Home For The Poets & The Stargazers: The Cassiopeia Review

“Not only do we live among the stars, the stars live within us.” —Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Do you believe in that? If so, then keep reading.

Hello, fellow poet and/or space admirer. We’re The Cassiopeia Review [TCR], a literary magazine that’s youth-led, non-profit, and astronomy-loving. The Cassiopeia Review was founded on 3rd of September, 2024, on a road trip. Not the best origin story, but TCR’s birth was fueled by inspiration and love for other, teen-led literary magazines that were doing amazing work of putting forward young writers’ pieces. I, the EIC, didn’t expect for this to actually happen. Why? Plenty of reasons. Some reasons might be holding you back, too. School, examinations, what-if-this-doesn’t-work, and the unnecessary feeling of any sort of creative endeavor being a bad idea.

Was this a bad idea?
Probably not.

I ended up creating a cute little community with a cute little team which I absolutely love. I aspire to make it like a found-family—but everyone’s from different countries, cultures, and ethnicities. Continents away, but so close.

That was me drifting away from the actual topic, by the way. So, back to TCR. A question might have built up in your mind (if not, let me answer anyway), why the name The Cassiopeia Review? What’s so special about it? Well, Cassiopeia is something much more familiar to people who are into all that space stuff. Cassiopeia is a famous constellation, one you’ve probably seen, which is named after the Queen of Ethiopia in Greek mythology. Pretty cool. Apart from the fact that she boasted about her unrivaled beauty—she’s nice.

The Cassiopeia Review is mostly exploring themes of our universe. The stars, planets, moons, black holes, galaxies, nebulae, dwarf-planets, and so many more celestial bodies are loved at TCR. We want young, marginalized, and often overlooked voices. Why? Because they are often the ones with most to say. We want you. We want your works. We want your expression and perspective. As a teen author who published her debut novel at 13, I know the feeling of being overlooked, and seen as nothing but a child going through a ‘phase’ by other people in this industry. That got a bit depressing but let’s go on. If you feel this way, or just want to share something with the world, submit to our issues. Become part of this community—one where you will be loved and appreciated, because all of us believe in the main values of The Cassiopeia Review.

We hope to be the representatives of works of people like us, and also aspire to become one of your favorite literary magazines. It’s only the beginning, and there’s a lot more to come. Whether it be our first issue (which has a really cool theme and is currently open for submissions!), poetry competitions, community-bonding, or just stargazing as we write our poems—we want to make every experience worth living for.

Because, after all, this life is all we have.

See you in the next one, and I hope that The Cassiopeia Review attains a special spot in your heart.

—Aaroosh Khan [Founder & Editor-in-Chief]