America is not the World

Many Americans would beg to differ, but America is not the world, and this Autumn (Fall, if you must) we are inviting submissions from poets and short fiction writers who have something to say on that theme. This will be an international collection. Americans are not excluded, but we don’t want to hear you argue against our theme. We aren’t inviting a debate for or against the States; we want to hear about your stomping grounds, your views. By all means, if you have an opinion about America, do tell; if you don’t give a rip, that’s cool. Elaborate or don’t. But don’t feel obligated to write about America. It is not the world. Write about your world, your way. Tell us why you’re at war with it or how you survive in it. Tell us your history, glorious as it is, or crumbled and begging for revolution. Write about home, wherever it is. We want real stories, those that aren’t interrupted by commercial breaks or campaigns. This isn’t about politics, but use them if that’s how you break it all down. And really, whether we realize it or not, as Thomas Mann wrote in The Magic Mountain: “Everything is politics.” If you were born in the States and left, tell us why. If you live in America, but your heritage is elsewhere, how does that feel? What do you have to teach us about the world? What are you trying to learn from it?

Country of Publication

International