Field Work Term Spotlight: Emma Gaffney
Emma Gaffney '28 studies Literature, Philosophy, and History at Bennington. For her summer 2025 Field Work Term, Gaffney is interning for Codhill Press.
How does your Field Work Term relate to your studies at Bennington?
As Codhill Press focuses on publishing books that are intended for the "serious seeker" with a distinctly philosophical or spiritual nature, not only is the press itself resonant, but so are the submissions.
I read work that aligns with my passion for philosophy and history, and through editorializing and screening, I do work that hones my literary instinct.
What does a typical day at your FWT site look like?
My day primarily involves screening and evaluating submissions. As I work remotely and set my own hours, I am lucky to be able to devote as much undivided attention to each submission as I feel necessary. A day usually is around 5 or 6 hours, and I typically go through about 10-15 submissions per day.
During this process, I keep a spreadsheet of all the manuscripts I've reviewed and type up an evaluation for each one—either flagging them for further review or passing them if they don't feel in alignment with the catalog. I also am involved in the process of creating and editing newsletters and interfacing with authors and editors.
What has surprised or challenged you most about your Field Work Term position?
I was not expecting the screening process to be so involved or emotional—some are so compelling that I feel tempted to read the whole manuscript, some contain truly insightful and inspiring meditations on nature and art, and one poetry manuscript was so affecting that I began to cry! I often become so emotionally entangled with the work and the author that to remain objective about what does and does not align with the catalog has been the most challenging aspect of my position.
Through the work, I feel like I have begun to interrogate the preconceptions about the authorial instinct I came into this internship with, and question what it really means to write. These writers are doing the work and trying to get their work out there. No matter what the manuscript looks like, that is a brave and important thing.
What do you hope to do after Bennington?
While I have loved working in publishing so far, for my next Field Work Term I'd like to focus more on the history aspect of my emerging Plan, perhaps with curation or archival work, or even something purely research-based.