About
We are the Appomattox River Review, a literary magazine from Petersburg, VA. We feature creative writing submitted to and edited by Literary Arts students at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. As high schoolers, we don’t shy from obscurity, publishing established and budding writers of all backgrounds. Quality is our only benchmark. But what denotes quality in a shifting world? What does it mean to create in the 21st century? We face this question not as coworkers, but friends. In the words of Audre Lorde, “Without community, there is no liberation.”
Staff
Head Editor | Web Design
Amaya Z. Zaslow
Amaya Zahar Zaslow is a literary art major at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. She is the editor-in-chief of Appomattox River Review, and the head designer of the Poetry Society of Virginia Youth Prize Anthology. She was a VHSL State Finalist in Fiction, and recipient of the fiction prize in Fledge Magazine. She was also awarded the Poetry Society of Virginia Young Poetry in the Community honorarium, as well as three honorable mentions from Scholastic Art and Writing. Amaya has worked on many editorial projects. These include national award winning ASGARD literary magazine, DEDITIO, and Black Dragon.
Assistant Editor
Theodore Sotdorus is a Sophomore literary arts major at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. He does martial arts and spends his free time playing games, writing poetry, and working on his novel. He has worked on editorial projects such as Appomattox River Review and the national award winning ASGARD, DEDITIO, and Black Dragon.
Theodore Sotdorus
Readers
Maxwell DeGrauwe is a senior Literary Arts at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. He has been published in his school's literary magazines and won an honorable mention from Scholastic. He enjoys writing fiction that explores the fantastical. He has two very silly dogs and a crazy cat.
Maxwell DeGrauwe
Elliot Rider is a junior literary art major at Appomattox Regional Governor's School.
Elliot Rider
Raven van Horn - Hedrick is a literary arts major at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. She is head editor of Deditio this year. In previous years she was a editor and later on head editor of The RVA Youth Anthology. At Appomattox Regional Governor's School she works on film photography. In her free time she reads and crochets.
Raven van Horn-Hedrick
Peyton DeShetler is a literary arts major at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. She has won an honorable mention from the Sarah Mook poetry contest and one from Scholastic as well. Aside from writing poetry she also enjoys doing ballet and watercolor painting.
Peyton DeShetler
Matthew Greise is a senior at Appomattox Regional Governor School and loves writing about rugby and food, lots of food.
Matthew Greise
Delilah Dana is a senior literary art major at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. She has led several award-winning publications such as ASGARD, Deditio, and the RVA Youth Poetry Anthology, Young Voices of RVA. She enjoys exploring the visual and musical arts as an avid painter and singer.
Delilah Dana
Avery Stone is a Visual Art major at Appomattox Regional Governor's School. She is the editor-in-chief of RVA Youth Poetry Anthology and was the visual art editor for ASGARD literary magazine 2026. She enjoys painting and playing guitar.
Avery Stone
Sarah Powers is a Literary Arts senior at Appomattox Regional Governors School. She has been published in various literary magazines around the country as well as placing in nine contests. In her free time, she enjoys working as a barista, reading, watching movies, cooking, and hiking.
Sarah Powers