Tea Leaves: An introduction

 (Written by Rithika - a TSL Blog Writer)

Hi lovely readers! 

Welcome to Tea-Stained Literary’s first blog post. We are calling this blog “Tea Leaves”. Amusing, right? We hope you're having a soothing, sunny spring. We are a youth-led independent literature and arts magazine based in the United Kingdom. We have assembled a fantastic team of designers, writers, reviewers, and editors and created a safe space to express our own artsy sides. Our vision is simple: we want to bring to life the “musings scrawled onto parchment in dark hours, and the art made with the essence of the soul”. Tea-Stained Literary believes that all art is worthy. We believe that all art has the most heart and grit in it. 

Art is the purest form of creation. It can come at the darkest times or the happiest celebrations in one’s life. Literature and art shape the world, and we are so honoured to be a part of something so moving and full of heart. Art has always been the best way to express our feelings, and we want to share this platform with all of you to make the magazine and the blog beautiful with your thoughts and inspirations. Although we recently launched our magazine, we sincerely appreciate your love and support on our social media platforms. You can find us on Instagram, Threads, Substack, and Discord! 

We aim for this blog to have new posts once a month. It will be dedicated to showing off your talented literary and art pieces without a theme restriction. The “Tea Leaves” blog will also be dedicated to rounding up the received submissions. They say all is fair in love and war. We take creative liberties and say, “All is fair in love and art.” Some may discard their words or sketches, thinking they’re not good enough for the world. But we are here to encourage you that all art is marvelous. We will give you the needed push or the last word of motivation you need to keep creating and submitting your pieces to our magazine. 

Our first ever issue is going to be out soon, and we’re calling it, “Inked Into Existence”. Submissions are now open, so what better time to get those creative juices flowing! What we are looking for in our submissions for this particular issue are pieces on: 

• The nature of existence 

• Creation 

• Forbidden Literature 

• The process of creating prose/poetry 

• Ink and parchment 

We would be delighted to guide you through the prompts more elaborately if needed. Ping us Discord, or send us an email and we will get right down to it! Teamwork makes the dream work, am I right? You can all interpret the themes in your own ways because art cannot be pigeon-holed into one niche. We are eager to witness your raw creativity and your own interpretations of our theme. Just a reminder that your submissions can be in the form of poetry, prose, essays, photography, artwork, screenplays, monologues, and so much more. Head down to our Instagram account, check out our posts, click on the link, and submit away! The submissions will close on the 30th of April, 2025 (30/04/2025). 

Hopefully, we’ll see your submissions in our magazine soon! And with that, we're signing off. 

Have the best time creating and keep showering us with love and support on our social media platforms!

 

Lots of love - Tea-Stained Literary