‘What Makes a Magazine?': Readfest 2025 Review
- Jennifer Hensey
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Inside the walls of Dagenham Library in East London, I found myself surrounded by writers, readers, and creatives, all gathered in celebration of the written word and the magazine born from their shared passion. Hosted by Write On!, a community-driven literary platform that champions stories outside the mainstream, the session was less about glossy covers and celebrity profiles and more about voices, journeys, and the courage to share them.
It was Monday 15th September and I was present, both as a writer and an observer, to unpick the question at the heart of the meeting: What Makes A Magazine? By the end of the day, filled with moments of passion, ambition, and collaboration, I found myself edging closer to my own answer, which was less material than I first expected.
Interestingly, the magazine started with rejection, thirty-eight to be precise, which is the number of times Madeleine White faced publishing rejections, which she spoke about candidly. Rather than feeling disheartened and frustrated, as many would, she channelled this into an idea to create a space where writers could see their words in print, no matter how many doors had been closed to them. Pen to Print, a Barking and Dagenham-based arts organisation that helps local writers through mentoring, workshops, and publication opportunities, brought this inclusive and positive project to life, with twenty-six issues and counting successfully published. Write On! is a magazine rooted in community, inclusivity, and conviction, prioritising writers and stories that matter over profit and revenue.
As part of the event, we were asked to compare two teenage magazine covers. One featured an airbrushed model and titles like, ‘Take this quiz to find out if you are ready for a bf’ and ‘Do you want dream hair like Olivia Holt?’ whereas the other cover took a more aspirational, academic and career-driven direction with a student on the front. It was a playful but revealing exercise. Of course, the former magazine was a mainstream commercial magazine aimed at impressionable 9–14-year-olds, and the latter was created by a mother who was horrified by these superficial headlines that she discovered her daughter was consuming. This led us as participants to question what values a magazine should uphold, and the power of their influence over younger generations.
It captured the tension that lingers on the cusp of magazine-making: the balance between commercial viability and authentic storytelling. Madeleine then laid out the “holy trinity” of what makes a magazine – the title of the event itself. We learnt that a magazine must be ‘commercial,’ which is the financial side that includes its advertising, profit, and credibility. Secondly, it must have a clear ‘audience,’ including having a niche, a purpose, and aimed at a group of people or a community. And, the final crucial element is its ‘content,’ from the stories and information it conveys to the editorial design of its images and words. That is what makes a magazine.
But Write On! insists there is another way, one where distribution is less about sales figures and more about community reach, where value is measured in connection rather than currency.
What struck me the most at the event was the passion from the team when describing the ethos and soul behind Write On!. They defined the magazine as “fuelled by what we collectively want to say, not what we are told to say.” It is, at its core, by and for writers - an alternative to commercial publishing that often values clicks over creativity. Diversity sits at its heart, amplifying working-class voices and narratives that might otherwise never find space in the mainstream. From East London to the world, the magazine has built a tribe not around profit, but around passion.
Madeleine said, “The writer’s journey is such a hard one, and those also on that same journey know too.”
I left the event with that line still echoing. Perhaps what makes a magazine isn’t glossy perfection or commercial polish. Perhaps it’s the shared act of putting pen to paper, offering a piece of yourself, and finding a space outside of the commercial to connect with readers and writers alike. It is about community, collaboration, and the courage to share one’s story.
Edited by Hania Ahmed, Creative Editor
