Prepare to hear from literary giants. The latest issue of Hamline’s literary journal features work from local writers, as well as more well-known names such as Jamaal May and Paisley Rekdal.

On Nov. 6, Hamline’s literary journal, Water~Stone Review, will host its free annual reading in Sundin Music Hall at 7 p.m. The event also marks the publication launch of Water~Stone’s 18th volume. The literary journal showcases work from writers across the country, which is chosen by an editorial board composed of graduate students and four editors: executive editor Mary Rockcastle, creative nonfiction editor Patricia Weaver Francisco, poetry editor Katrina Vandenberg and fiction editor Sheila O’Connor.

During the spring, Water~Stone Review has a class that graduate students sign up for, and during the course students read through a pile of submitted work. The students pick pieces they are passionate about and gradually narrow down the number of accepted pieces by arguing for or against them. Water~Stone’s creative nonfiction editor, Patricia Francisco, said that for her genre, they receive work that is diverse in many ways.

“We’re always looking for more diversity in terms of gender, in terms of writers of color…that’s exciting when we start to have more and more voices,” she said. “We have a writer this year who was in prison and part of the Minnesota prison writing project that Hamline is very involved in. He’ll be reading [at the event], and so that’s exciting to have that voice come to us.”

The volume released this year, titled “All We Cannot Alter,” got its name because the editorial board felt that each piece dealt with difficult situations or topics. Francisco explained that unlike other journals, Water~Stone doesn’t assign a topic that all submissions must be about. Instead, she explained that they find a theme in each issue, a process that she termed “organic.”

“It’s interesting, it’s fascinating actually, to see that by this process, which is really organic, there is a commonality. And I think it’s probably cultural, that in this certain moment writers are thinking and being motivated by, inspired by, sustained by or infuriated by some of the same kind of impulses. And that comes through,” Francisco said.

Francisco added that for this volume, the title came about because the submissions fit the theme in a natural way.

“There are many things in life that we cannot alter, and a lot of them are painful. And there’s a lot of work in this issue that takes on hard subjects, like death, war, loss and loss of identity. And yet, art is one of the few things that has that transformational possibility to alter the way we think or view something that otherwise might be overwhelmingly painful or one-sided,” she said. “That’s a lovely way, I think, to view the work in this issue in its biggest construct, is that the subjects tend to be about aspects of life that are real and hard and earnest, but the artfulness with which they are treated by the writers in all three genres makes a transformational reading.”

While many of the out-of-state writers will be unable to attend the reading, Francisco said that it provides a chance to see what the local literary community has to offer.

“I love this reading every year, because it’s a chance to first of all see the real human beings behind the work that you have worked with on paper and you don’t know who’s behind them, so there they are,” she said. “The Twin Cities and Minnesota feature readers dominate the reading; that’s lovely…to see members of the literary community that have been around for many years and have beautiful works that we’re proud to be able to publish. But [we’re also proud to publish] new voices, people for whom this is their first publication.”

She added that the event has a communal feeling because attendees can see both familiar and new writers. At the reading, there’s the chance to meet favorite writers or discover emerging writers, and students could use the opportunity to build contacts or simply see what the literary community is up to.

“It’s a wonderful time to say hello to people you haven’t seen in a while or to talk to people who you’ve just heard read and you want to tell them what you thought of them and make an acquaintance. It has a real homecoming feel to it and also a real sense of who’s new, who’s out there in our community writing wonderful work that we now get to celebrate and to meet,” Francisco said.

While the Water~Stone editorial board is composed of graduate students, Francisco said she thinks undergraduates will still get something valuable out of the reading.

“I think it’s an event that feels a little mysterious because it’s a journal that’s not necessarily as connected to an undergrad creative writing major’s or a BFA student’s experience at Hamline, but it is an opportunity to see the larger literary community in the Twin Cities who either shows up, because people love this reading, or are in fact participating,” she said. “It’s really a chance to be very proud of Hamline and of the fact that Water~Stone is responsible for such a beautiful journal.”

Francisco ended by saying that while the event is only around an hour long, it leaves an impression on those who attend.

“It’s short, so it doesn’t take up a full evening, but you walk out feeling changed,” she said.

For more information on the reading and on Vol. 18 of Water~Stone Review, visit waterstonereview.com.