Her Saturn Returns Anthology

– Call for Submissions

 

Her Saturn Returns
Queer Women of Color Life Transitions

Editor: Shawn(ta) Smith
Deadline: October 15th, 2012
Payment: A copy of the Anthology

Length: 2,500 words or less
Format: Non-fiction

Content:  Her Saturn Returns Anthology, a series in Queer Women of Color Life Transitions is seeking non-fiction essays, memoir, interviews, and other forms of documentary writing.  Pieces are by or about women who are experiencing their 1^st Saturn Return -turning 30, or their 2^nd Saturn Return -turning 60.  All women who identify as queer, lesbian, or bisexual, and of color with a story about their transitional life events may submit.

Perhaps after turning 26 you realized life moved at a different pace.
As you approached 30, you may have…

gained weight,
fell in or out of love,
landed into a surprising career,
had a nervous breakdown,
moved thousands of miles away from home,
fought with a loved one,
became newly diagnosed,
purchased property,
changed your gender-presentation,
joined a degree program, or other cult-like entity like a coven or collective,
started a business,
lost a parent or grandparent,
connected with your spiritual center,
realized you were worthy, and beautiful, and sane.

When our Saturn returns, we experience major life transitions.  Except as queer women of color, we push against the lines of normalcy.  Unlike our heterosexual counterparts of the same age and gender, we are unlikely to experience childbirth or the monotony of marriage.  Yet, how can we prepare for this unpredictable life that we must transition into?  How will we know what to expect unless we share our stories?

Over the past year, Shawn(ta) Smith has collected stories of queer women of color, who in sharing their stories, realized that they have experienced (or were currently experiencing) the most tumultuous times of their lives.  The interviews were featured on hersaturnreturns.com and inspired the continued collection of Her Saturn Return narratives for this current call for submissions.

Her Saturn Returns now has an online submission manager:
Please send submissions as .doc or .rtf with pages numbered, 2500 words or less per piece (no minimum), up to three pieces per author, poets, up to five pieces.  Once you have all of the information needed, the submission form should take less than 5 mins.  You will be asked to include: your legal name, your writing name/pseudonym if applicable, a short 100 word or less bio in the third person, mailing address, email, title of the piece, astrological classification, date of birth (to substitute your date of birth, please include your Sun Sign, Saturn Sign, and age).

To Submit, please click the appropriate format below:
Essays
-if it is academic in nature or context, is a criticism or commentary, editorializing an aspect of turning 30, a pronouncement, or manifesta

Poetry
-if it is a poem.  Poets may submit up to five pieces per submission.

Prose
-if the piece is undefinable in format, written poetically, or for performance, with complex formulations