On Sunday afternoon, a group of Addison County residents gathered in the cozy and historic barn at The Tillerman Inn in Bristol, Vt. to celebrate the release of Issue 17 of Zig Zag Lit Mag — a local arts and literature magazine — and its seventh accompanying poetry chapbook, “All the Grief” by Alice Eckles, a Middlebury-based artist and poet. Attendees enjoyed an afternoon during which 13 of the 31 total published writers and artists read their work from the new issue out loud, a biyearly tradition Zig Zag has upheld to commemorate every issue to date.
For the first half hour of the event, attendees mingled by the front steps of the barn and on The Tillerman’s lawn. They sipped on cider, snacked on donuts and finger sandwiches, and visited the sales and merchandise table, where Zig Zag intern and Middlebury student Zara Johnson ’24.5 was busy selling copies of the new issue, the chapbook and back issues of the magazine from previous seasons. Her table also offered Zig Zag merchandise including tote bags, bookmarks and stickers.
When Jay Dubberly, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Zig Zag, took to the microphone to kick off the beginning of the reading, attendees migrated with their purchased copies to their seats to hear the published writers read their work.
Eckles was the first to read. “All the Grief” featured several heartfelt poems about the loss of her mother, which she began writing a few months before her mother’s death. Eckles has published several books, including a novel, an essay collection and other chapbooks.
Following Eckles read David Weinstock, who stood up three separate times to share different verses of his poetry. Weinstock has led Otter Creek Poets, a poetry group based out of the Ilsley Public Library, for more than 20 years. His poems have appeared in several literary journals and magazines and he has also published his own collection, “The Amalek Poems.”
Before he began reading, Weinstock joked that the old saying that Vermont has more poets than dairy farmers has begun to wield truth.
The sound of unanimous flipping magazine pages could be heard during the reading as the audience members followed along with the next 11 readers, all first announced by Dubberly. Many of the readers have been published by Zig Zag before and already knew Dubberly, while others came up when he called their name and he shook their hands, readily meeting them for the first time.
The work read aloud included poetry, prose and a comedy sketch titled “A Very Septic Christmas” by resident Steve Holmes, which he acted out with board members of Zig Zag. The pieces touched on themes of relationships, trips to Aspen and encounters with actor Don Johnson, Vermont farms and heritage, teaching at a public high school and plenty more.
Between readings, Dubberly made note of the photography and art that was displayed throughout the magazine. One piece of art was by Middlebury student Rose Robinson ’24.5.
The magazine and chapbook were both printed on paper booklets with attractive covers. The magazine’s cover was designed by Caitlin Sausville, the hand-lettering artist in Middlebury known for her ubiquitous signage work for businesses in town, perhaps most famously on Haymaker Bun Company’s seasonal drink menu. As the featured artist of the issue, her work comprises not only the “Read local. Write local.” mantra that sprawls the magazine’s cover, but also the floral designs that adorn its table of contents or “ingredients,” as the list is titled in the issue.
Dubberly founded Zig Zag shortly after he moved to Vermont in 2015. Within a week of living here, he started a writing group out of the Bixby Memorial Free Library in Vergennes — now known as the Addison County Writers Company — and has met every week since its inception. Discovering local talent through this group and other writing groups elsewhere in the county, Dubberly worked with the Bixby library to get a grant community fund to create Zig Zag.
Their goal was to receive enough grant money to pay for the first two issues, and then to have Zig Zag financially sustain itself by selling copies. For a few years, Dubberly used his own money to help fund the magazine, but it has since become financially sustainable on its own. Zig Zag publishes twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring around the time of the seasons’ equinoxes. They print 100 copies of each issue and sell them for eight dollars each at the release party. This can usually then fund the printing of the next issue and additional small projects throughout the year. Zig Zag donates its leftover copies to libraries, Monroe Street Books or The Vermont Book Shop.
Dubberly described Zig Zag’s editing board as a living organism. Its members have changed throughout the magazine’s nearly 10 years of publication, as serving on the board is all volunteer work. The current members are Dubberly, Trish Dougherty, Penelope Wade, Serena Kim, Phineas Knowles and the intern Johnson, who were all at the event helping to run it. Each member comes from a different background — Wade is an English teacher, for example, while Kim runs the Swift House Inn with her husband Matthew Robinson. Dubberly said that everyone has a slightly different style as well, rounding out their process when it comes to selecting submissions and editing.
The board receives about 200 submissions for each issue, most of which are poetry and photography, and must work to choose which to publish, aiming for about 20 pieces total. With a 64 page limit, the team reads the submissions and checks “yes” or “no” on a spreadsheet and the submissions that earn a unanimous “yes” make it in the magazine. The team debates, argues and eventually reaches agreement.
According to Dubberly, the board is adamant about looking for variety in the work they accept, aiming to not be just another standard poetry magazine.
In an interview with The Campus, Knowles agreed with Dubberly’s vision and commended the breadth of content and aesthetic choice that comprise their submissions pool.
“Sometimes you have very literal, straightforward stories and sometimes you have this very esoterical, dreamlike poetry and sometimes seeing artwork and photography and just the spread of artwork in Addison County. It’s quite amazing to see,” Knowles said from behind the food and beverage table, where he was pouring attendees cups of cider.
Zig Zag’s release parties are hosted at different locations around Addison County. They have recently taken place at the Swift House Inn, the Tourterelle Restaurant & Inn and the Willowell Foundation, a non-profit educational organization in Monkton, Vt. They draw in small crowds of the published writers and artists and their families, but also a number of locals who come simply to support the local literature and art, some of whom routinely collect a copy of each issue, according to Dubberly.
Resident Caitlin Gildrien, who stood up to read two of her published poems from the issue, is a returning writer for Zig Zag. “I love the opportunity to gather with poets and writers and artists and meet people who are interested in those things and hear — there’s such a strong community of artists in Vermont and so it’s great to actually be able to meet those people in real life,” she said.
Zig Zag is currently accepting submissions for Issue 18, set to be released in Spring 2025, and will continue to do so until Jan. 5.
Madeleine Kaptein '25.5 (she/her) is a local editor and previously served as a copy editor.
A Comparative Literature major and German minor, Madeleine enjoys reading, biking and hanging out with her cats. She is also an editor for Clover Magazine.
