Call for Submissions

Issue 12: MINORITY VS. MAJORITY

When we consider the duality of minority vs. majority, we have to consider how minorities are often oppressed by the majority (i.e. racial minorities) and how other minorities (the wealthiest top percentile) have so much power they oppress the majority.

We also have to consider, from within the artistic world, how fads or popular genres (i.e. vampire literature) often displace the experimental or the high brow from the mainstream, while at the same time considering how the artistic elite dismiss the popularity of the majority’s tastes.

We challenge you to define both minority and majority and to explore what gives one power over the other. How does possession of that power enable artistic endeavors? How does it limit or disengage artistic virility? How does lack of that power disable? How does it inspire?

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

• We accept poetry, fiction, nonfiction, critical essays, and art
• Only previously unpublished works
• We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us immediately of acceptance elsewhere
• Only critical essays and art are required to address the theme
• Send your submission(s) to submissions@swback.com
• Put the GENRE and TITLE of your submission in the subject line, e.g. FICTION: My Short Story
• Include your full name and email address in the body of the email
• Include your submission as an attachment
• Name the attachment the same as the title of the work, e.g. myshortstory.doc
• Do not include your name or any identifying information within the attachment, due to our blind selection process (i.e. do not insert a header or footer containing your name)
• The deadline for submissions is March 17, 2010
• Contributors to our previous two issues (ten and eleven) will not be considered


WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS:

Poetry:
• Maximum 3 poems per writer
• Attach the poem(s) to ONE email as SEPARATE attachments that are named the title of the poem
• Poetry submissions are not required to address the theme

Prose:
• Maximum 1 story, nonfiction piece, or critical essay per writer
• We prefer prose works to be 2,000-2,500 words, but if you have something really good that's longer, we will consider it

• Fiction and nonfiction submissions are not required to address the theme
• Critical essays must address the theme "Minority vs. Majority"
• Send written submissions in .doc (preferred), .docx, or .rtf format

ART SUBMISSIONS:

• Must address the theme "Minority vs. Majority"
• Include an explanation of your piece and its relation to the theme in no more than 100 words
• Send submissions in .gif, .jpg, or .png format with a resolution of 300 dpi or higher

The twelfth issue will be published in Fall 2010.

We will contact all submitters by the end of June, 2010 regarding whether or not their work has been accepted.

We look forward to reading your work!

Sincerely,



The SWITCHBACK Editorial Staff

SWITCHBACK is a publication of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program of the University of San Francisco, Aaron Shurin, Director.

SWITCHBACK is a forum for the writers of USF's MFA community, including alumni, students, and faculty, as well as the wider literary community, in the areas of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and critical essays.