Students Help New Writers Achieve Publishing Dreams Through Hemingway Internship

For the Oak Park and River Forest communities, Ernest Hemingway is a celebrated native son.

Two Dominican University students can now also claim a special connection to the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer: They served as editors of the literary journal named in his honor.

During a spring 2025 internship made possible through English Professor Dr. Maggie Andersen and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, English majors Weendy Banda Flores ’25 and Isabella Zizzo reviewed, helped select, and edited submissions for publication in the 2025 edition of Hemingway Shorts. This collection of short stories, designed to highlight new literary voices, is published annually by the Hemingway Foundation, which operates and oversees the Hemingway Museum out of the writer’s birthplace in Oak Park.

The students combed through more than 100 submissions before making recommendations to a three-member panel that selected 13 pieces for the journal. 

“What I liked was that they were very invested in the process and what they were doing,” said Keith Strom, executive director of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park. “They spoke up about certain pieces versus it just being pro forma.”

Two qualities that Banda Flores and Zizzo considered in the submissions they reviewed were brevity and well-rounded characters, Zizzo said.

“We were looking for well-written pieces that stood out to us, that we thought were excellent,” Zizzo said. “It was great working on a team with Weendy where we discussed the pieces and their merits together.”

The internship experience helped to support Banda Flores’ goal of becoming a writer, she said.

“It was amazing to see Ernest Hemingway’s works as I was sitting there in the museum,” she added. “It gave me a chance to believe that I, too, could have a published book in a school, library or bookstore.”

Zizzo, now a senior, and Banda Flores, a grad student in Dominican’s Master of Business Administration program, were previously editors for Dominican University’s literary journal, Stella Veritatis, which publishes poetry, prose and art submissions from students.

Through a partnership with Andersen and fellow English professor Dr. Jane Hseu, the Hemingway Foundation has welcomed other DU interns in recent years. This has aided the foundation in fulfilling its mission of continuing Hemingway’s Oak Park legacy and identifying new writers, Strom said.

“Anything we do that brings in other generations is a net positive for us and for the community as well,” he noted. “It all fits in nicely with trying to highlight the talents these students have, and they are also learning some things as well.”

Learn more about Dominican University's English program here.