Pleiades is accepting submissions for an upcoming special folio centered around neurodivergence and disability, written for and by disabled and neurodivergent writers and poets. This folio aims to educate and celebrate what it means to navigate this neurotypical, able-bodied world, as someone outside of its perceived standards.
Disabled and neurodiverse writers and poets are encouraged to submit to this folio by October 15th, 2023. The folio will be published in Spring 2024. Writers are not required to specify their disability.
Please submit up to 5 poems or 1 piece of prose (max 5,000 words), along with a cover letter that includes a brief bio (max 500 words) to pleiadesdisabilityfolio@gmail.com. Send original, unpublished works only. Simultaneous submissions accepted, but please notify the editors immediately should the piece be accepted elsewhere. See guidelines.
We look forward to reading your work!
Mission Statement:
Begun in 1991, Pleiades: Literature in Context publishes contemporary poetry, translation, fiction, nonfiction, and book reviews, with a specific attention to diversity and inclusion. Since 2018 when Jenny Molberg took over as Editor-in-Chief, Pleiades has also included a special folio, curated by a guest editor. Special folio topics have included: Korean-American Women Poets, LGBTQIA+ Latinx Poets, Essays from the American Southwest, Silences of War: Erasures within Conflict, and more. The Fall 2024 issue will feature a folio of Pakistani writers, edited by Hananah Zaheer. The Pleiades Visiting Writers Series hosts, through in-person, virtual, and hybrid events, acclaimed authors from around the United States, including such writers as Philip Metres, Phong Nguyen, Min Jin Lee, Victoria Chang, Taneum Bambrick, Joy Priest, and many more. The Visiting Writers Series is free and open to the public, serving the Warrensburg community and the literary community at large.
The primary mission of Pleiades: Literature in Context is to discover new literary voices. The magazine seeks to publish emerging writers, most especially writers from underrepresented groups, like writers of color, women, non-binary, and trans writers, and writers with disabilities. Evidence of the journal’s success with this is seen in the most recent VIDA (Women in the Literary Arts) count, which calculates the number of underrepresented writers a literary journal publishes. The creative writing students at the University of Central Missouri have opportunities to intern with the magazine, and many of these students are first generation and non-traditional students, who otherwise would not have access to opportunities to work with professional writers and editors, and to attend conferences with the faculty editors.