Call outs for radical writings

Submissions wanted for Working Class Queers #2

WCQ is a zine series about being queer and working class, and how those things (and others) intersect. WCQ #1 debuted at Queer Zine Fest London 2013 ♥

You don’t have to be queer or *working class to support this project – we welcome allies! – though you have to be both to submit to the zine.

About submitting to WCQ #2:

Submissions are open to all who ID as queer and working class, though I’m particularly interested in hearing from QWC trans folk, sex workers, PoC and immigrants. The zine is UK centric by circumstance rather than design – submissions are open to w/c queers worldwide.

No max word count, but 500 is a good place to aim for. If yr a w/c (working class) queer of few words, and can say what you need to in one short paragraph/sentence, that’s cool too! Very happy to receive art/illustrations/comic strips (and/or text), be it hand-drawn, computer generated or a scanned in.

There is no theme for issue #2, though working class rage seems to be a predominant theme in the submissions I’ve had so far. Anger and rage can be radical! Don’t be afraid to vent. Possible topics you might want to consider touching on: poor doors, homeless spikes, poverty porn, the upcoming UK election, working class queers you heart [Dorothy Allison has been quoted in two different pieces so far], things/people who inspire you [oh hai Focus E15 Mothers, Sex Worker Open University and London Black Revs] and what rage and resistance means/looks like to you…

People who submitted to issue #1 wrote about the following: what it means to be poor, queer, fat, immigrant, crip/disabled, marginalized, struggling, at-risk, policed, punk, intellectual, proud. They wrote about their experiences of class hierarchies in queer/feminist circles; about slang and accents; about the pwning and appropriation of DIY scenes; about queer complicity in gentrification; about the necessity of calling people up on their shit and about how poetry, books and libraries saved them.

If you grew up using slanguage and still use it (I did/do), don’t edit it out! Also, don’t worry about grammar etc. This is a comma fucker-free space.

I’d love to have this issue ready for Weirdo Zine Fest in Jan 2016, but that’ll depend on all the usual life stuff: work, time, resource, schedules etc, so send me yr stuff as soon as you like. Msg me if yr struggling/unsure/new to zineing and I’ll see what I can do to help.

charlotte.richardson.andrews@gmail.com

*A quick note on identifying as working class [w/c]: class can be such a complex, complicated issue for a lot of us, and while I think there’s deep value in discussing those grey areas, I also know that some of us feel pretty exhausted at the idea of having to explain, or prove, why we ID as w/c. I am neither able nor interested in policing how/why people who submit to WCQ id as w/c – although I believe there may be occasions where it might be necessary for me to question or gently challenge someone before accepting a submission. If you feel you need to acknowledge certain caveats that make yr w/c identity fraught or complicated, that is totally yr prerogative, and these kind of submissions are welcomed.

Big love to the peeps at Poor Lass Zine and Hard Femme zine, who inspired me into action.

Call for Submissions: Ace Positivity Zine

Ace Toronto still needs submissions for the second issue of their zine, themed around positive experiences of the asexual and aromantic spectrum. Deadline is October 10th, and submissions are welcome to asexytoronto.zine@gmail.com. Check out the posting!

Call For Submissions – Trans Fiction Anthology

Trans Fiction Anthology (with a focus on sexuality)*
Editor: Tobi Hill-Meyer
Publisher: Instar Books
Deadline: April 4th, 2016 – Early submissions encouraged
Payment: $50.00 & a copy of the book (there are plans for a kickstarter campaign, which if successful, will raise the payment to be $100)

The theme of this anthology is to address the personally and politically significant issues around sexuality and dating in trans community through erotic fiction. Too often trans erotica has been written from a cis perspective, with a cis reader in mind, addressing cis concerns about trans people, but not trans concerns. Let’s create fiction that truly feels like trans people’s stories, addressing the issues and concerns you see as significant in your trans communities.

