Call for submissions to multi-generic anthology
CFP deadline: 30 March 2015
From emailed CFP:
Despite signs of economic recovery, millions of Americans from all walks of life are still experiencing tough economic times. With the reduction in food stamps and other welfare benefits, rise in college tuition across the nation, and continued high unemployment among some of the most marginalized in our society ( the poor, the elderly, and the youth, for example) many people are still having difficulty making ends meet. In addition, racial tensions have gotten even higher than usual fueled by recent incidents of racial profiling and police brutality, and nationwide protests against these incidents by a wide cross section of people.
Our anthology, Tough Times in America, aims to provide a platform for telling diverse stories about “tough times” from multiple perspectives. We will accept true stories, as well as “fictionalized” versions of real life events. This collection aims to preserve and document narrative accounts of the anger, fear and frustration that most Americans are feeling due to massive job losses, loss of homes, loss of healthcare, reduced retirement benefits, police profiling and police brutality, etc. We also hope to document the hope and gratitude that bloom even in the midst of despair—true testaments to the tenacity of the human spirit. Significantly, we would like this collection to reflect the diversity of America in the 21st century, and so we welcome submissions from people from all ethnicities, racial, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
Fiction should be between 1500 to 4000 words. Times New Roman or similar sized font (12 point). Stories must be previously unpublished in any form, including print, web etc. Each story should be identified within the geographic location/landmark of the city in which it is set. We will consider stories from all around the Americas (yes, this includes the Caribbean and Latin America). For our poetry selections, we will consider up to 3 poems per author. We welcome established as well as unpublished writers who would like to represent their experiences or the experiences of their friends and loved ones as well as fictional accounts. Deadline for submissions: 30 March 2015.
Please send your submissions to: Dr. Donna Aza Weir-Soley: (weirsole@fiu.edu) and Max Freesney Pierre (prrmax@yahoo.com).
Dr. Weir-Soley is an Associate Professor of English at Florida International University. She is the author of First Rain, Eroticism, Spirituality, and Resistance in Black Women’s Writings, and co-editor of the anthology Caribbean Erotic (Peepal Tree Press).
Max Freesney Pierre is an Adjunct Professor of English at Florida International University and a former administrator at Miami-Dade College. Pierre is a poet/writer/journalist, the author of Tambours de la Mêlée, Fée Caraïbe, Soul Traveler and Le chant de l’apaisement.
