Lisa Kelly: Send your submissions for the anthology of deaf poetry and fiction I’m co-editing with Sophie Stone

I am excited to be co-editing an anthology of Poetry and Short Fiction from UK Deaf writers on the theme of ‘Movement’ with the brilliant artist, playwright, actor and activist, Sophie Stone (pictured above) for Arachne Press which will be published this autumn.

If you are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and you are a UK writer, then please read on and look at the submission guidelines below because we want you to submit your poetry and short fiction.

There is nothing like a theme to provoke creative output, and Sophie and I had an interesting discussion over Zoom, with our publisher Cherry Potts, about what theme to decide upon. 

We felt that ‘Movement’ links brilliantly with the overarching theme for this year and next of ‘Maps and Mapping’ – other anthologies are also planned from Arachne Press by Black Asian and Minority Ethnic writers, and for Welsh poets.

Movement can be interpreted widely and just some ideas that came to mind in our editors’ meeting covered how our bodies move, movement as communication and connection, what it is to be still or active, how our emotions and feelings are moved by what happens around us, political movements, mass movements, and of course how movement has changed from pre-COVID-19 times compared to Lockdown.

However, we are sure there are many other aspects of movement that we have not thought about and we look forward to being surprised and thrilled by your work.

The good news is that we have the funding to ensure full access. You can send your work in English, or by video in BSL, or in writing and sign and everything will be translated with support to ensure we get it right and you are happy with the result. 

More good news is that royalties will be paid, and your work will be shown to a wide audience with a printed book available, an eBook and a series of videos. The eBook will contain links to the videos, which will be on the Arachne website, and probably YouTube.

We hope you are as excited as we are about this celebration of Deaf writers and if you have fantastic work you want to share with us, or if you are inspired to start writing, the deadline is 14 April for publication in the autumn.

We are also hopeful to include work from underrepresented voices, including ethnically diverse writers, LGBTQ writers, writers with experience of multiple socio-economic deprivation and women writers.

Please spread the word and read the submissions guidelines for further details on how to submit your work.

https://arachnepress.submittable.com/submit/177597/call-out-for-anthology-of-poetry-and-short-fiction-from-uk-deaf-writers-movement