Submit now for the 2020 Anthology: (a) river rising, BIRDS and BLOOMS edition
Featuring work from the BIRDS and BLOOMS art shows, Fall 2019 to Spring 2020.
Submissions welcome from June 8, 2020, to July 15, 2020.
“Women catch courage from the women whose lives and writings they read, and women call
the bearer of that courage, friend.”
—Carolyn Heilbrun
Guidelines for Submissions
Dear Friends,
Women Writing for (a) Change Jacksonville invites you to submit works of poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction, personal essays, and artwork for publication in (a) river rising: an anthology of women’s voices (BIRDS and BLOOMS edition). We look forward to lifting your voices through this annual anthology. We are a diverse community of women creating change in ourselves and our worlds one truth, one voice at a time. We focus primarily on the voices of women and those who identify as female, but not exclusively.
THEME
This anthology is based on writing and art inspired by our two latest art exhibits, BIRDS in the Fall of 2019 and BLOOMS in the Spring of 2020.
- For BIRDS, we are looking for pieces that celebrate birds and the role women have played in the science, art, and conservation of birds—our own “bird’s eye view” of the significance of birds in our community. Birds are symbols of the feminine and of spiritual heights. They are also symbols for the health of a community: as go the birds, so goes the community (think canary in a coal mine). Birds call our attention to our higher purpose as a community: to create safe and beautiful places for all of us to live. The art and writing for this anthology will touch on themes of interconnectedness, of migration, and transformation.
- FOR BLOOMS, we are looking for pieces that raise awareness about the beauty and importance of the natural world around us—and its fleeting nature. As we encounter a world of environmental destruction countered by the valiant efforts of many to save the Earth, we are highlighting the importance of preserving ideals of beauty, compassion, and community, starting with words, and art, and the expression of the feminine in the world.
- SUB-THEME #1: The Coronavirus “bloomed” in 2020. What art and writing bloomed within you during this silent spring?
- SUB-THEME #2: Protests quickly blossomed across the country and the world after the deaths of George Floyd, Breana Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. What writing and art blossomed in you during this time?
ELIGIBILITY
If you’ve been a writer in our Jacksonville-based circles, or an artist or featured writer in one of our art shows, or a speaker at one of our events, you’re eligible to submit your work. We hope you will allow others to “catch courage” and inspiration from your words. We are radically inclusive and see it as our mission to lift the expression of the feminine here in Jacksonville. The Anthology is an annual platform for you to do so.
- NOTE: We have limited printed space in the Anthology; please submit early. We may publish some of the work on an online forum if we are unable to accommodate everyone in the print version.
TO SUBMIT
Please submit up to three works that resonate with the theme “Birds and Blooms.” We will choose at least one for publication as long as it fits our theme and our editorial guidelines. The submission fee is $30. This covers the expense of your own copy of the Anthology ($20 value) and a $10 screening fee. This fee helps us to cover some of the expenses of editorial production. If you’d like to pre-buy more copies of the Anthology or order more copies for friends and families, you can place your order through our website: Shop The Anthology.
RELEASE PARTY
We will release the Anthology at a special launch party in early November, date TBA. You will pick up your copy at the party and we will officially recognize your contribution. (Of course, that situation is fluid, depending on the pandemic situation.)
EDITORIAL TEAM
Thanks to our Anthology team: Managing Editor Nan Kavanaugh, and Contributing Editors Jennifer Anderson, Dakota Boyer, Janessa Martin, Sharon Scholl, Amanda Millard, Nancy Murrey-Settle, and Interns Dahlia Kirov and Su Erkin-Taner, with proofreading by Amanda and Kate Hallock. THANKS TO THEM!
TO SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS
If you want to support this important platform for women writers and artists in our community, please consider supporting us by making a donation in addition to your submission. You will also get special recognition at the JaxByJax event, an invitation to the VIP Party after the launch, and recognition in the Anthology. SUPPORT US HERE.
Thank you again for helping to create this exciting opportunity to lift women’s voices here in Jacksonville.
—Jennifer Wolfe, Executive Director, Women Writing for (a) Change, Jacksonville
YOU OWN YOUR WORDS AND ARTWORK
You own your words and/or your artwork. As an author, you retain all rights under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §101 et seq., for the duration of the copyright including, but not limited to, the right to reproduce, make derivative and/or duplicate works.
AUTHOR/ARTIST WARRANTY
Author or Artist warrants that her words and/or artwork are original and do not infringe on any intellectual property rights, including but not limited to the copyright of anyone. Author or Artist understands the Anthology will be widely distributed. Author or Artist warrants that her work does not defame, invade the privacy or otherwise violate or otherwise infringe the rights of anyone. Author or Artist agrees to indemnify and hold Women Writing for (a) Change harmless for any breach or claimed breach of these warranties.
LICENSE
Author or Artist hereby grants Women Writing for (a) Change permission to include her words and/or artwork in the Anthology and to use her words or artwork with attribution for marketing and promotion purposes of this and future editions of the Anthology on social media and other electronic and printed platforms, before, during, and after the Anthology release and in to support writing circles, sales, and other events.
If you do not wish to have your work used in this way, please email us separately to opt out. Send your email here: CONTACT
“True communities are possible. It begins in your writing, where you come together in true community with yourself, where you give yourself permission to acknowledge your pain and joy and sadness and fear, where you begin to accept and love yourself as you are, without pretense.”
—G. Lynn Nelson in Writing and Being