About Place Journal is published twice a year, on May 1 and October 1. The Call for Submissions for an issue is posted on the day the previous issue is published; submissions open one month later and are open for 2 1/2 months.
Work can include:
- Poetry/Lyric: up to 3 pieces which do not exceed 50 lines each. Acceptable file types include doc, docx, txt & rtf.
- Essays, creative nonfiction and other prose: up to 3 pieces which do not exceed 4000 words each. Acceptable file types include doc, docx, txt & rtf.
- Audio/Visual artwork: up to 5 photos, paintings, prints or other forms of art. Acceptable file types include jpg & tiff for art/photography, mp3 for audio and mp4 & mov for video.
Each submission must be accompanied by a bio in doc, docx, txt or rtf format. Bios should not exceed 150 words. Please include your website and twitter handle, if desired.
By submitting, you guarantee you hold the rights to the work, and you grant About Place Journal the rights to publish the submitted work. After publication, rights revert to the author. Original, previously unpublished work only. All pieces must be submitted through Submittable via http://aboutplacejournal.org/submissions.
Roots and Resistance
“Who is content on bent knees,
except when praying? I would kneel
to uproot plants
in warm daylight.
But I stand dreaming
about my people’s labored hands.” — Lenard Moore
“Radical simply means ‘grasping things by the root.’” — Angela Davis
“A tree with strong roots laughs at storms” — Malay proverb
As artists and writers, it is our job to pay attention to what is happening in the world. How do we cope with the rise of white supremacy and hatred, increasing gun violence, the likely deportation of Dreamers, wholesale destruction of the environment, and a combative Republican administration? So often it seems like there’s too much. At the same time, the movements for progressive change are growing.
For the next edition of About Place Journal, we’re interested in resistance, in sources of mutual support, strength, and survival. In the forest, underground networks of mycorrhiza form around the rootlets of trees and plants, allowing them to share nutrients and water, and resist common threats. How are you cultivating stronger communities? Are there allies on your path? Are you an ally? How have your roots and connections deepened in this crisis? What do the ancestors inform you about how we arrived at this moment?
Are you a radical? Do you grasp things by the root? What kind of future might we create if we actually got to the root of our current political situation?
Our histories, both personal and collective, are often what keeps us steady when we are pushed to the difficult. Do you rely on nurturing from others, or do you nurture? Are there places you go that help center? What grounds you: music, food, language, ritual, kinship? Are you tethered by ancestral roots? How do you source what you need in these despairing times?
Please submit poems, prose, hybrid forms, artwork, photos and/or multimedia works. We value cultural and stylistic diversity.
