Call for Submissions to Anthology: Thriving

 Deadline: Nov. 16, 2023

Thriving: An Anthology

From global events to microscopic movements, change happens around us, to us and within us. We are challenged to adapt, plan, grow, rethink, relax, endeavor, risk, feel and act. How do we live robustly when plans are disrupted and wellbeing is threatened? How do we find purpose? Feel joy? Be creative? Achieve? Connect?

How do we thrive?

Camels thrive differently than orcas, who thrive differently than ladybugs who thrive differently than villages. We can’t reduce thriving to one uniform condition, we sure do know it when we see it and when we feel it. We can wonder about thriving, explore and share it, exult in and be changed by it. We can communicate it so others can enter our experiences.

Thriving is an anthology of original, creative writing and illustration that revels in the state we call thriving. Each piece will uniquely delve into its myriad facets, pathways, circumstances, manifestations, inputs and outcomes.

Project Guidelines

Focus: “Thriving” is the focus, in all its glory and forms , often in the aftermath of grave challenges. Your piece can be narrative, impressionistic, humorous or evocative. The words thrive and thriving do not need to be present in your submission or its title: “Show, don’t tell” is a wise guide here.

Readers: Somewhat literary-minded, self-reflective adults; older adults and others with some difficult life experiences of their own; adults seeking hopeful inspiration.

Purpose: Pleasure reading of an uplifting nature. Readers should feel inspired and able to find universal truths within the specific works.

Not the Purpose: This is not a self-improvement manual or a step-by-step guide to any—certainly not to any particular—spiritual path, religion, action or belief system; it does not proselytize, prescribe or chastise.

Genres: Poetry and short prose: fiction and creative non-fiction such as memoir and history. Black and white illustrations and photographs. (Honoraria of $10 per accepted work.) One full-color photograph or painting/illustration for use on the cover (Cover artist(s) will receive an honorarium of $100 upon publication with a cover design incorporating their piece).

Project-Specific Submission Guidelines:

Visual Art (B & W for interior; color for cover): Submit up to five (5) black and white and/or color images, each uploaded as a separate jpeg file. Use the title of the work as the file name (ex: three_llamas.jpeg).

Poetry: Submit up to five (5) single-spaced poems in one .doc, .docx, or .rtf document. Begin each poem on a new page, number the pages, and use a clear serif font in size 12.

Fiction: Submit up to five (5) nano-, micro- or flash-fiction pieces (up to 750 words) or one short story (up to 2500 words) in one .doc, .docx, or .rtf document, single spaced, using a clear serif font in size 12. Begin each piece on a new page and number the pages.

Creative Nonfiction: Follow the fiction guidelines. For historical writing, include adequate references. For memoir, your submission serves to attest that the writing reflects the truth as you know, remember and understand it, and that the events related in your piece happened to you -- it's your story to tell, not someone else's.

Saratoga Arts made this program possible through the Community Arts Regrant Program, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Submit your work here.