Southeast Asia has been a region long divided not only by geographical and cultural boundaries but by the question of identity and belonging. One anthology will attempt to present the shades of contemporary Southeast Asian experiences of cultural/sexual identity, globalization, immigrant/expatriate experience, third culture phenomena, and new technologies, among others.
The call for submissions is open to Southeast Asian writers and translators under 40 years old. The anthology will focus on works dealing with contemporary themes, or employing new forms in poetry; prose (fiction, travelogues, essays, blogs, text, etc); drama (one-act plays, short screen/teleplays); graphic arts and comics (under 30 pages long); and everything in between—literary experiments as well as genre works (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, etc, or combinations thereof). Works must be limited to 8,000 words and must be in English (translations must be accompanied by the original text). Previously published works are also welcome.
Please send submissions to this email address sealitbook@gmail.com , as attachments in MS Word document format. Please include a short bionote, email address, photo, web links and contact information, as well as the copyright notice for previously published and soon-to-be published work.
The anthology editors are Francezca Kwe (Philippines), Jerome Kugan (Malaysia), Mervin Espina (Philippines) and Rizadini (Indonesia).
The deadline has been extended to 8 November 2007 for the following countries: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Timor Leste, and for Southeast Asians based abroad.
Why the age limit?
This anthology aims to reach out to a younger generation of Southeast Asian writers to relate their culture and contemporary modes of experience–the young blood, the up-and-comings, the one-shot-wonders, the Rimbauds of the generation. Writers over 40 are (mostly) quite established. Sadly, some of the writers that will be appearing in the book might have stopped writing by the time they reach that age. In Timor Leste, most of the younger generation of writers use the Indonesian vernacular; Portuguese is the language of their parents and grandparents. We are curious to find out how much this will differ and/or complement Luis Cardoso’s East Timor. So the anthology will be a generational study as well.
My co-editors and I feel that the region is underrepresented, especially among the younger generation of writers and readers. The two main goals for this anthology in progress is to (1) present the best of the current stream of written culture (and culture as written) by young Southeast Asians and (2) to network with Southeast Asian writers and translators from the region and beyond. There has not been much exchange and information regarding our neighbors’ current literary scenes, so, hopefully, this project would be a step towards alleviating that.
We hope this anthology will the first of a series. “Young writers” might just be the focus of the first.
Hi,
I just saw this. Is submission still welcomed?
I’m from Malaysia.
Tks.
The open call is officially closed. But you may still submit. Though late entries will no longer be on the priority list.