CALL FOR STORIES, Muslim Women

Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of Muslim Women
Announcing a call for non-fiction/memoir/personal stories by American Muslim women on the search for love. These stories will be published in a book, Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women, by Soft Skull Press in February 2012.

WHY A BOOK ABOUT THE SEARCH FOR LOVE?

There is a stereotype about Muslim women that does not show them as the thinking, feeling, lively people with loving hearts and independent minds that we know them to be. Partially, this is because there just aren’t enough real-life stories about Muslim women being told by Muslim women themselves.

The purpose of this collection is to take control of our narrative by telling our own stories, emphasizing the humanity we all share and celebrating the quirks that make us unique. We hope to do that through stories about courtship/dating, because the search for a partner is universal.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Stories must be auto-biographical and written by women who identify as both American and Muslim. We are looking for contributors who reflect a broad range of religious perspectives, from orthodox to cultural to secular.

Write about a transformative episode that defined your courtship/dating experience. Did factors such as religion, ethnicity, race, class, etc. play a role in your story? We want real-life stories not essay-like commentary.

While we prefer that authors write under their real names, we recognize that some topics – including sex, sexual orientation, polygamy, mutah marriages, etc. – are sensitive, so we are accepting a limited number of anonymous submissions.

DIVERSITY: Contributions are welcome from American Muslim women of all racial, ethnic, sectarian backgrounds, sexual orientation, born and convert Muslims, disabled, single, engaged, married, divorced, or widowed.

WORD COUNT: Submissions should be between 1500 – 5000 words, double-spaced and paginated.

DEADLINE: April 15, 2011

DETAILS: Please send your submission via email, as a Microsoft Word document attachment, to relationship.anthology@gmail.com. Also include:

*Your full name
*Age
*Your geographic location
*E-mail address or phone number
*Ethnic/racial background
*Sect
*Whether Muslim by birth or conversion

CONTACT: Feel free to email the editors, Ayesha & Nura at relationship.anthology@gmail.com with questions.

FURTHER INFO: Writers whose work is selected for publication will be notified as quickly as possible. They will be paid a small stipend (TBD) upon publication, and will also receive 2 copies of the book. https://sites.google.com/site/loveinshallah/