The Common Staff

Meet The Common's Editors and Fellows. In addition to this more permanent team, the literary magazine employs a year-round, frequently-rotating group of Amherst College students to work as editorial assistant interns. The interns are a vital part of The Common's daily operations, and they read submissions, organize events, and help with The Common's website and social media. 

Editors

Jennifer Acker '00 

Jen Acker headshot

 

 

 

Jennifer Acker '00 is founder and Editor in Chief of The Common. She also teaches writing and editing at Amherst, directs The Common's Literary Publishing Internship, and organizes LitFest. She has an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and her short stories, essays, translations, and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, Literary Hub, n+1, Guernica, The Yale Review, and Ploughshares, among other places. Jen is the author of the debut novel The Limits of the World, and her favorite writers include Shirley Hazzard, Alice Munro, and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.
Emily Everett 

Emily Everett headshot

 

 


Emily Everett is the Managing Editor of The Common. She studied English literature at Queen Mary University of London and Smith College. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Electric Lit, Tin House Online, Mississippi Review, and other journals. Her favorite poet is Frank O'Hara. 

Literary Editorial Fellow

Elly Hong '21
Image of Elly Hong's headshot.

 

 

 

Elly Hong '21 is from Pasadena, California. She majored in English at Amherst College, where she also served as captain of the club fencing team. When she's not writing, you can find her practicing Spanish, drawing, or looking for dogs and cats to pet. She enjoys reading speculative fiction, literary fiction, and especially books that fall between the two categories.

Thomas E. Wood '61 Fellow

Sofia Belimova '22
Image of Sofia Belimova's headshot.

 

 

 

Sofia Belimova'22 is a senior English major from New York City. She has worked for The Common since her sophomore year. Currently, she is writing a thesis about Faulkner's As I Lay Dying with a creative appendix. Outside of literary pursuits, Sofia hikes mountains, makes artist's books, samples obscure tea flavors, and helps out with the English Department Student Steering Committee. Her work has been published in The Amherst Student and a student-run publication called Cerealization.