Please note: This is not my (Sinclair’s) call for submissions or book practice! Please don’t contact me about it. It is being put together by Morty Diamond, contact him for any questions, queries, or follow ups.
This call for submissions is also on Morty Diamond’s site.
Call for Submissions
To the End:
Divorce narratives from queer, trans, non binary, gay, bisexual, lesbian, two-spirit, gender-expansive, and intersex writers
This anthology explores the full depth and breadth of divorce narratives from queer, trans, non-binary, two-spirit, genderfluid, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and intersex writers. Divorce can be painful, clarifying, freeing, extremely messy, and/or full of renewed life. What story are you called to share about your divorce and how it relates to your LGBTQQI experience?
This book is interested in divorce narratives including, but not limited to, the following topics:
- “Love is Love!” is the rallying cry of the gay marriage movement and straight acceptance. To what extent did your experience of divorce make you feel more or less of this sentiment?
- Some of us looked to marriage as a way to legitimize and/or normalize our lives. Did marriage accomplish this? Did divorce change this?
- How did your trans identity complicate divorce? For example: were you in a marriage that ended when you came to terms with your trans identity or transitioned?
- Were there unique stressors related to your gender or sexuality found in your marriage that led to divorce?
- How did the narrative of gay marriage fit into your understanding of what being married meant and how did it ultimately affect your divorce?
- If your marriage was a political act, how did your divorce disrupt or complicate that narrative?
- Did a lack of support from your family of origin impact your divorce and, if so, how?
- What lessons about identity did you discover through your divorce?
- Were there generational differences in your marriage? If so, how did they impact the relationship and/or divorce?
- If you discovered your queer identity within your marriage, how did divorce affect it, if at all?
- What did you gain and/or lose during your divorce?
- What advice would you give to someone who is going through a divorce now?
- Are you disillusioned with marriage now that you have gone through divorce?
- For trans and gender fluid people: Did you experience your ex using your identity against you in court proceedings? Did this delegitimize your role as husband, wife, parent, or caregiver, whether legally, personally, emotionally, or otherwise?
- For those who have children: What were the legal struggles of your divorce when it came to your children? What was it like going into a courtroom to fight for access to your child?
To submit your work:
Please email your non-fiction personal essay of no more than 5000 words to: mortydiamond@gmail.com. Formats preferred: MS Word or link to Google Document. Contributors will be paid for their work and will receive copies of the book.
Deadline for submissions: July 15, 2024
About the editor:
Morty Diamond is a trans/queer therapist, social worker, artist, and writer living in California. Morty experienced his own divorce in 2020 and has since been interested in bringing more clarity and insight into the social and emotional aspects of divorce for LGBTQQI people. His last two anthologies, Trans/Love and From the Inside Out FTM and Beyond, are both published by Manic D Press. He is a lecturer at San Francisco State University in the School of Social Work.
