Southern Voice: Race in Place

Thanks to all of you who have been patiently waiting for our fall submissions period to open up. As of Friday, September 15, we are accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction and short shorts based on the theme “Race in Place.”

After Charlottesville, we here at Deep South Magazine felt we needed to use our Southern Voice platform as a way to talk about race in the context of Southern history and culture. As so many cities and towns debate statue removal, the best way to protest and free speech, we know our fellow Southerners have a unique voice from which to address these important issues.

Southern history is steeped in the relationship between race and place. How do we deal with our dark history in a place that we love, cherish and celebrate? How do we respect our neighbors of all colors and gender orientations and their different points of view? And how can we, through the art of writing, shed light on these issues and move toward a place of acceptance?

We especially encourage writers of color to submit so that we can present a range of voices for this project. We’ll be choosing the top three pieces to appear in our Southern Voice section at deepsouthmag.com.

We’ve also assembled a group of likeminded Southern authors willing to offer editorial feedback to the top three writers. So, the “prize” for having your work chosen will be access to some of the best Southern voices on shelves today and the opportunity to improve your work and get advice on writing, publishing and marketing.

You can find out more about the authors here, but they include Kimberly Brock, Emily Carpenter, Kalisha Buckhanon, Piper Huguley, M.J. Pullen and J. Drew Lanham. They have all been published and many of them teach and mentor writers for their day jobs as well.

Whether you have a completed story that fits the theme or want to attempt a new work, we hope both former and new Southern Voice writers will consider submitting and sharing their views on this important topic. Need some extra inspiration? Here are a few past Southern Voice stories that address “Race in Place” extremely well.

White by Kait Austin

Pearletta by Kalisha Buckhanon

A Door Opens Slowly by Angela Green

Submission Guidelines for “Race in Place”

Submissions will be accepted through Nov. 17. PLEASE NOTE THE EXTENSION!

All submissions must have a relation to the theme and a Southern connection, whether the author lives in the South, used to live in the South, has family in the South or was inspired by a visit to the region. Please specify in your e-mail or bio.

Submissions must be e-mailed to [email protected] Submissions must also be typed in a legible font and attached to the e-mail in Microsoft Word or a similar format; submissions pasted into the body of an email will not be considered. We do not accept submissions by snail mail.

Submissions must include the name of the author and a short bio about their background and work (please state your connection to the South here). If you have a Twitter handle or author Facebook page, please include those links.

Please send only a single work of fiction, nonfiction or a short story, with word count limited to 3,500 words.

Deep South reserves the right to reject any submission and does not accept pornography or works advocating racism, hate or intolerance.