Breaking into the publishing industry can be daunting for many students. However, UEA’s student publishing project, Egg Box, is keen to help find the enjoyment in such an endeavour.

By making and editing publications, Egg Box provides invaluable industry experience at the heart of our concrete campus.  

News Editor Daisy Hawker sat down with Egg Box Committee members, including President Hazel Love, Events Officer Kate Robinson, and First Year Representative Epiphany Railton.

The four discussed the importance of student publishing, zines, and how the UEA campus can get involved with their publishing society.  

Those out of the know may be a little confused when hearing a society called “Egg Box”. This name defines the student-led subsidiary of the UEA Publishing Project.

“We’re a society that makes publications of student work,” Hazel explains, “we’re known for our published undergraduate anthology every year, but we make a lot of zines or smaller anthologies as well.”   

But the fun doesn’t stop there. “We try and have social events here and there. We welcome any student, even if they’re on the fence about getting a membership,” says Kate.

A recent standout was hosting a World Book Day costume party “in collaboration with the Literature society and Creative Writing Society.”

As well as this, Egg Box hosted a book launch event to celebrate the release of the previous year’s undergraduate anthology, Underworld.  

The undergraduate anthology is one of the biggest projects Egg Box undertakes every year. “We have the tradition of starting each anthology name with ‘under’,” Hazel explains.

“This year, committee voted on Underveil.” Chosen for its rich symbolic interpretations, Underveil can mean many different things—”a wedding, the night sky, even ghosts.”  

As well as the famous annual anthology, another of Egg Box’s specialities is publishing zines. “Historically,” Hazel says, “zines have been used to make publications of something you’re passionate about that might be too niche to be found in big print.”

For a student publishing body, it is a great entry point to making publications as “there’s much more leeway of what can be involved. Art can be used, photographs, writing,” and much more.   

While providing invaluable skills to those who may want a taste of what it’s like in the publishing industry, Egg Box’s process puts the fun in creating published work.

“It’s always a nice moment when you see the anthology in print for the first time, knowing you’ve had a hand in writing, editing and proofreading it,” Kate smiles. 

The Events Officer was the designer for the cover for the 2025 anthology Underworld, demonstrating how Egg Box helps students develop a wide range of both practical and creative skills.  

For Hazel, “reading people’s work and seeing all the creative variety” is a highlight. Epiphany seconds this, saying she loves “editing the work.”

“It can be very vulnerable to share [writing]”. Yet thanks to anonymised submissions, “there’s no personal connection. It’s just you and this piece of work.”   

Egg Box’s strength lies in its ability to spotlight the voices of the young people that shape our campus. “It’s not always easy to get published,” Epiphany acknowledges, “especially when you’re a student.”

For Kate, Egg Box was one of the reasons why she decided to study at UEA. “Not many universities have this accessibility.”  

It is clear to see why a society like Egg Box drew Kate in, especially considering the publishing society is part of a bigger publishing project. “If we ever need help, we can ask the other prints within that project, and it will really help us learn,” she adds.

As a first-year Creative Writing student, Epiphany agrees this assistance is invaluable. “You don’t really get a lot of chances to workshop your writing,” so it’s essential to have a society like Egg Box that offers “very specific feedback and editing” to writers finding their feet in our City of Stories.  

Keep an eye on Egg Box’s Instagram (@theeggbox) and WhatsApp for more information about undergraduate anthology opportunities, social events, and all things student publishing. Or head to the Student Union website to purchase a membership.  

If you would like to catch a glimpse of what Egg Box has to offer, watch this space for our upcoming reviews of Underworld and the Winter Anthology, Hibernation, right here on the Concrete website.

Alternatively, head to the UEA Publishing Project website to purchase an anthology and explore Egg Box’s past zines. 

Image credit: Alex Lawton