Sunday Submissions: ‘Nakba + 100’ Guidelines, Stephen Spender Prize, ‘Zabaan’

Comma Press are debuting two of the stories from their forthcoming Nakba + 100 next month at the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival. However, they announce that they’re still looking for more stories:

The press is “inviting Palestinian authors to contribute to a new anthology of short stories set in the year 2048 – a century after the Nakba. Authors can be based in Palestine, Israel out in the wider diaspora; stories can be written in Arabic or English, and can be anything between 2000 and 6000 words (or the equivalent) in English.”

From the press:

If you are considering writing a story specially for this project, you might wish to consider the following possibilities. The story could be set in a future version of Palestine (or what’s left of it) and, by addressing that reality, explore the long-term consequences of Nakba indirectly. Alternatively it could use the future setting (2048) to explore a metaphor or allegory for what happened in 1948, i.e. the story could deal with some other expulsion in the year 2048, on another part of the planet (or even on a different planet!) which has parallels with the what happened to Palestinians in 1948. Or it could explore different kinds of expulsions, new ‘nakbas’ taking place in the way people think or live their lives (‘a Nakba of the consciousness’). A fourth approach might be to look at a new problem that is emerging for the first time, now, in Palestine, and extrapolate that to the year 2048. For instance, it could focus on a particular, new Israeli tactic or technology (e.g. drones) and imagine what that might look like (or what might be possible with that technology) in the year 2048.

The initial deadline is September 1, 2017, and questions and submissions can be sent to Ra.Page@commapress.co.uk.

Stephen Spender Prize Deadline: May 26, 2017

The Stephen Spender Prize 2017 for poetry in translation, in association with The Guardian, is looking for submissions between now and May 26, 2017. Translators are invited to bring a poem from any language, ancient or modern, into English. Details on how to submit — and what to submit — are online.

Zabaan Writers Collective

The “Zabaan Writers’ Collective aims to promote writers across South Asia, as well as globally.” Their magazine, Zabaan, is looking for translated work both by South Asian writers and beyond. Submission details are available on their website.