Overview
Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is an anthology of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography and artwork. Its objective is to explore the connections – the invisible threads – that exist between women across the globe. Our starting point is to place the most basic question of identity, “Who am I?” within the complexities of culture and ethnicity. How do women respond to motherhood, rage, loss, relationships and loneliness across cultures? Do we share the same concept of grief and sadness, joy and love? We ask the writers and artists to tell stories, which negotiate the demands placed upon everyday women by society. The goal of this project is the sharing of such stories that allow the readers to draw their own conclusions whether or not culture is a divisive state between women.
Content
Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is about transcending the physical geography of our contributors as they map the internal landscapes of their lives. Our themes are those ‘points which connect us.’ While the female reality varies across countries, still we laugh and we cry. We may not personally understand the experience of arranged marriages, bound feet, or restrictions across checkpoints but we can understand a mother’s love, a daughter’s pain and a young girl’s giggle. Some of our themes explore the bonds between women, shifts in consciousness and experiences in extreme situations but all our stories are by women and their choices. Our objective is to breakdown the different stereotypes in an entertaining - and sometimes comical – way. This anthology gives voices a chance to be heard and the reader an opportunity to listen to positive female stories outside of tabloid global gossip.
Some Questions To Think About
So what does this mean for you? Well really, it is up to you. Some questions we have we been asking artists and writers to think about are:
1. Who are you? Are you a 'Culture' first or a 'Woman' first? What is your voice?
2. How do you negotiate the cultural and/or societal authorities that tell you to be thin, pretty, get married, have children, worship, obey/disobey, have a career, stay at home etc.
3. Do you have a burning story about an event, a lost love, heartbreak, arranged marriages, unarranged marriages, infertility, fertility, or even a bathroom cluttered with make up.
4. Do you want to express conflict? Family dynamics? Frustrations over rivalries, children, demands of home and work, silences, arguments, tension with extended families. Do you have a story of revenge? Manipulation? Women are complex creatures and we are capable of great loving as well as great evil too. We are, of course, human.
5. Who do you see in the mirror each morning? How does your culture affect your body image? Does it? Do you fight against it? Do you buy into any stereotypes? Do you have a funny story to share. We are looking for humour too. This is not a grim book.
Writer’s Word Count Guidelines
1. Short stories: no more than 1000 words
2. Creative non-fiction: no more than 1000 words
3. Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces.
4. Flash fiction - anything less than 500 words.
· Your work must be submitted as either an attachment in a rich text format (RTF) or a word document (doc). No PDF files or docx files, please! We simply cannot work with these file formats. Alternatively, you may paste your work in the body of the email. If your writing has a specific format, attach it as a file to the email.
Works can be submitted in your mother tongue. Please provide an English translation with your submission.
Any questions please contact us at mappingme (at) gmail (dot) com.
More information here.
Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is an anthology of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography and artwork. Its objective is to explore the connections – the invisible threads – that exist between women across the globe. Our starting point is to place the most basic question of identity, “Who am I?” within the complexities of culture and ethnicity. How do women respond to motherhood, rage, loss, relationships and loneliness across cultures? Do we share the same concept of grief and sadness, joy and love? We ask the writers and artists to tell stories, which negotiate the demands placed upon everyday women by society. The goal of this project is the sharing of such stories that allow the readers to draw their own conclusions whether or not culture is a divisive state between women.
Content
Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is about transcending the physical geography of our contributors as they map the internal landscapes of their lives. Our themes are those ‘points which connect us.’ While the female reality varies across countries, still we laugh and we cry. We may not personally understand the experience of arranged marriages, bound feet, or restrictions across checkpoints but we can understand a mother’s love, a daughter’s pain and a young girl’s giggle. Some of our themes explore the bonds between women, shifts in consciousness and experiences in extreme situations but all our stories are by women and their choices. Our objective is to breakdown the different stereotypes in an entertaining - and sometimes comical – way. This anthology gives voices a chance to be heard and the reader an opportunity to listen to positive female stories outside of tabloid global gossip.
Some Questions To Think About
So what does this mean for you? Well really, it is up to you. Some questions we have we been asking artists and writers to think about are:
1. Who are you? Are you a 'Culture' first or a 'Woman' first? What is your voice?
2. How do you negotiate the cultural and/or societal authorities that tell you to be thin, pretty, get married, have children, worship, obey/disobey, have a career, stay at home etc.
3. Do you have a burning story about an event, a lost love, heartbreak, arranged marriages, unarranged marriages, infertility, fertility, or even a bathroom cluttered with make up.
4. Do you want to express conflict? Family dynamics? Frustrations over rivalries, children, demands of home and work, silences, arguments, tension with extended families. Do you have a story of revenge? Manipulation? Women are complex creatures and we are capable of great loving as well as great evil too. We are, of course, human.
5. Who do you see in the mirror each morning? How does your culture affect your body image? Does it? Do you fight against it? Do you buy into any stereotypes? Do you have a funny story to share. We are looking for humour too. This is not a grim book.
Writer’s Word Count Guidelines
1. Short stories: no more than 1000 words
2. Creative non-fiction: no more than 1000 words
3. Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces.
4. Flash fiction - anything less than 500 words.
· Your work must be submitted as either an attachment in a rich text format (RTF) or a word document (doc). No PDF files or docx files, please! We simply cannot work with these file formats. Alternatively, you may paste your work in the body of the email. If your writing has a specific format, attach it as a file to the email.
Works can be submitted in your mother tongue. Please provide an English translation with your submission.
Any questions please contact us at mappingme (at) gmail (dot) com.
More information here.