Stories might have characters dealing directly with trans issues related to sex, like dysphoria, ignorant hook up partners, or things that come up when dating another trans person. Or perhaps a story might have a strong trans community setting, like in a trans activist group, or at a queer and trans event. Maybe your characters discuss local politics, sex workers’ rights, and black lives matter. But also, feel free to have it be more subtle. Maybe your characters are dealing with a sense of being de-valued that they can’t put their finger on. Maybe your story isn’t about them being trans at all, and your characters have deep and unique backgrounds, yet their experiences are still influenced by being trans. Or perhaps your story takes a common trope about trans people and turns it on it’s head.

My goal is to have a wide spectrum of stories, so don’t be afraid to submit something painful alongside more positive content. Reading a story that powerfully illuminates a hard experience many of us have had to deal with can be just as affirming as having positive models for how things can turn out well. So feel free to cover topics like abuse, a friend’s suicide, and violence. Happy endings are definitely appreciated, but not required. The resilience of the trans community is a big part of our strength. At the same time, fiction is a great opportunity to envision the how we would like to see the world.

To that point, sci-fi, fantasy, and other genres of speculative fiction are happily welcomed. Just be careful to avoid the common trap of putting characters that are essentially cis in unusual gender experiences and expecting it to speak to trans audiences. I’m excited to see how you might imagine trans experiences in alternative societies, trans-humanist genders, post apocalyptic survival, and gender in a world of super powers and magic — as long as the story itself remains relevant to actual trans people’s experiences.

Requirements

All submissions must be sent through the submission form below
Cis people are welcome to submit, please indicate your connection to trans community in the submission form
Preferred Length: 2000-5000 words
Word documents are preferred and should be double-spaced, using a 12-point font, and one inch margins.
txt and rtf files are suitable alternatives to word documents
Multiple submissions are accepted, at a maximum of three per author.
Late submissions accepted on rolling basis
Inquiries can be sent to Tobi@HandbasketProductions.com

Additional notes

Stories with asexual characters are welcomed.
Please avoid having an all white cast of characters unless you have a reason for it and address race in the story
Stories written from a trans perspective are usually preferred. If you’re writing from a cis perspective, be sure you have a clear reason and avoid long inner monologues of transphobic thinking.
Be sure to avoid reproducing common tropes about trans characters (or twist them in meaningful ways)
Be creative, draw inspiration from your experiences or the experiences of the trans people in your life, but don’t submit memoir or manifesto.

*Note: The title in this call was originally “Trans Erotic Fiction with Substance (Working Title).” The anthology itself is still, as of yet, untitled. I took out the word “erotic” because it seemed like too many people were being discouraged from contributing something because they saw “erotica” as a specific genre that their work falls outside of. What I am looking for is trans fiction, with a focus on themes of sexuality and relationships. Sex scenes don’t have to be intricate (although they certainly can be). If you want to write a story that only describes sex with a sentence or two, and instead focuses on the role of sexuality in the relationship the characters are in, please submit it. You don’t have to deliver a blow by blow of their sex, and your story doesn’t have to be something the reader will masturbate to – Although it certainly could be. I hope to receive a range of submissions. Traditional erotica is certainly welcomed and encouraged, but even in those cases stories with well developed and compelling characters who’s experiences and relationships impart something meaningful will be prioritized. Hopefully shifting of this call to Trans Fiction Anthology will help clarify the broader range of what I am looking for.

Call Me… Maybe: Fancying, Fucking & 4eva Alone Under the Ace Umbrella

I’m collecting submissions for a zine about dealing with crushes, dating, banging and loneliness for those of us who identify somewhere under the Ace Umbrella (e.g. demisexual, graysexual, asexual, gray-A.) It can be pretty isolating being part of the hardly-ever-or-never-bang crew and it can make that summer crush even more confusing.

Submissions can be good, bad, neutral, funny, sad, informative, silly – whatever. I’m interested in gathering together varied experiences of the occasionally-to-never sexual when it comes to fancying, fucking and being 4eva alone (5eva alone for the truly committed).

