Hi, Fractured Lit community—
I wanted to let you know that Glossy Planet’s current call for submissions, Gender Trouble, is closing soon (June 15!). We’d love to read your poetry, fiction, and nonfiction about gender and sex, heteronormativity and transgression, and the body we were assigned and the one we actually inhabit. This theme is for everyone who has ever lived outside the lines—and for anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to try.
The title of this challenge comes from Judith Butler’s 1990 book. Butler argued that gender isn’t something we are, but rather something we do. Gender is a performance, and it’s one that either meets the status quo or subverts it. We wanted our June theme to align with Pride Month but also to invite writing that takes a step deeper: specifically, pieces that explore the ways we resist gender conformity and find power through that rebellion.
Maybe you’ve already been working on a flash fiction story or a few poems about gender fluidity, or maybe you’re itching to spend the weekend writing something new about non-normative relationships or bodily autonomy. Send it. If you aren’t familiar with our challenges, first place gets $1,000, second place gets $200, and third place gets $100. You can read all of our past winners online to get a sense of what we publish.
As with all of our calls for submissions, we hope this theme inspires you to put pen to paper and create something new and weird that excites you. We’re also offering editorial commentary for an additional fee: two pieces of feedback from two readers or editors. Submissions close at 11:59pm PST. Learn more here.
Be the first to know about our next challenge by subscribing to the Glossy Planet newsletter, and heads up: registrations are now open for our very first flash fiction workshop this summer.
With gratitude,
Rebecca Paredes
Editor in Chief
Glossy Planet
