A Columbia sophomore journalism major has pioneered a publication that will cater to the LGBT community.

Tony Merevick, 19, is the man behind Q Review, a literary online magazine with one goal in focus: to bring the LGBT community together. Merevick is using his journalism experience and creativity to create a voice not only for Columbia’s LGBT community, but the greater

Chicago area as well.

“The idea for Q Review came to me when I realized there was no real platform for gay, lesbian and queer voices  at Columbia,” Merevick said. “I mean, there’s a department in Multicultural Affairs, but really no magazine or publication with these fabulous queer voices to be published.”

The magazine is open to any artist who would like to get their work out to the public. The magazine has five sections: poetry, essays, short fiction, photography and graphics and art to showcase the artists’ various talents.

“I wanted to have a very nice visual aspect to it,” Merevick said. “If you don’t want to write, you can take pictures, make graphics or display your artwork.”

Merevick said his inspiration for the magazine came after taking a writing course taught by Karen Osborne during the spring 2009 semester.

“Kathy Bergquist came into my class as a guest speaker and I asked her, ‘Is there a publication for queer writers at Columbia?’ And she was like, ‘No, but you should start one!’ And so I did,” Merevick said.

Osborne, a professor in the English Department at Columbia,  said Merevick was the brains behind the magazine, although she was cited as part of the

inspiration for Q Review.

“It’s his project, he ran some ideas past me, and I was impressed that he wanted to do it,” Osborne said.  “He asked for help getting the word out, so I mentioned it to writers that I knew and gave him some suggestions, but I have done nothing except say, ‘Hey, this is great.”

One of the writers that she mentioned to Merevick was Gregg Shapiro, an author  and poet from Chicago who is widely known throughout the LGBT community who was eager to work with Merevick.

“I think it’s great,” Shapiro said. “There was a period where there were a lot of LGBT literary publications in print. Some were based here, some from other cities, and it’s nice to have something based in Chicago again.”

Both Osborne and Shapiro’s work are published in the magazine’s first issue, which was released as a half issue on Sept. 2. Merevick plans on releasing a full issue in early December, with its tentative date being Dec. 4. He also hopes to gain more contributions from  new artists to the magazine in the future.

Merevick started a Facebook fan page for Q Review, and fans are also able to follow the magazine on Twitter at Twitter.com/TheQReview, which has proven to be a success for getting the word out about the publication. Tony has achieved a larger fanbase than he had originally expected, and it continues to grow daily.

“A really cool thing I just found out [is] that we’ve gotten over 600 visitors to the site and 38,779 hits since July 31,” Merevick said.

Shapiro said he is also thrilled that the magazine is going to be a part of the Columbia community.

“I think it’s exciting that Columbia now has so many literary options coming out of the college,” Shapiro said. “The school needs to be commended for inspiring that kind of output.”

For more information about Q Review, visit QReviewOnline.com.