Who can submit?

Anyone, as long as you identify somewhere under the ace umbrella, whether that’s asexual, graysexual, demisexual (more info here if you’re not sure what that means http://www.asexualityarchive.com/under-the-ace-umbrella/)
Particularly interested in how your lack of sex drive / sexual attraction relates to other intersections e.g. the way MH can impact on sex drive, what it means to be queer but not banging, navigating the assumptions people make about your sex drive & how often you’re having sex because of your age / race / gender
Note: please content note submissions where necessary
Note part 2: no submissions that reproduce oppressive language or behaviours will be accepted

Format

Illustrations / comic strips / general imagery stuff (A5 size, no more than 1 page for one submission) – these will need to be scanned or done on a computer and emailed across pls!
Word docs / google docs / general text formats (max. 600 words)
Writing can be poems, ramblings, essays

Submissions to hagzine@gmail.com by 4th of May. Submissions can be anonymous or feature your name, just let me know when submitting. Also if you’re shy or worried about submitting, feel free to send questions or ask me for support and I’ll help as best I can.

White, non binary / agender, queer, demisexual / gray-A, middle class, able bodied, mentally ill, full time hag

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Autistic Self Care and Community Support Zine

oliviaszines:

So I finally got around to writing the official call for submissions for the autistic self care zine! My testing-the-waters post got a lot of interest, so here it is!

This zine is a compilation zine by and for autistic people on autistic self care and intra-community support.

As an autistic person who occasionally struggles with executive function and “autistic inertia,” sometimes the typical self care advice just doesn’t work for me. I’ve found that getting other people to guide me or tell me to do something is helpful, and I’d be willing to return the favor, so this is an important subject to me. I’d like to explore the ways that autistic community can make the results of working together greater than the sum of our individual efforts.

Also, I’ve noticed that most self care advice tends to be directed at allistic people, and I can’t find much tailored specifically to autistic people. Sometimes the things I think would be helpful, like requesting support for supposedly “easy” tasks, are seen as awkward, taboo, or immature, often leading to me avoiding asking them of allistic people. I think all of these things deserve more dialogue to bring them into the open and provide useful advice to fellow autistics.

Possible Submission Topics:

Building support networks in autistic community
Dealing with depression and anxiety as an autistic person
Autistic inertia and self care
Addressing barriers to self care
Making self care manageable
Sensory self care
How we can help each other care for ourselves
And anything else you can think of!

Guidelines:

You must be autistic (on the autism spectrum) to submit. Self-diagnosed people are welcome. If I’m low on submissions, I may accept pieces from people with similar issues to those faced by autistics, such as allistic people with ADHD or SPD.
You must be over the age of 13 to submit.
Keep things SFW (safe for work, no explicit content)
Try to keep submissions a reasonable length (probably under 10 pages)
This should go without saying, but refrain from including sexist, racist, heterosexist, cissexist, ableist, or otherwise bigoted material in your submissions.
Please don’t use functioning labels in your pieces. Also, avoid talking about Autism Speaks.
You can include an “about the author” section with links to blogs, etsy shops, etc.
You may submit multiple pieces.
Submissions will be edited lightly for spelling and grammar. If I think something else should be changed, I’ll contact the author
No poetry, please.
Art submissions are okay if they include text.

Important Stuff:

By submitting, you are giving me permission to include your work in this zine. The zine will have a free pdf version released online (including a version that will work with screenreaders) and maybe a print version to be sold online. Authors retain copyright to their submissions.

Tentative Submission Deadline: May 31st, 2015

To Submit: Email me your submission at metaparadox11@gmail.com

If you want, you can also submit through Tumblr (I’m here at oliviaszines and paradoxnow, my personal blog.) Feel free to ask me questions.

