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I'm editor and writer Jennifer Burke. You can see my other projects: Femmethology (including this), Queer Shorts (which goes with this), A Life Less Convenient (with goes with this blurb and this bit of fun), and The Nervous Breakdown.
Call for Submissions
I am seeking your nonfiction essays about the impact of addiction, illness, disability, and/or injury on your body image, sexual self, and/or relationships. I also want to know about healing: what restores the self, possibly a different self (a certain relationship, getting a tattoo, revealing a scar, taking up a sport, performing burlesque, getting pregnant, body building, etc.)?
- Submissions should be typed double-spaced in Times New Roman font (12 point) and sent as a Word attachment to brpeditor at gmail dot com.
- Essays should ideally be unpublished and 1500-6000 words in length.
- You may submit more than one essay. Each essay must be emailed separately. Please put your name and the letters “brp” in the subject field of the email.
- For each submission, include your legal name, pseudonym (if any) you wish to use, address, phone number, email, and a bio.
The submissions deadline will occur in '09.
Please feel free to post widely.
FAQs
I'm gay/heterosexual/lesbian/bisexual/pansexual/other. Am I allowed to submit?
Your sexual orientation can be anything. I care about your writing and how you make narrative sense of your body.
I'm female/male/other gendered/do not claim a gender. May I submit?
I won't make decisions based on writers' gender identity and/or sex. I do care about including as much diversity as possible in this collection, so all are welcome.
Are you accepting fiction?
Submissions may not be works of fiction; however, given the subject matter, writers may need to indulge in "creative nonfiction" to conceal identities for the sake of privacy.
I didn't cover any relationships. I focused on my journey from alienation from my body toward healing and accepting my functioning after my injury. Would you consider that type of essay?
Yes.
What if part of my essay has poetry included?
Prose-poetry could make the cut, if there’s more prose than poetry. If you’re talking about some twists in form/narrative/voice/etc., I think that’s great. That’s what I want.
Did you get my submission?
After you submit, you should receive a confirmation email from me. If you did not receive that email, please check in with me.
My submission is an excerpt from my novel. Is that okay?
That depends on the status of your novel. If a publisher has already established rights to the material, then we probably have a problem. Permission fees and other issues with your work may make it ineligible. If there is no encumbrance on your novel, please know that your excerpt must stand as a complete coherent piece apart from the whole.
My grammar and punctuation usage are less than perfect. Should I bother to submit?
Yes, submit, please. An editor can help with grammar, punctuation, etc. An editor can't tell your story, and that's what I most need.
My story is about psychiatric illness. May I submit?
Absolutely.
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