Praxis Course: Praxis Independant Study
Semester: Spring 2026
Faculty Advisor/Professor: Jamie Taylor
Community Partner: JackLeg Press
Praxis Site Supervisor: Jennifer Harris
Praxis Poster:
PIS Catherine R Utzinger
Further Context:
During the JackLeg Press Internship, I had the opportunity to work witha cohort in order to review submissions, network, learn the review and editing process, as well as how an independent publishing firm operates. During the semester, I was responsible for reading submissions that were around 30-40 page submissions through JackLeg’s submission portal and ranking each submission on a scale from 1-5. I then wrote 350-word reviews to justify my ranking and explain whether I thought that each submission should proceed in the submission process. If accepted, the author of the piece would submit their full manuscript for further review.
Every few weeks, we had team meetings with Jennifer Harris and the rest of the JackLeg editorial team to discuss techniques and build our critical skills.
We also got to attend the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Baltimore where we tabled for JackLeg and had the opportunity to speak with authors that the press has published! I also got to network with other independent presses at the Bookfair and exchanged
information with many different people. Listening to panels and readings such as Carmen Maria Machado reading her new short story was so amazing and I also got to meet Maria Pinto, the author of a book that I’ve been reading for my thesis!
Overall, interning at JackLeg has been incredible. I’ve learned how the submission process works at an independent press and I developed important submission review techniques such as how to identify professional craft and sentence variation. I will be continuing to read
submissions for JackLeg over the summer and I look forward to continuing to work with them!