Call for Submissions for LGBTQ+ Beyond Worship

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Beyond Worship

This anthology will explore the sacredness of queer, transgender, and gender-variant identities, experiences, and concerns in relation to faith, worship, liturgy, and theology.

LGBTQIA2S+ authors are invited to share essays, prayers, litanies, poetry, reflections, personal testimonies, and orders or worship.

Transgender, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, and gender-expansive contributors will be prioritized.

We invite LGBTQIA2S+ people from all faith backgrounds to submit.

Submission details
• DEADLINE: April 27th, 2022

Accepted Contributors
• Will be published in the anthology this Pride month, 2022
• Will receive a $10 stipend and physical copy of the book

Potential Writing Prompts:
• How does your identity as a transgender person relate to that of the divine and/or sacred? How do your beliefs impact the way you feel comfortable with yourself, mind, body, and spirit?
• How has your faith community (church, synagogue, mosque, temple, gurdwara, spiritual circles, etc.) been a home for you (or not)? Have certain scriptures, texts, passages, sermons, etc. led you to this sense/feeling/place of community?
• How might queer and transgender people looking for a spiritual path come to terms with religion/religious trauma? What were the first steps for you? Did you have any mentors, friends, family members? What advice can you give to LGBTQIA2S+ people who are just beginning this process?
• How can queer and transgender people perceive themselves as divine/sacred, even when we’re told so many times that we do not belong?
• Why turn to God/the Divine in the first place? Why turn to religion? Why is it important to you to believe in something greater than yourself?
• Do you have to believe in Jesus and the scripture to be a Christian? Why or why not?
• Are there any central or peripheral exemplars/figures from your faith tradition that inspire you? What about them resonates with you?
• Liturgical prompts:
o Prayers for queer and transgender lives and collective liberation
o Litany or order of worship for a name-changing ceremony, specific to transgender people of faith
o Calls to Worship, hymns, songs, poetry that relate to queer and transgender experience and faith

Send all submissions as a word doc to submissions@riverdaleavebooks.com, with a short author bio, with Beyond Worship in the subject line. You may use a pseudonym for publication, but we must know your real identity.