Q&A: Aurelia Magazine
EXPLORING THE PERSONAL AND POLITICAL INTIMACIES OF OUR LIVES - Aurelia provides an empowering platform for the voices of women and non-binary people to showcase their identity, experiences, and talent amongst a diverse and creative narrative of personal essays and art. Founded by Kya Buller, Aurelia continuously spotlights self-discovery and growth, especially those of marginalized voices. Aurelia champions a community which encourages us to explore writing in the rawest of forms, and to help women and non-binary people evolve as artists and humans alike. Having curated Open Love Letters, one of their latest projects, Aurelia is constantly evolving as a platform to illustrate the experiences that shape us. Read below to learn more about the inspiration behind the magazine, Aurelia’s upcoming plans, and much more.
LUNA: What ultimately led you to create Aurelia?
BULLER: I started Aurelia in 2018, a short while after I started to feel confident enough in my own writing to share it with other people. I struggled to find the right places for my writing to fit into/places that I felt confident would treat my work with the sensitivity and care it required. My style of writing very much aligns with what I publish at Aurelia; personal essays that often look at identity, sex, mental health and my feelings. My own experiences are always at the centre of the pieces I write and I quickly realised that the vast majority of publications and their editors tended to go for much more objective, newsy articles and if personal stories were being shared, they were rarely being told by marginalised voices. I created Aurelia, a magazine that exclusively publishes the personal thoughts, feelings and experiences of women and non-binary people on a bit of a whim, in the sense that it was made on the day I first had the idea to do it. I knew I wanted people to have a place to be open and unashamed about who they were and how they felt, as individuals.
LUNA: Aurelia aims to spotlight the individual experiences of their writers. Why do you think it is important to focus on this aspect?
BULLER: Experiences make us who we are. I’m a working class woman of colour, life hasn’t always been easy but it has shaped me. I am made up entirely by the way life has treated me, the things it has taught me, the things I have been through that are specific to me. By creating a platform that focuses on this aspect, I knew it would take a short while for people to get used to it/understand why it's so important. Happily, it didn't take as long for people to love Aurelia as I expected. The individuality appeals to people, especially those who are committed to learning more about the lives of women and non-binary people, in order to become ultimately more informed and understanding individuals. The way people think and feel is at the core of who they are and if we all listened to each other a bit more and let people tell their stories (especially in spaces like Aurelia that is inherently safe and non-judgemental) I think the world would be a more open, loving place.
LUNA: I love how Aurelia’s ‘love stories’ featured on the site focus on concepts such as self-love and loss. What made you want to explore these elements?
BULLER: Thank you! The ‘love stories’ category of Aurelia comprises the personal essays we publish that explore love in any way the writer has experienced it, as well as loss, lessons learned, relationships that shaped the writer, etc. Our ‘love stories’ are beautiful things. I’m such a romantic - I love love in all of its states and forms, and I think writers should be encouraged to look at their own hearts, and use their talent of words to communicate their own understanding of it.
LUNA: Can you tell us more about the Open Love Letters project? What was the inspiration for using letters in particular?
BULLER: I started Open Love Letters with my friends David Atkinson and Sofie Thompson back in March. We were discussing how lonely and overwhelmed we felt with the huge changes that had taken place in our lives and the likelihood that others would be feeling the same. All three of us love words and are keen readers so we have an inherent appreciation for the written word. We also felt that giving people a reason to handwrite their feelings in the form of a letter (that could be addressed to anyone, anywhere or anything) may be inspiring, cathartic and a welcome change from the new and strange reality people had found themselves in. The response was so warm and we love that it resonated with so many. Letter writing is a dying art form and we are so proud to have played a part in keeping it alive. Letters are physical - they can be kept and cherished. That’s important.
LUNA: How do you think Aurelia has evolved as a magazine since it started back in 2018? How do you see it developing in the future?
BULLER: When Aurelia launched, it was just me and my laptop in my student flat, balancing university and an intense desire to help women and non-binary people tell their stories and communicate their feelings with an audience. Probably because of the way people connected with it, Aurelia started to grow and it hasn’t stopped. Aurelia quickly became my lifeblood. I now manage an amazing team of staff, I could never have dreamt I would work so closely with people that amaze me so much. I host the Aurelia podcast that discusses the lives of my guests as well as our thoughts on an interesting article that is chosen before recording. We began hosting in-person events pre-pandemic and in the hopefully not too distant future, we will continue to do so. I hope to pick up where we left off, raise donations, secure some funding, continue to expand and create a special print issue.
LUNA: Aurelia has some great publications on literature. Are there any good reads you would recommend lately?
BULLER: Thank you! My life revolves around books so it’s important to me to have created a space where people can talk about the way books have shaped them and made them feel. Yes! Five books that I love off the top of my head are; My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, Shelf Life by Livia Franchini, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Ban en Banlieue by Bhanu Kapil and Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin.
LUNA: What’s been inspiring you lately?
BULLER: I’ve been self isolating with my partner Luke, he’s an artist with a really inspiring portfolio and work ethic. He creates a lot, and he does it publicly. It’s helped me to stop being so secretive with what I create, and being able to consider people’s responses to it has inspired me to keep creating. I’ve found myself putting pen to paper a lot more than I used to (having usually opted for a laptop) which has proven to take my own writing in different directions; the things I’ve been coming up with are a lot more raw, having had the ability to delete and replace words as I go taken away. I’ve also been making earrings and I love it so much. I’ve started looking at things in a totally different way, then finding they’ve made their way into my earring designs. I’ve noticed this happening a lot with architecture, nature and book covers.
LUNA: How do you think Aurelia has helped you to grow as a person?
BULLER: I’ve learned so much more about being an effective ally. I think that reading different people’s perspectives every day has done wonders for my brain - I think that I have the ability to understand everybody I meet a little bit more than I would have if I hadn’t have founded Aurelia. It’s helped me grow in terms of self-confidence, I know I’m a good editor and it’s confirmed what my passions are. I want to keep providing people with a space they trust and respect, and I want to keep offering people the tools they need to become more understanding and loving. We are all growing, all the time. It’s a work in progress and although I started answering it here, I don’t think I could ever justify just how much Aurelia has helped me grow.
LUNA: Do you have any upcoming plans/goals you’d like to share?
BULLER: I just want to be able to reach a point where I can focus on creating, writing and running Aurelia full-time. I have a really good feeling about it, hopefully I won’t have to wait too long!
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