This Is Kenna DeValor

There are those who wait for their spark to hit them, and there are those who innovate to find their spark. Over the course of my college career, I have silently observed other writers my age, and through my observations, I have noticed a major trend—student poets, storytellers, and journalists my age fall into three categories: the proactives, the reactives, and the in-betweeners. The proactives use the resources around them to make their art. They do not wait for a green light or for someone to say, “Yes, you can do this.” They do not wait to jump on artistic opportunities. The reactives do not utilize the resources around them. They wait for a greenlight, an authoritative figure, to permit them to create. They refuse to take on projects on their own. This can be due to low inspiration, low confidence, or both. Lastly, the in-betweeners are those who straddle the line between proactive and reactive. They have the persistence to produce projects of their own accord. However, when it comes to taking big steps, like revising their work or sending it to publications, they freeze. They stop because the steps get too big, too overwhelming, to climb. So they turn to other ideas, leaving their unfinished projects in the dust.

I think everyone falls into these categories once or twice in their creative lives. Perfection is a myth. Not everyone can be inspired to create 24/7, not everyone can see the resources at their fingertips in a heartbeat, not everyone has the courage to pursue their ideas every waking moment of their lives. Sometimes, we need external forces to push us out of our shells. I will emphasize the word sometimes.

When I am uninspired, lacking confidence, or just feeling “in my shell,” I occasionally look to people who motivate me to create, who influence me to build something of my own and share it with the world. They can be public figures, family members, or the people we work with.

I have recently been inspired by a proactive nonbinary and queer artist who exemplifies immense talent and drive. Their name is Kenna DeValor, the founder and EIC of FlowerMouth Press. They are currently studying English Literature and Creative Writing at Bloomsburg University. Outside of school, they contribute to PureCeption Zine, Vellichor Literary Magazine, The Fruitslice, Girlhood Mag, and Words with Weight Magazine. They additionally have been published over 50 times by multiple art and literary journals located in the U.S., the UK, and Australia. They also have a passion for playwriting and zine making, and have directed multiple creative writing classes/workshops.

Kenna agreed to be interviewed about their publishing background, FlowerMouth Press, their thoughts on writing and young writers, marginalized creatives today, and literary magazines. Let’s get into the interview!

Q: So, Kenna, I know we vaguely know each other through FlowerMouth, but when I was thinking about writing about you for this blog article, I realized that I did not know much about you except that you are the head of FlowerMouth, and that you are a super talented artist. I scrolled through your website, and let me just say, I was blown away by the number of places you were published in. I guess to start off, when did you start getting into art and literary magazines? And when you were just starting to get published, were you thinking about running your own publication, or were you only focused on contributing to established publications? What were your goals?

A: Hiii! This is so incredibly sweet, thank you! First, to talk about my art background, I was taught everything I knew by my father figure (my grandfather “Pop-Pop”) Ken Gibilisco, and he taught me everything I knew about art, writing, reading, etc. Being a painter himself, he had lots of wisdom that he shared with me throughout my life, and I totally attribute everything I learned in the art world to him. (Unfortunately, he passed December 20th, 2024, but his creative and warm energy still lives on in me!) I started getting into literary arts magazines around 2019 after being published in magazines and even self-publishing my own poetry collection! In the earlier moments of being in the community, I thought that I wasn’t “qualified” to run a lit mag, but after a few years in undergrad and achieving a few more literary goals and gaining confidence in my craft, I wanted to be on the other “behind the scenes” side of things as both a writer submitting my work and an Editor-In-Chief reviewing others work as well! In my early publishing days, I wanted to just be published—-it didn’t really matter to me the prestige of the magazine, just being able to say that I was accepted or put in anything at all was a win to me! (Flash forward, and I’ve been published over 60+ times in various mags!) My goals have always been to keep making art, no matter what, exercising art and writing like a muscle. 

Q: At the start of your publishing career, what did you want your art and writing to communicate to your audiences? How have your artistic themes changed over the years, and what themes do you think need to be represented more in art and literature? 

A: At the start, I definitely wanted my work to really resonate with others. I wanted the readers to really feel something. My work at first was really rooted in finding out who I am and what I want to be (sometimes even trying too hard to sound “pretentious” and perfect.) Now, my writing has matured with me as I also matured. I feel like my work is now a lot more confident and self-assured, where I can openly talk about myself as I am and about love, loss, trauma, and other essential things that got me to where I am now. For example, I recently wrote a poem about never forgetting one of my online friends from when I was a teenager. I use nostalgia in my work often because of the life that I’ve already lived. I sometimes want to remember the past in a bit of a romantic “rose colored glasses” light. It’s also extremely fun and exciting for me that now my poetry gets to be analyzed after being a Literature student for multiple years and analyzing others' poetry. I just hope that readers don’t just look at my poetry or art at face value, but dig deeper. I also think that themes that should be explored more are diverse cultures and forms of love. I feel like now more than ever, we need to be more open-minded to other cultures and how people live differently from us. I also feel like things like platonic love, forms of love that’s outside of the straight norm, more queer/trans joy, etc. should be celebrated.

