At Chrysalism,
our mission is simple: transform the poetry and publishing landscape for new and emerging writers by providing a supportive and ethical place for them to submit work. We define a new writer as any individual who is in some way new to the creative writing world, whether they are unpublished after years of effort, young and/or new to writing in general, or an avid writer who has yet to submit their work anywhere. We define an emerging writer as any individual who may have work published or self-published but does not have a full length manuscript published by a nationally recognized press. These target groups—new writers and emerging ones—are integral to our mission of being a career-launching publisher as we seek to emphasize and celebrate new voices through everything we do.
In this vein, we hope to work towards bettering the creative writing landscape by not only contributing to the robust and thriving creative writing community but also by fulfilling a promise to ourselves and writers like ourselves, that if we ever get to a place where we are able to influence others, we will use that influence for good. For us, that “good” looks like doing everything we can to provide a refuge for new and emerging writers by establishing a supportive, accessible, community-oriented, and responsive online lit mag amidst a publishing world of hyper-competition, paywalls, lengthy response times, and form rejection letters.
The pillars upon which we’re working to build our journal—community, accessibility, and transparency—are at the forefront of every decision we make. At the root, we will always be a home for new and emerging artists. This cannot and will not change!
Origins
The word “chrysalism” was coined in John Koenig’s The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. We understand it to mean the safe and tranquil feeling of being inside during a thunderstorm. While we take no credit for inventing the term, we do value its meaning in relation to our mission; thus, after reading this term and thinking, a very bothered poet (Robert Laidler), with the help of his friend (Matt Del Busto), began Chrysalism: A home for new and emerging writers with the hopes of providing the feeling of chrysalism to all who come in contact with our journal.
Masthead
Robert Laidler
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Robert Laidler is an assistant professor at Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan, a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writing Program, and the author of a poetic libretto, The Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers, which premiered at Chamber Music Detroit in 2022. Most recently he was a finalist for the 2026 Agnes Starrett Lynch Poetry Prize, the 2023 National Poetry Series, and the 2023 Adrift Chapbook Contest. His poems can be found in Missouri Review, Ilanot, Driftwood, Oxford, and elsewhere.
Matt Del Busto
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Matt Del Busto is a poet from Indiana. He works at the Purdue OWL in West Lafayette, IN as a Professional Writing Specialist. He received his MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program, where he was also a Zell Postgraduate Fellow in Creative Writing. His work has appeared in Copper Nickel, Image, The Cincinnati Review, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere.
Katie Conroy
PROSE EDITOR
Katie Conroy is a Tompkins Award-winning writer (“BULLSEYE: A Lyrical Letter to My Ex”) and Wayne State alumna. Her paintings Starry Knight and Lonely Ness: S.A.D. were featured on the front and back covers of the 2026 Wayne Literary Review, in which several of her poems and artworks also found a home. As pseudonymous author R. N. Jayne, she has penned a dozen works of LGBTQ+ speculative fiction, including queer vampire series MASTER. Her novella Crimson won Best eBook in the 2009 Hollywood Book Festival Awards.
Interns
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Alexis "Lex" Ball is a senior pursuing an English honors and creative writing degree at Wayne State. They express their creativity through writing, makeup, and fashion. Lex’s poetry captures the world around them while working in a whimsical twist, often toying with sound and movement. They have participated in several poetry readings and are constantly trying to discover new spaces and minds within the scene.
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Lana Elzein is a Lebanese American poet who studied English and Sociology at Wayne State University, and whose work often centers around grief, interpersonal relationships, and the experiences of a young adult in diaspora. She is the recipient of the 2024 Ibex Art Award Scholarship in Poetry, and served as both a social media assistant and reading intern for Chrysalism’s first issue; she was ever-fulfilled discovering the work of so many fellow writers, and is excited to once again act as a reading intern for the next issue. She also enjoys oil painting – particularly portraits – and is involved in the local acting scene, having led multiple short films and commercials over the past couple of years.
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Emmett Flinkman is a writer, illustrator, and aspiring copyeditor who is a fan of language in all its forms. He is pursuing a BA from Wayne State University in English and linguistics. He is passionate about education and currently finds employment teaching creative writing to students K-12.
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Annabella Gagnon is a senior at Wayne State University, looking to get a degree in Bachelor of Arts by studying English with a focus in creative writing. Mainly a horror writer, she uses eerie storylines and quirky characters to make her readers both disturbed and entertained by her writing. Annabella hopes to bring awareness to subjects like mental health and individuality through her creepy and entangled storytelling and wants to create a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing their own stories.
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A recent Wayne State University Bachelor of Arts graduate with a minor in creative writing, Devin Lewis-Green was the 2023 first-place recipient of the Phillip Lawson Hatch Jr. Memorial Award. His work has been published in Arboreal Literary Magazine (Issue 3), Poets' Choice ("Quintessential City Life" poetry anthology), Gabby & Min's Literary Review (Issue 5), and WILDsound (2024's Festival for Poetry). He was also the 2024 Fiction Editor Intern at Oyster River Pages, assisting in curating their seventh issue.
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Dashiel Greimel is a writer currently in his senior year at Wayne State University, majoring in English and minoring in film. Dash aspires to write full time for film and television, and coordinate film projects of his own. He loves to wind melancholically optimistic tales of science fiction, basing them in themes of empathy, compassion and community; or else reveal how a lack thereof rots a society from within. Beyond writing, Dash is pursuing a further understanding of audio and video editing, with a narrative focus. As of late, he has been working on sets with friends from the College for Creative Studies, the films produced being awarded at festivals such as the Deadhead Film Fest. He is always on the lookout for more new experiences in publishing or film and new collaboration opportunities.
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Nina Hussein is an English major and a senior at Wayne State. While not a creative writer herself, Nina is an avid reader with a passion for copyediting. She has worked on previous copyediting projects with various Wayne State professors and is looking forward to working with new and emerging writers and poets.
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Cam King is an undergrad writer originally from Maryland going to Wayne State and studying physics, creative writing, and African American studies. He uses writing to display the jumbled wires that are his mind using creative liberties, pushing his point across with a new perspective of expression. Taking inspiration from music and life experience, Cameron aspires to present the rawness of his perspective with a melodic foundation.
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Brooklynn Stafford is a junior at Wayne State University, double majoring in journalism and English with a concentration in editing and publishing, with a minor in creative writing. Aspiring to either become a creative editor or travel journalist, she is passionate about writing and emphasizing the importance of raw and creative work within education.