Happy Wednesday, readers, writers, and shark fans! We hope you’re having a wonderful week!
While submissions have technically been open for a while, we wanted to take a moment to officially announce that submissions are open for Issue 6 of Lit Shark Magazine, now called The SHARK DOG Edition.
We were originally going to have Issue 5 and Issue 6 both be general issues, but since we’re always open to general submissions, and because of the interest we received about our response to the XL Bully Ban, we decided to lend space to the movement in Issue 6.
While general submissions are always welcome, Issue 6 will be about being misunderstood, about being the target of stigmas, and about being demonized, if not also considered to be agentic. We’ve talked a lot about destigmatizing various species, especially sharks and now pitbulls and XL Bullies, but with how other animals like snakes, octopi, and the important bumblebee (stigma and fear even came up in the Sesame Street episode we covered a few days ago!!), we think it’s vitally important—and very fitting for us—to dedicate an issue to this subject.
And humans face stigma, too, for countless reasons. While we’re focusing the issue on animal-centric stigma, we know in our hearts that our human readers will empathize deeply with these issues, too.
Here’s more about what we’re looking for in Issue 6—Deadline: June 23rd.
In response to the XL Bully Ban in the UK and Wales, we are interested in seeing more work from those impacted by the ban. We believe that the people and dogs impacted by this ban should be heard and their stories should be told. We are seeking:
– poetry, fiction, and other creative reactions to this ban, as well as depictions of XL bullies and other challenged breeds;
– critical essays, memoirs, and personal connection pieces to XL bully dogs, other challenged breeds, and this ban;
– artwork and photos;
– Lit Shark will also write tribute poems for any dogs who were sacrificed or rehomed because of this ban. Their family only needs to submit a photo of them and a little information about them that we could use to help us write the poem. We’ll send the family a copy in the form of a lovely digital broadside, along with including it in the issue.
Our Lit Shark team did some thinking, and we decided to name Issue 6 of Lit Shark Magazine the SHARK DOG Edition. It will feature stories, essays, poetry, and art about stigmatized dogs, and we want stories about other stigmatized animals, too—sharks, snakes, bumblebees, etc., to help us celebrate these animals and destigmatize their existence. In addition to the above XL Bully content, we are seeking:
– poetry, fiction, and other creative responses to stigmatized, demonized, and “agentic” animals (an especially temperamental horse, a “lost cause” cat, any stories you have about an animal, breed, or species that you feel too many people gave up on)
– critical essays, memoirs, and personal connection pieces to such portrayals of these animals
– representative artwork
General submissions will be considered, BUT priority will be given to pieces that focus on misunderstood and stigmatized animals, ESPECIALLY XL Bullies, Pitbulls, and Sharks.
We so look forward to reading your responses and interpretations of this issue in the coming weeks. Please see our full guidelines here and submit through our Lit Shark submission portal.
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