The original publication Sheaf took its name from the River Sheaf which runs through Sheffield City centre (in fact, of course, the city's name has the same derivation as well.....) Sheaf began as a print-based literary magazine; in the Autumn of 1979. Its aim was to celebrate and provide an audience for the best of the writing from creative writing students studying within the BA in English Studies Programme. It was the brainchild of the then leader of creative writing, Anne Cluysenaar and she acted as editor for the early issues. It has continued to be produced twice or three times a year ever since then and subsequent editors have included Ian McMillan, John Turner and Danny Broderick. Sheaf's brief also was to include work by guest writers and, amongst many others over the years, we have been pleased to publish work by Carol Ann Duffy, Diana Syder, Ian Duhig, Archie Markham, David Harmer, Jill Dawson, Jane Rogers and Geraldine Monk.

However, in 2001, I realised that things had moved on in publishing. It had become an increasingly arduous task to sell all the copies of each issue and back issues of Sheaf began to clutter up my office in large boxes. I therefore decided that we should convert the magazine into an on-line web-zine and thereby reach a wider, IT-educated audience. Thus E-sheaf was born. Alongside this, it also seemed to me that if E-sheaf were to be a genuine student-centred publication, then we should allow greater student autonomy in the editorial processes. Therefore, small teams of students have taken over the editorial roles for the last six years with my acting in the background as advisor and mentor.

E-sheaf continues to thrive and we hold 2 public launch events every academic year, the Autumn event forming part of Sheffield's Annual Literary Festival, Off The Shelf.

We look forward to a continuing, bright future!

John Turner