Link to submissions call in Arabic:  دعوة الطلبات للمشاركة بعدد خاص بفلسطين

Strange Horizons is now accepting fiction submissions for the Palestinian Special issue! The issue, edited by Rasha Abdulhadi and Basma Ghalayini will be published at the end of March 2021.

We are open for submissions from now until January 31, 2021. Don't wait till the end to send your work!

For poetry, non-fiction, reviews, or art, please contact those departments directly and mention in your coverletter that you would like to be considered for the Palestinian Special issue. To contact other departments, please use this list of contact information and general guidelines.

The issue is focused on speculative fiction by Palestinian writers, wherever they live. This includes Palestinian people from or living in the West Bank, Gaza, in refugee camps, and in diaspora. We welcome work from people who live at the intersections of multiple cultures, languages, and identities, including people with Palestinian heritage living around the world. We especially welcome work by writers who are also Black, Indigenous, trans, queer, in disability community, and of marginalized genders and sexualities.

Genre: speculative fiction broadly defined, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, surrealism, weird, interstitial, hybrid, etc. There is no theme; though we welcome those that are themed, stories do not have to be about Palestinians or set in Palestine.

Word limit: 6,000 words. No lower limit, shorter pieces are preferred.

Languages:

  • If you're sending untranslated original text in Arabic or English, you are not required to include a translation.
  • If you are already collaborating with a translator, you are welcome to include the translation. If you are not, we will arrange a translator.
  • If you're sending text in a language other than Arabic or English, please include an Arabic or English translation.
  • Translations should be included in the same document as the original text.
  • Translations do not count toward the word count limit, only the original text.
  • Please contact us at palestinian@strangehorizons.com if you have questions or need help!

Format: Please send only RTF, DOC, or DOCX files. Please keep formatting as simple as possible. We strongly prefer Times New Roman 12-point, double-spaced manuscripts. Include your name, pseudonym if any, email address, and word count on the first page of your manuscript. You can get the word count from your word processor or an online tool like https://www.charactercountonline.com.

Multiple submissions: Please send only one story at a time, but you can send another one if you receive a response before the submission window closes—another reason to send work as soon as possible before January 31!

Simultaneous submissions: No.

Reprints: Yes! Please indicate clearly in your cover letter if a story is a reprint, and in what publications and which languages it was previously published.

Pay rate: Authors will be paid 0.10 USD per word for original fiction and $100 flat rate for reprints. Translators will be paid 0.08 USD per word in the source text. There is no entry fee.

Due date: 31 January 2021.

No email submissions. Please only submit stories using the submission form linked below.

Submit here! All stories should be submitted using this form in Moksha. Please include any translations of a single story in the same document when submitting.

Cover letter: In your cover letter, please briefly mention where you're from or where your roots are, so we have some idea of your relationship with the region that this special issue is focused on.

If you have any questions at all, please email palestinian@strangehorizons.com!



Rasha is a queer Palestinian Southerner who grew up between Damascus, Syria and rural Georgia and cut their teeth organizing on the southsides of Atlanta and Chicago. They are a member of Alternate ROOTS, Southerners on New Ground, Justice for Muslims Healing Collective, and the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI). Rasha's work has appeared in Mizna, Room, Lambda Literary, and Strange Horizons, and is anthologized in Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler and Halal if You Hear Me. As a community technologist, urban farmer, and once and future beekeeper, Rasha is a geek for science both fiction and fact. You can find them tweeting @rashaabdulhadi.
Basma Ghalayini has previously translated short fiction from the Arabic for the KFW Stifflung series, Beirut Short Stories, published on addastories.org, and Comma projects, such as Banthology and The Book of Cairo (edited by Raph Cormack). She was born in Khan Younis and spent her early childhood in the UK until the age of five before returning to the Gaza Strip. Most recently, Basma edited the short story collection Palestine+100.
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