Call for Submissions

The Institute welcomes submissions for Volume II of a new series dedicated to socially engaged fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry by women.

What is socially engaged literature?

Socially engaged literature is defined by a creative work’s critical interaction with ideas and concepts of social, political, and cultural significance. For example, an author might choose to write a story that demonstrates the experience of war or human trafficking; that challenges prevailing conversations about the environment; or that highlights the challenges faced by immigrants in the world today. We look for strong narratives that engage with readers in a personal way, making difficult topics accessible through human stories.

2011 Guest Editor, Karen Connelly

Karen Connelly is the author of nine books of best-selling nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, the most recent being Burmese Lessons, a love story, a memoir about her experiences in Burma and on the Thai-Burma border.,She has won the Pat Lowther Award for her poetry, the Governor General’s Award for her non-fiction, and Britain’s Orange Broadband Prize for New Fiction for her first novel The Lizard Cage. Published in 2005, The Lizard Cage was compared in the New York Times Book Review to the works of Orwell, Solzhenitsyn, and Mandela, and hailed in the Globe and Mail as “one of the best modern Canadian novels.”

Her other books include Grace and Poison, One Room in a Castle, This Brighter Prison, The Disorder of Love, and The Small Words in My Body. Married with a young child, she divides her time between a home in rural Greece and a home in Toronto.

What to submit: Socially engaged works of fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry that interact with and challenge social injustices of our time.

Length: 5,000 word maximum for fiction and creative non-fiction; poetry up to 5 pages.

Fees: We do not charge reading fees.

Compensation and copyright: Each successful submission will receive 2 paperback copies of the anthology as payment. The Institute of Arts & Social Engagement (IASE) requests Non-exclusive Anthology and Electronic rights. IASE retains the right to continue selling back issues of the journal in print and electronic format.

How to submit: Send your manuscript as an attachment (.doc or .rtf only, please do not submit .DOCX files) to magnoliajournal@theiase.org. Submissions must be typed, double spaced, using standard Arial or Times 12pt. font. Include your last name and title of the work in the email subject line (EX. Smith – Title of the work).

Response time: All submissions will receive a written confirmation upon receipt, with a final decision in 1-3 months. While we will accept simultaneous submissions, we ask that you make us aware at the time of submission and communicate any changes regarding your manuscript as a matter of urgency.

Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2011

Queries to: magnoliajournal@theiase.org