature live poetry and fiction readings, music, performances by Palomar students and will be held at the Howard Brubeck Theatre on May 13 from 6-9 p.m. Seating will be limited to the first 200 attendees.