Queer and trans people invited to share a letter to a place you had to leave behind to preserve your own safety or parts of yourself. Nobody's pieces will be turned away. The project got a yes from publisher well-versed in the topics at hand.
Brought to you by the same editor and publisher behind Lambda Literary Finalist, Written on the Body.
Below are (A) guidelines for sending your letter(s), (B) an overview of the project, (C) an informal intro to the editor (Lexie!). But FIRST Some Essentials for Meet Me There, Another Time: Letters To Places Queer and Trans People Left Behind ~~~
Questions and mailbox: meetmethereanothertime@protonmail.com - encrypted for additional safety
Send your pieces by: April 15, 2024 10pm in EST via EMAIL. This is not the submission form, but just a landing page with information.
Email Sooner Than The Deadline if you'd like to participate in free workshops for contributors hosted by the editor or you like reminders about deadlines or just want to say hi!
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A. Guidelines For Sending Your Letter(s) to Meet Me There, Another Time: Letters To Places Queer and Trans People Left Behind
Write a letter to a place you've had to leave to preserve your own sense of safety. This could be as a result of political abuse (legislation, rising fascism, etc.) or interpersonal abuse (domestic, sexual, occupational, etc.). A place include a home, a city, a state, a country. Or, more abstractly, a body part, a person, etc.
If you find yourself questioning whether you belong in this collection, you most likely do.
Once again, send to meetmethereanothertime@protonmail.com by April 15th at 10pm EST
Here are some additional things to know when working on your piece,
- Remember to write to a place and not about a place.
- Focus on one place (as defined above) per letter. You may send and publish up to two pieces.
- Letters can take the form of a traditional letter, as well as a poem, an ode, an email, text messages, a music sheet of your composition, a black and white image or postcard with your original artwork, etc.
- You can be from or in anywhere in the world. You are welcome to incorporate the language closest to you and your experiences. If a significant portion of the letter is not in English, we will work with a translator.
- Written letters need to be anywhere between three words and five pages. They may be typed or handwritten and scanned.
- Be mindful of identifying information within your piece. Other people's names, especially.
- Your words will not be changed or touched without your consent. This space is offered with the belief we do not need to be conclusive, eloquent, or educated in order to share our stories.
- Note that no names will be directly attached to any pieces. A name of your choice (including anonymous) will be listed in random order either at the beginning or end of the text. This is to preserve safety, prevent gender assumptions, and allow distance from our pieces when we need it.
- As long as a piece isn't sent with the intention of hate speech or violence towards the contributors or the makers, it will be welcomed into the collection.
- Remember to email sooner with any questions, access to free workshops, if you'd like reminders to participate, or more.
- There will be no financial compensation for pieces to prevent anyone from participating in something that compromises their safety just to make a relatively small stipend. That being said, reach to the email above for additional resources. Also currently in the process of finding pro bono therapy volunteers for project participants. Other ideas are in process.
- Some elements of the project may shift depending on the publisher's suggestions.
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B. Overview of Meet Me There, Another Time: Letters To Places Queer and Trans People Left Behind
The global queer and trans community is increasingly losing resources and support from institutions. This impacts not only survivors of interpersonal violence, but those who must flee the whims of politicians.
Meet Me There, Another Time is directly inspired by the epic rise in anti-LGBT legislation around the world. For example, as of today, the ACLU is tracking nearly 500 pieces of hateful legislation in the U.S., a place so often carrying the mythology of freedom. This creates a reality in which citizens become refugees within their own country being forced to travel between states for health care and more. But, abuse is not exclusive to the state, it shows up in our homes, schools, and workplaces, which can also make a person have to choose to move to save any sense of dignity, safety, or self.
Meet Me There, Another Time responds to the rise of fascist thinking and forced alienation of our community members while centering on our voices and healing process as we seek to belong where we can. Queer and trans people always have a way of making our world bigger while others try to make our world smaller. These reconnections with the places we’ve left offer a reminder that we are always here and, in a way, always there.
This project is contracted with a publisher well-versed in the topics at hand
. For transparency, the company does not offer advances, so some fundraising is happening
here to keep the development process and free workshops afloat. But for sure no pressure to engage with that part as a potential contributor.
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C. Intro to the Editor
My name is Lexie Bean; my pronouns are they/he. This is technically the fourth anthology I have put together, the most recent being Lambda Literary Finalist Written on the Body. I bring with me nearly 15 years of working directly with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. I've additionally worked at 3 different political asylums, currently work as a writing assistant for an immigration lawyer, and have my own related story I am going to keep to myself for now <3 I'm not a therapist and I'm not a savior, but I know I can hold space at this time in my life and wish to revisit parts of myself as well. I won't really go into additional accolades or professional lists here because it's not the point of this form. But if you want more for trust building, etc, you can go to www.lexiebean.com (which wow is giving me the incentive to finally update it sometime in the next few weeks).
I can share a few more things related to my personhood - I'm non-binary trans, chronically ill, sober, and neurodivergent. I bring with me experience as a childhood sexual abuse survivor and someone who re-experienced harm as an adult; my experience of this is has been heavily informed by my whiteness, eating, growing up in the Midwest of the United States, sleeping, queer-world, moving, complicated relationship to masculinity, and so many other things, like grief. I am a flawed and loving person, and sometimes I take too many risks to feel new beginnings. I'll do my best to set healthy boundaries around this project. I don't respond well to fawning. I feel parts of myself scattered in many places and I am thankful to be in the process of re-mapping some of them with you. And, for a soft landing, some of my favorite things are gluten free pie, my heating pad, and all vast living things, like ocean and meadows that bend with the wind.