In case you’re curious, I’m a 22 year old autistic (diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome) girl who is still fairly new to the autistic community (it took a long time to find someone who would take me seriously enough to diagnose me) and the world of zines (which are now my strongest special interest.) If you have any advice from either side, I’d love to hear it!

– Olivia

Call for submissions: SEX WORKER FEELZ – zine about negative experiences in sex work, by sex workers & for sex workers only

Attention sex workers!

I’m making a zine about negative experiences in sex work, by sex workers and for sex workers’ eyes only. There are so many great zines out there about positive and even neutral experiences in sex work. We want to provide a space for us to talk and vent about our more negative experiences, whether those are with clients, managers, other sex workers, friends, SWERFs, or more generally about the stigma and difficulties we face in the sex industry.

Who can contribute? We’re looking for submissions from sex workers, who are in any kind of sex work – camming, full service providers, bdsm providers, strippers, sugar babies, independents, brothel/parlour/agency workers, indoor and outdoor workers, etc and so forth. We’re looking for poems, drawings, photos, short stories, essays, open-ended narratives, comic strips, or anything else you can think of to submit to a zine. Please keep written submissions to 700 words maximum – artwork can be up to two pages of A5 paper in size. Please include content notes/trigger warnings where necessary.

This zine will be in hard copy format only for reasons of discretion. This is a zine by sex workers and for sex workers only, and for obvious reasons we want to restrict access to it as far as possible. We’ll do our best to make sure your submission does not land in the hands of SWERFs, though we accept this might not be 100% possible to avoid. There will be caveats galore throughout the zine to make sure our words and ideas are not taken out of context as far as possible.

About me: Escort, feminist, white, agender, middle class, disabled/mentally ill, queer femme, student; in the sex industry for two years now as a full-service worker, dominatrix, professional switch, and occasional camgrrl. @radicalsuccubus on twitter and radicalsuccubus on tumblr.

Please email submissions (or any questions/comments) by 15th May, 2015, to radicalsuccubus@gmail.com.

Call for Submissions: Gay 4 Pay Press

Gay 4 Pay Press, a radical gay zine distro that our assistant editor Jonathan Valelly is involved with, is seeking submissions for two zines. The first is a second edition zine about consent in gay/MSM contexts, and the other is a zine about fantasies and turn-ons at the cusp of adolescence, asking — what turned you on before you knew what i meant to be turned on? Deadline for both is March 16, 2015.

Call for Submissions: Male Survivor Zine

Looking for personal experiences and ideas from male survivors of sexual abuse and rape. Lots of suggestions and a basic framework for the zine here.

Call for Submissions: Trans Cancer Survivors

If you are a person who has had cancer and you are some flavor of trans or gender-variant, Jess Downs is looking to speak with you! Jess is looking for people of many different backgrounds to contribute or do interviews. More information here.

Call for Submissions: Mad Pride Toronto

Mad Pride is an arts, culture, and heritage festival created by psychiatric survivors, consumers, mad people,
and folks the world has labelled “mentally ill” Do you want to host or participate in a consumer/survivor-driven event, performance (poetry, spoken word, theatre, dance, music, comedy, book reading or other), film screening, talk, presentation, workshop, or panel discussion at Mad Pride Toronto 2014? (Email outreach@madprideto.com). Do you want to submit to our third juried Art Exhibition? We invite two dimensional, sculptural, or time-based art submissions from psychiatric survivors, consumers, and mad people. Contact Martine at martinematthews@soundtimes.com. If you are a consumer/survivor and would like to display/sell your art, crafts, buttons, t-shirts, knitting, zines, books, music, baked goods or promote your blog, website, group, network, idea, consider requesting a table at the Mad Market. (Email outreach@madprideto.com) Visit the Mad Pride website for more info. Deadline is April 15, 2014.

