Call for Submissions: Shameless Magazine's First Anthology

Shameless, a feminist magazine for teenage girls, is putting together
an anthology for publication in Spring 2009 and we're currently
looking for submissions! Check out the call below (And please post
and forward to anyone you feel might be interested!)

Co-editors Megan Griffith-Greene and Stacey May Fowles are seeking
submissions for an anthology for teen girls to be published by
Tightrope Books in Spring 2009.

The anthology will include creative non-fiction essays by women and
trans-identified adults about their formative experiences as teens,
and is primarily intended for a youth audience. Specifically, we're
looking for submissions about how teen experiences (both positive and
negative) shaped our writers' lives and made them the people they are
today.

This project is affiliated with Shameless magazine and is based on
the magazine's signature mix of smart, sassy, honest and inclusive
writing. In keeping with the mandate of Shameless, we want to reach
out to young female readers who are often ignored by mainstream
media: freethinkers, queer youth, young women of colour, punk
rockers, feminists, intellectuals, artists, and activists. We hope
this book will open up a real dialogue about growing up female,
creating a book that is pro-choice, queer-positive, sex-positive,
girl-positive.

(Unsure of what we want? We suggest you pick up a back issue of the
magazine at shamelessmag. com.)

Your contribution can be personal, educational or political; it can
be fuelled by humour, rage or sadness; but make sure what you write
is honest, accessible and meaningful to teen girls, does not
patronize or preach, and is in keeping with Shameless magazine's
mandate.

Some possible subjects we are interested in including:

BODY IMAGE, SEX AND PUBERTY
-encounters with choice: being a teen mom or choosing abortion
-fat phobia, size acceptance, body image and self-worth
-tales of the teen queer experience, out or not
-teen sexual secrets
-sexual assault and self-defense
-sexual health and education
-self-harm and self-love

AUTHORITY, POWER, REBELLION AND COMMUNITY
-confrontations with authority and the status quo
-girls and violence
-experiences with drugs and alcohol
-becoming a political radical/intellectua l
-experiences in youth activism
-breaking laws and telling lies
-school culture
-poverty, money and work
-religion
-finding community

RACE, ETHNICITY, LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
-experiences with racial/cultural difference
-learning the language
-international experiences

ART AND VOICE
-DIY culture
-pop culture: mainstream and indie heroes and idols
-teen writing: diaries, poetry and self-expression
-graffiti and street art

Please feel free to query us at anthology@shameless mag.com for more
information. If you have an idea or form that doesn't fit within the
above parameters, please feel free to pitch us.

People of all cultures, ages and preferences, published or
unpublished, are encouraged to submit. We are looking for diverse,
creative, original, thought provoking, entertaining, challenging,
innovative, engaging stories for teen girls. We prefer creative non-
fiction writing to academic-style writing.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Submissions should range from 500 to 2500 words, and should be double
spaced on 8 1/2 X 11 white paper. Please make sure the pages are
numbered. Please include your address, phone number, email address
and a short bio on the manuscript. Please submit your essays via mail
no later than April 18, 2008:

Shameless Magazine Anthology
P.O. Box 68548
360A Bloor St. W
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1X1.

(To avoid confusion, please make sure you clearly indicate that you
are submitting to the anthology on the outside of the envelope)

About the Editors:

Megan Griffith-Greene' s experience spans activism, arts and
journalism. Raised in Toronto, Megan became an active advocate on
youth rights, social justice and education issues while in high
school. Megan studied cultural studies and fine arts at York
University, and journalism at Ryerson, where she was editor of the
Ryerson Review of Journalism (Spring 2004). She is also a founding
editor and designer of The New Pollution new music review, a web-
based magazine and podcast on indie music. Megan is the editor of
Shameless magazine and a contributing editor of Chatelaine.

Stacey May Fowles has a degree in english literature and women's
studies and her written work has been published in various online and
print magazines, including Kiss Machine, Girlistic, The Absinthe
Literary Review, Hive and subTERRAIN. Her non-fiction has been
anthologized in the widely acclaimed Nobody Passes: Rejecting the
Rules of Gender and Conformity and First Person Queer. Her first
novel, Be Good, was published in November 2007. She blogs daily for
and is the publisher of Shameless Magazine.