DeKALB | NIU’s literary magazine, Towers, has extended its deadline to Sunday.

Tower’s president and co-editor, fifth year English PhD student Alisa Smith-Riel, said that the magazine extended the deadline to encourage more students to submit their work.

“We felt that the Thanksgiving break would give everyone a bit of an opportunity to find some time to polish their submissions and get them in to us,” she said. “We did receive a large number of submissions this year, so we are pleased with the response we’ve gotten. In fact, some categories have exceeded our usual number of submissions.”

Co-editor and vice-president Amber Rzepka, second year English PhD student, said she feels Towers is an important institution at NIU.

“Towers has a long history and has remained a very positive presence on campus because it provides an opportunity for students to share their creative works,” she said. “It is completely student-run and publishes both undergraduate and graduate students from any department. Students get an opportunity to build community by having a medium through which to present their creative works.”

With the categorical addition of drama to Towers’ repertoire, the magazine is excited to join forces with NIU’s Theatre Department, whose student-helmed Third Onion program will stage whichever the drama submission wins the Editor’s Choice award.

“The addition of drama to the magazine is part of our project with the theatre department,” Smith-Riel said. “On Feb. 18, we will be holding staged readings of the top drama submissions in Holmes Student Center Diversions room. This event will be open to the public and begins at 4 p.m. From these staged readings, members of the Towers editorial board and the theatre department will choose the Editor’s Choice for drama.”

If you are interested in submitting your work to Towers, the deadline is Sunday. There are six categories: fiction, non-fiction, song lyrics, poetry, drama and art/photography. Visit their web site at http://www.engl.niu.edu/towers/index.html for more information or e-mail your submissions to [email protected].