Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages
Foreword by Carolyn Lesser, Webster University, St. Louis, MO, nonfiction writing faculty; natural science children’s books published by Harcourt, Alfred A. Knopf; essayist, poet, photographer, keynote speaker, artist.
Afterword by Dr. Loriene Roy, 2007-2008 President of the American Library Association. Professor, University of Texas at Austin, founder of “If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything,” a national reading club for Native American children.
Please consider sharing the important milestones, life changing events, transitions in your life–material that would broadly fit the “Women’s Studies” genre that is highly readable, moving and relatable. There are the passages that occur to us (for example, losing a loved one, and then the passages we choose (such as adopting a child). Please focus on those pivotal moments and why they were important passages for you.
Currently, we have enough material on: chronic/acute illness; getting a degree; career changes; relocating.
Suggestions for topics as of yet relatively unexplored: changing/leaving/going back to a new or former religion or mode of spirituality (no preaching, please); how participation in outdoor adventure changed your life; milestones about deciding to be true to yourself (such as coming out, ending a negative friendship, setting healthy boundaries).
This book celebrates our passages as women, from one moment into another, from one door to the next. Often it is after the navigation, that in reflection, we see that some of the most difficult are the ones we have learned the most and have had lasting effects as well on those around us.
Send proposed topics before writing articles to avoid duplication; proposed topics must be accompanied by a 65-70 word bio with your present position, location, relevant publications, career highlights for the contributor page; please use POETS or PASSAGES/your name on the subject line to brackett-vincent@encirclepub.com by November 15, 2008.
Article specifics: word total for 1-2 articles based on your experience: 1,900 minimum; maximum 2,100. Two articles preferred. If submitting two articles, please break them up fairly evenly in word count.
No previously published or simultaneously submitted material. Contributors must be reside in the U.S. Books such as this can typically take up to a year to compile. Contributors receive a complimentary copy and contributor’s discount on additional copies.
Co-editor Cynthia Brackett-Vincent is publisher/editor of the esteemed Aurorean poetry journal; poetry instructor; award-winning poet; author of The 95 Poems chapbook (2005) and contributor to Educators as Writers: Publishing for Personal and Professional Development. In 2007, her poems received a citation, honorable mention and second place in the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, New England Writers and Maine Poets Society competitions. View Cynthia at
Co-editor, Carol Smallwood has written, co-authored, and edited 19 books such as Educators as Writers for Scarecrow, Libraries Unlimited. An award-winning writer, her work has appeared in English Journal, Clackamas Literary Review, Iris, and several others including anthologies; chapbook, Pudding House 2008; Educators as Writers,Peter Lang 2006;
and http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-3575-3