In June of 2005, the inaugural issue of MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine was released to a sun-soaked crowd, seeking refuge in a climate-controlled Humboldt Park bar. Since then, MAKE has taken distinct pleasure in publishing work from hundreds of writers and continues to host readings and other events merging literature, music, art, and film. Additionally, and from those first pages, MAKE Literary Productions, NFP — a full-fledged literary arts 501(c)(3) organization — was born and now serves as publisher of both MAKE and MAKE Online.

In an effort to reflect the magazine’s origins and chart its ever-evolving future, we dedicate issue eight to “This Everyday,” a celebration of the normal, an exaltation of the banal. While the magazine is published twice a year, MAKE is very much our everyday, our routine, our grind, not out of obligation but because we wouldn’t want it any other way. Literature infuses and enriches our lives on the daily. We imagine it’s the same for you.

In this issue, you will find work that observes and deconstructs the quotidian, discovers worth in modesty, and unveils the sublime in the most unlikely of places. The authors and visual artists herein look at what we often overlook and try to name it, rename it, and otherwise make sense of our relationships with each other and with ourselves. In their hands, the small and plain expand to generous proportions, becoming large enough to hold us all.

With issue eight, we also introduce a new design and a greater number of pages, nearly double that of our previous issues. These developments demonstrate our continued commitment to creating a print publication in a cultural environment that, at times, supports print less than ever before. Lest you think us stubborn and behind the times, however, we are additionally launching MAKE Online at makemag.com, allowing us to publish more stories, interviews, and reviews than ever before.

As an editorial and creative staff with a few issues under our collective belt, and on behalf of our Board, our past contributors, and everyone who has ever lent a hand — in particular MAKE cofounder Mike Zapata, currently in Ecuador writing the Great (South) American Novel — we thank you for your continued support of MAKE.