Ink & Quill
Collective

ISSUE #1

CURRENT

ISSUE

FICTION

Mill CREEK DROWNING

L.A. Nolan

Rahim CHACHA

Swati Singh

Deep End

Sunil Kumar

PINNI

Harshita Nanda

Queen Of Diamonds

Lalitha Ramanathan

CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Our Stomachs, Our selves

Suchitra Sukumar

Death Of A Demon

Sayani De

POETRY

My End

Sowmini
SK

Silence

Ramanjaneya
Sharaph

My Daughter

Bobby
Pawar

Purple Rumped
Sunbird

Vibha
Vasi

Orestes At The
Altar

Pranoo
DeshRaju

Knots And Nooses

Nandita
Dutta

Journey Of A Draft

Regret Ms. Iyer

Sudha
Subramanian

When A Story Found
An Author

Ramanjaneya
Sharaph

From The Editor-In-Chief

Spirit of the Plains , 1897 | Sydney Long

The First Issue of QuillMark is finally here!

Publishing the first edition has been an incredible journey — a result of countless hours of planning, collaboration and the unwavering support we have found in one another in the Ink & Quill Collective. It is a milestone that marks both the beginning and a tribute to the journey that has brought us here.

The cover art of the issue is derived from the Spirit of the Plains (1897) by Sydney Long. The dancing brolgas lead by an enchantress emerges as from a dream, bringing a quiet landscape to life. Our journey in the writing community has been no different and in the pages of QuillMark’s first edition you will find stories, poems and essays that carry a similar contrast.

Every piece, every voice in this issue has been chosen with care by a wonderful panel of 14 beta readers, 4 stellar editors and 2 indefatigable publication managers. To the editors — Arunima Tenzin Tara, L.A. Nolan, Dr Shalini Mullick, and Zia Marshall, I owe you my gratitude for your patience and trust as we navigated through the unknown territory of publication. I thank the beta readers for your feedback, as it has given QuillMark a beautiful dimension where we addressed all contributors with something useful for their work to evolve. To Tetsong Jamir, watching our discussions come to life through your lovely artwork has simply been a joy. Finally, to Madhavi and Neela, QuillMark found its strength in your perseverance, without which this would have been just another unrealised dream.

It gives me immense pride to introduce Issue 1 of QuillMark - a Bi-Annual magazine from Ink & Quill Collective. Welcome!

Arijit Nandi

Helvetica Light is an easy-to-read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.

From The Publication Managers

An IQC imprint in a true sense, QuillMark is an in-house literary magazine, curated entirely by the members, for the members and for the writing community at large.

The entire journey from ideation to execution and the final publication has been nothing short of spectacular. We, as a team, underwent a steep learning curve as we navigated the challenges of putting together an ensemble of the creative writings of our peer group.

It was gratifying to see members supporting a mere idea and coming up with more that fifty submissions in a span of two months. Our formidable task force of beta readers and the accomplished editorial board was exemplary in discharging their duties towards a common goal. Their commitment towards motivating their fellow contributors and improving the drafts at hand has had a deep impact on our close-knit community bonding that reflects beautifully in the pages that follow.

QuillMark is not just another writing endeavour for the IQC family. Through this magazine, we celebrate the ethos of our group and the organic growth we have witnessed over the past year.

With the first edition of QuillMark, IQC hopes to leave a lasting impression on the writing world.

Madhavi Girish Kunte

The preparations for IQC’s QuillMark magazine was already picking up pace when I embarked on this ship. And what a journey this has been since then. The excitement of the founding members was invigorating to say the least. The discussions with the editors were passionate and took into consideration each voice that contributed to the final outcome — a testament to IQC’s plethora of talent, creativity, and deep community bonding. Managing the first edition of the magazine was no easy task but it was a pleasure and a learning experience. To begin with, there was a sea of documents, folders, communications to keep track of, then there was sifting through the precious gems of prose and poetry that came in, followed by the editing process. Ensuring that all processes followed the guidelines (that kept changing as we learnt from our rookie mistakes) and met the deadlines became an almost full time job for the last two months. Then the last-mile anxiety and the absolute last minute tasks kept me on my toes. But the efforts come easily when one relives an unforgettable journey. And that’s the essence of my experience of docking this baby – the first issue of QuillMark from the Ink & Quill Collective. I hope to see many more gems of writing on the pages of our beloved magazine.