Q: As a nonbinary, queer artist, what has creating been like for you in this political atmosphere? Have you faced any challenges expressing yourself in the times we are living in, or do you see yourself as getting by to some extent? What do you think we as writers and artists should do to defend ourselves and our work in the midst of injustice?

A: I love this question so much: In the times we’re living in, I feel like the folks in power WANT us to be scared or want us to hide and tread the same path and be all the same and want us to fear the future, and there’s also a layer of ‘artistic dread’ with the rise of AI and possibly taking jobs like visual art and marketing and writing away. But overall, what’s kept me going is just continuing as usual in my art. If politicians want to strip our creative voices away, then I’ll just have to be louder and keep creating, even in the face of adversity. I also want to amplify and uplift diverse voices as much as possible to also let others feel heard in times of injustice. There’s also strength in art, and healing in art and community. That’s what’s important. For artists and writers, just keep making art. Art is political, and art is usually incredible when times are dark in order to heal and show support, and build community. I feel like “news burnout” is so real, but also pushing through by taking breaks to do art is essential. Art will always be here to comfort and help people through hard times. Raise your voices and never be silent, and if you must be silent due to safety, let your art speak out for you even louder than a voice can.   

Caption: Pick up a copy of Kenna’s recently-released poetry collection DISCOFRUIT.

Q: Talk about FlowerMouth Press. What inspired you to make your own literary and arts magazine? Was it hard bringing it to life? 

A: I first started FlowerMouth Press in 2019 as a primarily nonbinary artist and writer literary arts mag, but then I lost the login to the instagram account that I had made for it and then in 2023, I finally got the login back and decided to branch out to everyone and their diverse voices, focusing extra on international artists and writers and folks from marginalized communities. We are definitely so happy with how we’ve grown and how we’ve moved on to getting 501(c)3 status with getting a fiscal sponsorship. The one difficult thing is money and fundraising, but if that’s the worst of our worries, then I’m fine with that because I am incredibly passionate about FlowerMouth and don’t regret putting a lot of my own money into the mag. However, print is becoming expensive and I would love to take FlowerMouth Press to zine fairs and small press conventions and things! I also really love being on both ends of the spectrum of being a writer and artist myself while also giving others a chance to be published for their own art or writing. There’s just something so magically “full circle” about that. 

Q: Describe to me the process of making a literary magazine? How did you network with people?

A: Lots of steps! (None of which include being “perfect” or becoming a nonprofit 501c3– you can just be a general organization!) Picking a mission that means a lot to you, have clear goals and guidelines for submissions, creating social media accounts and an outlet for artists to submit (like Google Forms) and connect with your community! Also choose timelines and themes and try to follow other magazines on social media and create your unique “niche”. As far as networking is concerned, I usually network with folks at Zine fairs, or over DM with other EICS of mags (pro tip: EICs sometimes manage the social media DMs!) I really love connecting and hyping up other magazines organically and really making genuine friendships and a genuine community with folks, because then we can support each other and bounce ideas off of each other. ​

Q: As someone who is pretty involved in the literary community, what piece of advice would you give to college-level artists who want to share their work, but are afraid to do so? 

A: Great question! While my initial advice would be “Just submit, the worst that can happen is the magazine saying ‘no’ !” but now, I truthfully feel that the worst thing you can do is not submit at all! Submitting your work takes courage and rejection used to scare the life out of me, but once I realized that rejection is just a stepping stone, a door, a path to your next YES! Rejection is scary and hurts, but you can always delete it from your inbox so you don’t dwell on it. Just take that leap of faith and really go for it. You won’t regret it! Oftentimes, people feel like a rejection means that their work isn’t good enough but that is never the case. Your art is worth more than an acceptance letter, your work and voice deserve to be heard. If your art or writing does not have a home at one mag, then it will at another. Plus, magazines often have multiple themes and submission periods a year, so if one theme isn’t a good fit, then submit again. Don’t ever give up and don’t put your worth into how “publishable” your work is. I always stand by the notion that there is always a niche or community for your art and unique voice. I challenge every artist and writer who is reading this article: Submit your latest piece to a good 5-7 lit-arts mags and take that chance!

​To connect with Kenna, their main Instagram is @teadragonz. Want to learn more about the artist and their current projects? Click on their website here! Additionally, pick up a copy of Kenna’s recently-released poetry collection DISCOFRUIT.