Editor Interview: Raising Mothers

Marginalized POC

I admire the work of Wear Your Voice Magazine, Kweli Journal, Catapult and Electric Literature.

Raising Mothers focuses strictly on the voices of marginalized femme presenting POC. Our goal is to level the playing field with work by mother writers of color. In the mother literary field, we are expressly unique as an actual literary space in highlighting only marginalized people.

We accept work that makes our readers think AND feel. It is important to be relatable as much as possible. It is important that the writer be able to write and stand in their full truth of their own identity. Raising Mothers is more than a literary space; we treat it as a place for healing.

The ideal submission is clearly written, lengthy (1400 words or more is a sweet spot) and instantly grabs the reader. We are keen to show parenting in all of its light so vivid writing is crucial. Work that interweaves race and/or culture and focuses on the parent rather than the child(ren) is of utmost importance in our selection process.

Raising Mothers isn’t a parenting blog. We aren’t interested in quick tips or typically what you would find on the average mom blog. We want exquisite literary writing from women of color and nonbinary people of color who parent. We want deep, thoughtful, introspective work. Work that reconciles our own childhoods and the childhoods we’re helping to currently shape.

We encourage the person submitting to Raising Mothers to let us know how they are marginalized. It is something to take pride in. Especially if there are intersectional ways this shows in the writer and their work. We prefer this come in the form of a cover letter. Previous publication credits are not mandatory, but if you have some you are proud of, by all means share them with us.

Out of respect for the writer, we read the entire piece prior to making a decision currently. Sometimes you know a piece isn’t right for our publication, but we still give it a full read at least once before making a decision to pass or take further steps.

We have 2 or 3 editors read a piece before acceptance. Then we work with the writer on any edits that may be needed.

Our editing depends on the piece. We do not offer substantive editing; we would rather the author rework their piece and resubmit at a later date. We do provide line editing and copy editing. Authors get to approve all final edits prior to publishing.