Women Writing for (a) Change, Jacksonville, is a growing community for Jacksonville and North Florida writers. We are here to nurture and celebrate the individual voice by facilitating supportive writing circles and by encouraging people to craft more conscious lives through the art of writing and the practices of community.
We offer regular writing circles in our community, art exhibits featuring women artists, and an annual anthology of women writers and artists who have been in our circles over the years. We also host a number of special events highlighting our women writers and artists as well as women leaders in our community.
We use Submittable to collect submissions for the anthology, our art shows, and any other special publishing projects we may organize.
We are a radically inclusive community that creates a safer space for women's voices. We believe, like Pat Schneider, that “everyone is a writer,” and that there is value in everyone’s stories. We focus primarily on the voices of those who identify as female, but not exclusively. We try to create a supportive, non-threatening environment for all who participate. We encourage everyone in our community to help us create an atmosphere where the safety of others is validated.
Our vision is to foster healthy, conscious communities where the words and creative expression of women, girls, and individuals—from all classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, and life circumstances—are nurtured, developed, and celebrated, contributing to positive cultural transformation and a more just and equitable society.
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WWf(a)C Jacksonville is an affiliate site of Women Writing for (a) Change in Cincinnati. Since 1991, WWf(a)C has evolved into a powerful and empowering community of women and girls telling our stories. We are a radically inclusive community of women creating change in ourselves and our worlds one truth, one voice at a time.
ELIGIBILITY: Only writers and artists who have participated in our Jacksonville writing circles and art exhibitions are eligible to participate in this anthology. Space is limited to 50 writers and 50 artists; please submit early. Writers and artists who participated in the And Justice for All semesters (Fall 2022 and Spring 2023) will be given first priority if necessary.
“Women catch courage from the women whose lives and writings they read, and women call the bearer of that courage, friend.” — Carolyn Heilbrun
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Dear Friends,
Women Writing for (a) Change Jacksonville invites you to submit your work for (a) river rising: an anthology of women’s voices (Vol. 5: AND JUSTICE FOR ALL Edition). We look forward to lifting your voices and vision through this annual anthology. We are a diverse community of women creating change in ourselves and our worlds one truth, one voice at a time. We focus primarily on the voices of women and those who identify as female, but not exclusively.
DEADLINE: July 15, 2023
THEME: AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
This anthology is based on writing and art inspired by the theme of our Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters: AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
- JUSTICE AND EQUITY: What does “Justice for All” really mean? Our nation’s founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights—underscore the ideals of equity, freedom from oppression, and justice for all. And yet injustice rooted in individual and group characteristics, be it gender, sexuality, disability, race, ethnicity, or religion, still exists today.
- THE HUMAN STORY: As part of this theme, we want to explore the human story and how reality is depicted from the perspective of those who write the story. Where do our stories come from, and how do they serve or fail to serve us? What can we do about it?
- KEY WORDS: The theme may be explored further with the following related terms: freedom, empowerment, dignity, fairness, equality, diversity, human rights, cultural differences, inclusivity, free society, social justice and equity, restorative justice, and environmental justice; omissions, erasures, and invisibilities; ethnocentrism, xenophobia, homophobia, and racism; prejudice, stereotypes, and unconscious bias; patriarchy; social inequality and inequality in opportunity; differences in language, accent, or dialect; discrimination by age, disability, religion, social class, and physical traits; discrimination in the workplace; emotional maltreatment; awareness and acceptance; and story, history, tradition, origins, indigenous communities, and ancestral culture. Not to mention, the banning of books by women and our BIPOC and LGBQTIA+ communities!
ELIGIBILITY
If you have participated as a writer or artist in one of our circles or art shows since 2014, you’re eligible to submit your unpublished work. We hope you will allow others to “catch courage” and inspiration from your work. We are radically inclusive and see it as our mission to lift the expression of the feminine here in Jacksonville. The anthology is an annual platform for you to do so.
TO SUBMIT
Please submit at least two and no more than three works that resonate with the theme AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. We will choose at least one for publication as long as it fits our theme and editorial guidelines. (See terms of use below.) If you submit words AND art, we may only select one or the other; we will not necessarily be able to include both due to space limitations.
SPECIAL NOTE: Please use the title of your piece as the file name when uploading your work, e.g., The_Story_of_Art.docx or The_Story_of_Art.jpg
FEES
The submission fee is $35. This covers the expense of your own copy of the anthology ($25 value) and a $10 screening fee. This fee helps us to cover some of the expenses of editorial production.
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“True communities are possible. It begins in your writing, where you come together in true community with yourself, where you give yourself permission to acknowledge your pain and joy and sadness and fear, where you begin to accept and love yourself as you are, without pretense.” — G. Lynn Nelson in Writing and Being