Aurelia magazine closes down as editor Kya Buller left 'heartbroken'

Editor of independent magazine Aurelia has announced it is closing down in an emotional post on the publication’s Instagram account.

The magazine was founded in 2018 by Kya Buller and published personal essays and art by women and non-binary people to "uplift the first-person stories of marginalised genders". Buller ran the magazine alongside Amelia Ellis and Shahed Ezaydi.

However, yesterday (21st August), Buller posted a statement on the magazine’s social media page announcing that Aurelia "had come to an end".

She wrote: "I’m heartbroken beyond measure or understanding to finally bring myself to announce that Aurelia has come to an end. It’s been hard to even imagine how to put this especially knowing as I have how hard everybody who ever touched it worked to keep it going.
"I’ve been sitting on how to phrase it for months, but ultimately creating Aurelia changed my life—and losing Aurelia set me into a depression that I’m still working on getting out of and I have struggled to admit this. Myself and my beloved editors Shahed and Amelia worked tirelessly to bring you something beautiful, special and unique. And we succeeded, of that I am unshakably certain.

"Ultimately it became non-affordable and I’m doubly heartbroken to say the website has now come to a complete close—fighting against this only set it back more."

Buller started Aurelia as a student as a platform for more personal stories, rather than the "newsy" articles she was reading elsewhere. As the popularity started to grow, she hired a team of staff, launched a podcast and held events under the brand name.

"Aurelia ran unforgettable events and panel talks, collaborated with global powerhouse brands, helped to launch the careers of many writers and held vigils for women who had been victims of male violence, which were then covered by BBC News—and that doesn’t begin to cover all we achieved.
"I am a working-class woman who pushed beyond my means to bring something entirely new to the table and despite the sadness and heaviness of it all, I am left knowing that we created a community with meaning and that will never be erased."

Buller went on in the statement to say that "independent publishing is urgently necessary and basically impossible to keep afloat", and mentioned the "heartbreaking closures" of gal-dem and Bad Form, adding: "I wish I had the solution but if we as a whole don’t figure it out, I will spend the rest of my life trying to."

She wrote: "Thank you to every reader, lover, supporter. There were so many of you. In time we went from being a voluntary publisher to one that was able to pay writers and I will remember that trajectory forever."

Buller explained that Aurelia’s Instagram page would be turning into a new project, which will be "for the community and eventually by the community, to enjoy as a means to stay connected and created."

She added: "I hope you stick around. I’m going to focus on feeling stronger in the meantime—but a new chapter is in the post. All my love and gratitude."