Call for Submissions: Writing from the Farmworker Community

The deadline for this call has been extended to February 17. 

The Common, in collaboration with guest co-editor Miguel M. Morales, will publish a portfolio of writing from the farmworker and farm laborer community: the migrant, seasonal, and often immigrant laborers who make up much of the US agricultural workforce. Submissions are now open.

Para leer este anuncio en español haga clic aquí.

collage of farmworker photos

 
We invite work from current and former farmworkers of all ages, as well as those raised in farmworker families who experienced the stories and effects of this work through their parents or other relations.

We offer space to work that voices the diversity of farmwork and farmworkers, and their wide range of experiences—the physical, emotional, and financial struggles, the dangers and injustices, but also the rituals and celebrations, and the profound strength, skill, ingenuity, and resilience that are essential to this life.

Submissions open August 15, 2022 and close February 17, 2023. Payment for accepted work is $200 for prose pieces and $40 per poem.

We seek original unpublished submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid works. We welcome writing from emerging and established writers as well as those with no previous publication history or writing background. Those submitting work should identify as current or former farmworkers or farm laborers, or come from families rooted in this community.

Pieces may be submitted in English or Spanish. For work in other languages, please arrange to have at least two pages translated into English as a sample. We will commission translations for works we are interested in publishing. Translated pieces for which the translator has secured the rights are also welcome.

Questions, thoughts, concerns? Contact managing editor Emily Everett at emily@thecommononline.org.

 

About Miguel M. Morales

headshot of Miguel M. Morales in front of library stacks 
Miguel M. Morales grew up in Texas working as a migrant and seasonal farmworker. He is a Lambda Literary Fellow and an alum of VONA/Voices and of the Macondo Writers Workshop. Miguel’s work appears in Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, Primera Página: Poetry from the Latino Heartland, Cuentos del Centro: Stories from the Latino Heartland, From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction, The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat & Fierce, in Duende Journal, Acentos Review, Green Mountains Review, Texas Poetry Review, Hawai’i Review, and World Literature Today, among others. Miguel is the co-editor of Pulse/Pulso: In Remembrance of Orlando and of Fat & Queer: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies and Lives, which was named the 2021 Book of the Year by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT). Miguel has earned several awards including the Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award. Follow Miguel as @TrustMiguel on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
 

About The Common

recent issues of The Common 
The Common
is an award-winning print and online literary journal with a mission to deepen our individual and collective sense of place. We publish works that embody particular times and places—literature and art powerful enough to reach from there to here—and feature new and underrepresented voices from around the world. Since its debut in 2011, The Common has published nearly 1900 authors from 53 countries. Pieces from The Common  have been awarded the O. Henry Prize, the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Award, The Pushcart Prize, and have been selections and notable mentions in multiple genres in the Best American series. The journal’s editorial vision and design have been praised in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Slate, The Millions, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

 

 

La revista The Common, en colaboración con el coeditor invitado Miguel M. Morales, publicará una edición especial escrita por la comunidad de agricultores y trabajadores del campo en general, incluyendo migrantes, estacionales e inmigrantes ocasionales quienes conforman gran parte de la mano de obra agrícola estadounidense. Se reciben artículos desde ahora.

Aceptamos escritos de trabajadores retirados y activos de cualquier edad, así como obras de personas que crecieron en o fueron criados por familias de agricultores, quienes vivieron las historias y efectos de trabajar en el campo a través de sus padres y allegados.

Esta edición especial ofrecerá un espacio a obras escritas que den voz tanto a la diversidad del trabajo agrícola, como a los trabajadores del campo y su gran variedad de experiencias que incluyen sus luchas físicas, emocionales y económicas, los peligros e injusticias, así como también los rituales y celebraciones, la gran fortaleza, las habilidades, el ingenio y la resiliencia que son esenciales para la vida en el campo. 

La convocatoria abre el 15 de agosto y cierra el 17 de febrero. Los trabajos seleccionados recibirán un pago de $200 por escritos en prosa y $40 por cada poema.  

Buscamos escritos originales de ficción, crónica, poesía o híbridos que no hayan sido publicados antes de escritores establecidos, emergentes o que no hayan publicado anteriormente. Los autores deben identificarse como trabajadores agrícolas activos o retirados o venir de familias agricultoras.

La revista acepta manuscritos en inglés o en español. Si la obra está escrita en otro idioma, por favor incluya una muestra de dos páginas (o por lo menos 20% de la obra entera) traducidas al inglés. Si la obra es seleccionada, la revista se encargará de traducir la totalidad de esta. También se reciben obras traducidas de las cuales el traductor tenga los derechos de publicación. 

En caso de tener alguna inquietud, contacte a Jennifer Acker editor@thecommononline.org.

Call for Submissions: Writing from the Farmworker Community

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