For young people, writing helps them cope with ‘madness’ of the world

Sophie-Rose Riopel, 17, is one of the founders of Under the Madness and served as the managing editor of the fourth issue, which came out on June 10 and features young writers from New Hampshire and Ukraine. Past issues have focused on Brazilian writers, and an upcoming edition will feature writers from India.

Riopel, who lives in Rye, comes from a family of publishers, writers, and historians — her mom’s family traces their lineage to poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and adventure novelist and early 20th century war correspondent Frederick Ferdinand Moore. She said she’s been interested in literature and poetry from a young age. The magazine began as “an off-shoot” of the 2021 North Country Young Writers’ Festival.

Riopel said writing is an essential outlet for young people to communicate their emotions, passions, and what they want to say about the world or themselves.

“This magazine offers a great space for that, to allow teens to express themselves,” she said. “It’s such a great place to have an outlet, especially for writing and the creative process, for young people to cope with the madness of the world because we’re all dealing with it in our own ways.”

The need to cope was especially urgent for young people experiencing the war in Ukraine. So Riopel and the other editors in New Hampshire worked with Halyna Tkachuk, a Ukrainian author and editor, to connect with young Ukrainian writers.

While it’s unusual for young Ukrainians to write in English, Halyna said in the editor’s note of the issue, she believes this literary generation will become widely known in the world.

“Already, unfortunately, they have a dramatic and sometimes tragic life experience that needs to be described and comprehended through writing,” she said. “But besides, this new generation is already developing their unique voices and individual visions of social reality. I believe that the voices of the youngest Ukrainian writers at the right moment will help to set aright the disturbed balance of our world.”

Sofiia Yakymenko is one Ukrainian teenager whose work is featured in the latest edition of the magazine. And Yakymenko has a lot to write about — at 13 her life has been uprooted by the war. She’s from Kyiv but is now living in Chioggia, Italy, which she describes as a tiny town near the sea. Her parents are physicists who work at a nearby university.

“If I hadn’t moved to Italy because of the war I wouldn’t have started writing because I wouldn’t have any reason to do it. Also because of the war I feel the need to express myself about the things that are happening to me and my country,” she said.

Yakymenko has been living in Italy for nine months, and she said adjusting to life in a new place where she didn’t speak the language or have any friends was really hard.

She started writing stories while sitting in a classroom that was being taught in a language she didn’t understand. Writing was also a way Yakymenko could stay in touch with her friends back home. She prefers writing in English to Ukrainian because she feels her writing is less cliched that way.

“It’s exciting,” she said, about having her work published. “When I started writing, I didn’t even think it could be possible.”

She has three short stories published in Under the Madness Magazine. She’s going to keep working with the magazine as a reader over the summer.

New Hampshire’s poet laureate Alexandria Peary said the magazine is a creative leadership opportunity for teenagers. She worked to start the magazine in 2021 and secured funding from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and the Academy of American Poets.

“I’m just floored by the writing on that site right now,” she said. “It’s just amazingly powerful stuff.”

Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amanda_gokee.