There are many works about Black and Brown liberation and the theorizing of it. But US... we don’t have to jump through the hoops of theory to know the lived experience. Through our work as part of the HYV family and network, we sit first row in the movement of change and liberation for our people. Which is why we're offering this opportunity to be published under our platform.
What does being published mean? It means that we place the academic & educational value that folks have historically ripped from our work, back into our lives as we live them, as we have lived them, and as we build our future.
We are looking for previously unpublished pieces of creative non-fiction, fiction, essays, poetry, and testimonies written by anyone who is part of our network.
Pieces can be humorous, serious in nature, sincere, and/or entertaining and fun. The pieces submitted must leave readers with something to think about. We're not looking for personal journal entries, rather, material that drives a point on the lived experience of Black & Brown folks; we want emotion, struggle, truth, soul, and writing that bonds a connection with the reader around a shared experience.
General Guidelines
Submissions are open to anyone in our network and community. No age requirement.
Essays, testimonies, creative non-fiction, and fiction pieces must meet our minimum 500 word count minimum/2,000 word count maximum requirement.
Poetry must meet our 3 page maximum require (no more than this).
All accepted pieces are to be thoroughly workshopped (edited) by 2 people of writer's choosing. These people can be any person of writer’s choosing, zero writing experience required because the workshop process is guided. After all revisions are applied, the piece must be sent to genesis@hearingyouthvoices.com and writers must await for the scheduling of a 1:1 zoom call to go over final edits: grammatical, structural, or otherwise.
We DO NOT pay for accepted pieces.
Pieces accepted for publication will be posted in our online publication tab on our website hearingyouthvoices.com as well as in our monthly newsletter.
Submissions are open at all times and are to be published at the 2 month mark of submission at minimum, meaning that it should be expected that if a piece published in March it means it was submitted in January or before. We do this to allow for proper workshopping and editing time. After submission, expect to hear back in a 1-3 week’s time.
Please email genesis@hearingyouthvoices.com with any outstanding questions!