Do you think this anthology is a good idea?
If so, please contribute to our 2015 Pride Drive,
to help fund pre-publication costs.
VINE Press invites proposals for contributions to a forthcoming anthology, tentatively entitled “Queering Animal Liberation.” This ground-breaking volume will include chapters by activists, artists, and scholars all focused on the intersection between speciesism and homo/transphobia or, on the upside, linkages between the struggles for queer and animal liberation.
What We Want
- Essays illustrating or analyzing some conjunction of speciesism and homophobia or transphobia;
- Reports and reflections on relevant activist campaigns;
- Creative responses (artwork, poetry, comix, etc.) to the queer-animal intersection;
- Writing or artwork that in some way “queers” veganism (or shows how it might be fruitfully [pun intended] queered)
- Meditations on whether and how we might “queer” animal liberation and/or “animate” struggles for social justice;
- “Translations” of relevant work in the emerging academic area of critical animal studies, phrased so as to make that work both accessible and useful to activists and others outside of academia;
- Works we can’t even imagine but turn out to be right on time.
How to Propose a Contribution
First, write to qal@bravebirds.org to tell us your idea and receive specific suggestions for your type of contribution. We will reply as quickly as we can, to let you know whether to take the next step, which will depend on whether you are working from a raw idea or hoping we will publish an already-finished piece.
If you wish to submit something that is already written (or drawn) that seems like it might fit into the anthology, we will invite you to make any revisions you like and then send the whole manuscript (or a jpg or pdf of the artwork) to us by September 30, 2015. We will either decline, accept, or accept with suggested revisions by the end of the year. If we do ask for revisions, you will have two months to make them.
If you have not yet prepared your proposed contribution, we will ask you to first submit a proposal, along with a writing sample, by September 30, 2015. If your proposed piece is a good match for the anthology, then we will work with you to turn that idea into a published work. The degree of our involvement will depend on your skills and wishes. If you are an adept and experienced writer, then we will say OK and you will go off and write. If this will be your first published piece, we will provide any support you need to get from idea to outline to draft. Either way, your draft manuscript will be due by the end of the year.
Note: VINE Press also publishes a zine, Plant-Powered People: Voices from the Intersections, which soon will be publishing a special issue devoted to the idea of “queering” animal liberation. Proposals that might be a better match for the zine than the anthology will be passed along to its compiler.
About the Editors
Miriam Jones is a cofounder of VINE Sanctuary whose previous activist work includes LGBTQ liberation, feminist, and disability rights work. A former English teacher, Miriam is a skilled editor, proofreader, and project manager. (Fun fact about VINE: The sanctuary was initially funded by the proceeds of a proofreading and editing service run by Miriam and pattrice.) Miriam’s poetry has been published in numerous literary journals, and she also contributed an essay to the recent anthology, The Ethics of Captivity, edited by Lori Gruen.
Christopher-Sebastian McJetters is a copyeditor by trade as well as a staff writer at Vegan Publishers. He lectures part-time on speciesism at Columbia University, and he also organizes events and discussions exploring the intersection of racism and speciesism. He writes for the blog Striving With Systems and has contributed to the recent anthology, Circles of Compassion: Connecting Issues of Justice, edited by Will Tuttle.
pattrice jones is a cofounder of VINE Sanctuary whose previous activist work includes tenant organizing, antiracist education, and direct action against AIDS. As a former writing instructor and longtime editor, pattrice is skilled in helping both novice and expert writers bring their own voices onto the page. Anthologies in which pattrice’s own essays appear include Ecofeminism (Bloomsbury, 2014); Confronting Animal Exploitation (McFarland, 2013); Sister Species (University of Illinois Press, 2011); Minding the Animal Psyche (Spring, 2010); Sistah Vegan (Lantern, 2010); Contemporary Anarchist Studies (Routledge, 2009); Igniting a Revolution (AK Press, 2006); Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? (Lantern, 2004); and Sustainable Development and Southern Realities (SDPI, 2003).
Two other members of the VINE team, Aram Polster and Brandie Skorker, will advise the editors at two key junctures —determining the final line-up of contributions and assessing the overall publication prior to going to press —and also will be available for consultation concerning individual contributions. A diverse array of VINE advisors in various fields of academic and activist endeavor also will be consulted on an as-needed basis and/or invited to review the volume before it goes to press.
About the Publisher
VINE Press is a project of VINE Sanctuary, which is an LGBTQ farmed animal sanctuary. Any profits associated with VINE Press titles will be used to fund the educational activities of the sanctuary.
FAQs
Do I need to be LGBTQ to contribute? No. Sincere allies who are sufficiently well-versed in LGBTQ issues to have something to say are welcome to contribute.
Do I need to be a previously-published writer to contribute? No, but you will need to steel yourself for the ego-bruising experience of being edited for publication. We’ll be as nurturing as we can be, but you still may find the process challenging.
I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s right for the anthology. What should I do? Send as an email at qal@bravebirds.org to start a conversation. We can figure out together whether what you have in mind is a good match for the book.
I’m an LGBTQ vegan and I definitely have opinions that I’d like to express to my non-vegan LGBTQ friends or my non-LGBTQ fellow animal advocates, but I’m not sure I have enough to say to fill an essay. What should I do? Subscribe to the VINE blog, where we will be publishing some prompts to spark folks like you to each write a few sentences, which we will then compile into a chapter for the anthology.
LGBTQ animal advocates are diverse in terms of both identity and opinion. How will you ensure that nobody is left out or misrepresented? VINE’s own LGBTQ community encompasses considerable diversity, including folks who don’t feel well-served by the alphabet soup of descriptors that are themselves rooted in Eurocentric ways of thinking about identity. Our extended editorial team includes lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and genderqueer people and is committed to producing an anthology that reflects and draws sustenance from our differences as well as our similarities. We will share this call for contributions widely. After we have begun to receive proposals, we will begin reaching out to individuals and organizations who might help us fill any gaps in the evolving table of contents.
I have some strong words for other activists. Is that OK? We may ask you to step off the soapbox and say what you have to say in terms likely to be heard by those with whom you disagree (rather than just be applauded by people who already agree with you), but yes: We definitely do want the anthology to confront hard truths and tackle controversial questions. When it comes to persistently anguishing disagreements, we hope to do so in a way that moves contentious conversations forward, rather than leaving everyone mired where they already were. Send us what you’ve got, or an idea of where you want to go, and we’ll take it from there.
What will I get if my contribution is selected for publication? Contributors to this anthology will receive two copies of the book but no monetary compensation. This is standard for both activist and academic anthologies.
Who will hold the copyright to my work if it is selected for publication? You will retain the copyright to your work and therefore will be allowed to share or reprint it as you like.
What about previously published work? If you would like us to consider including previously published work for which you retain the copyright, let us have a look at it. While we probably would not be interested in anything that is widely available already, pieces that were published in print, are not available online, and deserve a wider audience might be appropriate for the anthology.
Do you think this anthology is a good idea?
If so, please contribute to our 2015 Pride Drive,
to help fund pre-publication costs.
