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Call for Submissions: Shameless Magazine’s First Anthology!

January 24th, 2008     by Stacey May Fowles     Comments

Shameless Magazine is putting together an anthology for publication in Spring 2009 and we’re currently looking for submissions! Check out the call below!

Call for Submissions: A Shameless Anthology

Co-editors Megan Griffith-Greene and Stacey May Fowles are seeking submissions for an anthology for teen girls to be published by Tightrope Books in Spring 2009.

The anthology will include creative non-fiction essays by women and trans-identified adults about their formative experiences as teens, and is primarily intended for a youth audience. Specifically, we’re looking for submissions about how teen experiences (positive and negative) shaped our writers’ lives and made them the people they are today.

This project is affiliated with Shameless magazine and is based on the magazine’s signature mix of smart, sassy, honest and inclusive writing. In keeping with the mandate of Shameless, we want to reach out to young female readers who are often ignored by mainstream media: freethinkers, queer youth, young women of colour, punk rockers, feminists, intellectuals, artists, and activists. We hope this book will open up a real dialogue about growing up female, creating a book that is pro-choice, queer-positive, sex-positive, girl-positive.

(Unsure of what we want? We suggest you pick up a back issue of the magazine.)

Your contribution can be personal, educational or political; it can be fuelled by humour, rage or sadness; but make sure what you write is honest, accessible and meaningful to teen girls, does not patronize or preach, and is in keeping with Shameless magazine’s mandate.

Some possible subjects we are interested in including:

BODY IMAGE, SEX AND PUBERTY -encounters with choice: being a teen mom or choosing abortion -fat phobia, size acceptance, body image and self-worth -tales of the teen queer experience, out or not -teen sexual secrets -sexual assault and self-defense -sexual health and education -self-harm and self-love

AUTHORITY, POWER, REBELLION AND COMMUNITY -confrontations with authority and the status quo -girls and violence -experiences with drugs and alcohol -becoming a political radical/intellectual -experiences in youth activism -breaking laws and telling lies -school culture -poverty, money and work -religion -finding community

RACE, ETHNICITY, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE -experiences with racial/cultural difference -learning the language -international experiences

ART AND VOICE -DIY culture -pop culture: mainstream and indie heroes and idols -teen writing: diaries, poetry and self-expression -graffiti and street art

Please feel free to query us at anthology@shamelessmag.com for more information. If you have an idea or form that doesn’t fit within the above parameters, please feel free to pitch us.

People of all cultures, ages and preferences, published or unpublished, are encouraged to submit. We are looking for diverse, creative, original, thought provoking, entertaining, challenging, innovative, engaging stories for teen girls. We prefer creative non-fiction writing to academic-style writing.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Submissions should range from 500 to 2500 words, and should be double spaced on 8 1/2 X 11 white paper. Please make sure the pages are numbered. Please include your address, phone number, email address and a short bio on the manuscript. Please submit your essays via mail no later than April 18, 2008:

Shameless Magazine Anthology P.O. Box 68548 360A Bloor St. W Toronto, Ontario M5S 1X1.

(To avoid confusion, please make sure you clearly indicate that you are submitting to the anthology on the outside of the envelope)

About the Editors:

Megan Griffith-Greene’s experience spans activism, arts and journalism. Raised in Toronto, Megan became an active advocate on youth rights, social justice and education issues while in high school. Megan studied cultural studies and fine arts at York University, and journalism at Ryerson, where she was editor of the Ryerson Review of Journalism (Spring 2004). She is also a founding editor and designer of The New Pollution new music review, a web-based magazine and podcast on indie music. Megan is the editor of Shameless magazine and a contributing editor of Chatelaine.

Stacey May Fowles has a degree in english literature and women’s studies and her written work has been published in various online and print magazines, including Kiss Machine, Girlistic, The Absinthe Literary Review, Hive and subTERRAIN. Her non-fiction has been anthologized in the widely acclaimed Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity and First Person Queer. Her first novel, Be Good, was published in November 2007. She currently lives in Toronto where she blogs daily for and is the publisher of Shameless Magazine.

Tags: all about shameless, bibliothèque

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