Call for Zines: Fight Boredom Distro (Montreal, QC)

From owner Amber Dearest:

I’m on a distro-stocking frenzy at the moment and I want YOUR zines at Fight Boredom Distro. As you may know, I’m visiting the UK for six weeks in the fall and winter (itinerary-in-progress here), and part of my trip involves tabling at some zinefests (like the Leeds Zine Fair and Queer Zine Fest London, among others). I’ll have a backpack overstuffed with zines, and I wanna bring a whole lot more with me.

Work by queers, anarchists, feminists are a bonus (and remember: my feminism will be intersectional or it will be bullshit). I like diary comics and thoughtful accounts of things like small towns, community-building, livin’ on the cheap. I’d also like to stock more zines on sex work, sobriety, and general hopeful tales of creating yr dream life. Also, more zines from Canada and Québec please! Send zines to Amber Dearest / 344 rue St-Ferdinand / Montréal, Québec / H4C 2S8 Canada.

Call for Submissions: Totally Radical Muslims 4

TRM is seeking submissions on the theme of rage! Or anger, discontent, frustration, resignation, overcoming, healing, unleashing, the edge. All self-identified muslims are encouraged to submit. Deadline is June 5, email submissions to islamophobia.zine@gmail.com

Call for Submissions: Death Flails

Winnipeg’s Janis Maudlin is kicking off a biannual literary compilation looking for submissions of experimental/alternative poetry, prose and maybe essays. No boring stuff please!
“sincere and ironic nihilistic radical anarchism” is a baseline politic for this, so what’s the worst that could happen? Deadline is April 20th 2015. Email luckyskeletons@gmail.com with the word “submission” as the subject.

Call for Submissions: La Respuesta Magazine

The brilliant and radical Puerto Rican diaspora magazine La Respuesta is looking for work addressing the issue of education throughout the Boricua Diaspora. If you don’t know the magazine, check out their website— super important stuff about colonialism, race, culture and action. Send a pitch or your finished 800-1200 word piece to info@larespuestamedua.com Art and photography also welcome. More info at the callout page.

Call for Submissions: Who Killed Adelaide Norris?: A Born in Flames Fanzine

Fanfic, art, writing, critiques, outpourings of love, etc. are all welcome for a fanzine of the radical queer underground classic (full video above!). Deadline: July 1. More info at Sassyfrass Circus.

Call for Proposals: Small Talk (Toronto)

Be radical. Be real. Be ridiculous. The outsider, interdisciplinary lecture series invites any and everybody to submit 200-300 word proposals to speak on any topic. Send proposals to smalltalksubmissions@gmail.com and read more at the facebook event.

Call for Submissions: Totally Radical Muslims Zine

The Oakland, CA-based Totally Radical Muslims Zine exists to tackle Islamophobia, homophobia, imperialism and more. For their 3rd issue, they are publishing work on the theme of Queer Muslim Love Stories. In their (wonderfully eloquent) words: “Tell us about the ways you’ve opened and closed your heart. Count the times you’ve heard it break. Describe the love you’ve asked for, prayed for, waited for, cherished, embraced, feared, denied, chased, flirted with or fled. Name the feelings that visit you by night. Send us your love letters. Talk dirty to us.”

You heard them. Submit! Deadline is April 1, 2014. More info at their website.

Call for Submissions: Dead Gender Magazine

dead gender magazine is calling for art+lit submissions for our FOURTH ISSUE— the Fall 2012 issue!

WHAAA? WHAT’S DEAD GENDER?!
DG is less of a magazine, and more of a collection of cool; an anthology of AWESOME.
We’ve published a diverse range of artistic styles and media by an even more eclectic bunch of artists and writers from all around the world.
We like the radical, and the hilarious! WE ALSO REALLY LIKE ACTIVISM.
Visual art: attach up to five visual pieces (high-res jpg. doc’s/photos)
Lit: attach up to five poems, or prose pieces no longer than 2000 words!
*include literature in the body of your email, or as a single attachment!

Submissions and questions can be sent to: deadgender.mag@gmail.com
(you must include your mailing address and a short biography with your submission!)