The Catalyst is a contemporary literary arts magazine that is produced top-to-bottom by students in a UC Santa Barbara English class each quarter. 

The 36th issue of the “Catalyst” was themed around movement. Malia Guy / Daily Nexus

The 36th issue of the Catalyst was themed around movement. For fourth-year English major and Editor-in-Chief Natalie Riley, this aesthetic captured “the physicality of movement,” people and places, but also ideas, political movements and how “we perceive the world around us.”

“I want to look at more embodiment and interaction with the environment … It’s going to be more clear, or more like a fresh aesthetic.” Riley said. “[S]pring is more of a revival.”

After a long hiatus, the Catalyst was revived in Spring Quarter 2013 by then fourth-year English major Natalie O’Brien. Her mission, to assemble and publish original work created by and for students, is preserved in ENGL 106CW, taught by professor Brian Donnelly. Since the class began being offered in the fall of 2019, everything from daily lectures to the final print continues to be organized by students, with Donnelly only assisting when necessary.

“I support the editorial team. I get things administratively achieved for them when they need stuff. [Like] equipment, Adobe subscriptions … [and] room bookings,” Donnelly said. “Sometimes the editors will bring stuff to me for my opinion, and I’ll say, ‘Look, here’s what I think.’ But ultimately, they make the decision.”

To submit to the Catalyst, you do not have to be enrolled in the class. Each quarter, the Catalyst sends a university-wide call for pieces to be sent in. While it is labeled as a literary magazine, the Catalyst accepts poetry, prose and artwork.

“We are a literary arts magazine, so one component of the magazine, obviously, is the writing,” Riley said. “But then the magazine aspect [is where] we’re pairing artwork — and that’s like any composition, or mode of artwork. So that can be digital art, hand-drawn art, collage, sculpture, photography.”

The current editor-in-chief decides the theme each quarter, but pieces submitted do not have to strictly adhere to it. Jeo Gomez, a third-year English major, submitted to the Catalyst before enrolling in the class during spring quarter last year.

“I remember first submitting just one poem and I wasn’t familiar with the guidelines you have to follow … It didn’t get accepted,” Gomez said. “At that point, I decided to keep working on my poetry and then from there I submitted works the following quarter and I was able to get a poem in. Then ever since spring 2024, I was able to get my work selected.”

While a majority of students come from an English major background, there are students from other majors who join the class.

“We love it when we get students who are chemical engineering or mathematics, because it’s a great outlet for students who may not have that opportunity in their set fields or majors to explore creativity and explore what they can do for writing,” Riley said. “It’s also a great outlet for community building. The amount of friendships I’ve seen shaped throughout Catalyst, from my time as being a student, and as an editor, has been amazing.”

In the class, writers are sorted into peer review writing groups in which they collaborate with each other and give feedback on each other’s work. During the last few weeks of the quarter, they collaborate together to produce zines. 

“They have more freedom and autonomy as creatives to work within groups collaborating to make their own smaller-scale magazines that they present as their final project at the end of the quarter,” Riley said.

The launch party is the final for the class, where attendees get copies of the latest edition of the Catalyst and have live readings.

“It feels rewarding reciting [my poetry] in front of people so they understand how I’m feeling,” Gomez said.

After spending at least a quarter as a Catalyst writer, students can be considered for the editorial team. Fourth-year English major Jack Buschow, managing editor for the 2025-26 academic year, explained what led them to apply for their position. 

“I looked up to the [previous] managing editors,” Buschow said. “Also, I just have that kind of brain where I’m pretty organized.”

Buschow explained how “it’s great” working with the other editors and that everyone got the roles “they were meant to be” in.

Riley applied for editor-in-chief because it allows a combination of “critical” and “creative” practices. 

“You’re thinking really methodically and intentionally about the choices you are choosing,” Riley said. “Why are we accepting this piece? What is it? Why does it fit the aesthetic well? What is it doing for the reader?”

For students continuing next year, there is still time to participate in the Catalyst, whether that be by submitting as a writer or attempting to join.

“I’m relatively young, so I haven’t experienced a lot of things. But so far this has taken the cake,” Riley said. “This has been the coolest thing I’ve done and been a part of. It’s been the most fulfilling thing I think I’ve done at UCSB and personally.”

A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the April 30, 2026 print edition of the Daily Nexus.

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