Mapping Me Administration

Hi all,

Just a quick note to say that I (Orchid) will be stepping back from Mapping Me in order to finish my novel. I love this project and it has been a fantastic experience but my goal for this year was to finish my novel. Unfortunately I have been unable to complete this task and so I will have to step briefly away from the Mapping Me project that Tamara is now directing. Please give her the support and patience as she completes the project.

Just to clarify that all submissions will be read. Unfortunately, we have had to delay our reading process but we will let everyone know as soon as it is possible. I still be in the background of Mapping Me but all queries should be directed to Tamara at mappingme(at)gmail.com

Have a safe holiday!

A Message from Tamara

As we greet December, perhaps with some hesitation, considering how fast the year has gone.. again. I embrace this last month of 2010 as a conclusion to a year that has been challenging but also full of inspiration and promise. Wherever the 2nd December may find you - be it in New Zealand gearing up for beach and barbeque season, in Northern Hemisphere preparing for the chill of snow or in the Middle East (where I am at the moment), praying for rain to finally arrive. Wherever we may be there is no doubt this month we are united by the feeling of hope for the new year. This year we have had privilege to receive creative work from all corners of our planet. Stories that are personal and courageous; art that is evoking and sensual. We want to once again thank all our creatives for their submissions. We are slowly but surely compiling the work we've received and aiming to have the draft finished as soon as possible.

Living Together But Apart Anthology

We have received this call for submissions. Please submit works to the email address below, not to Mapping Me.

Living Together But Apart Anthology:

Call for submissions for an anthology about lifestyle choice: If you are or have been involved in an intimate, committed relationship in which you have lived long term in separate domiciles, the editors seek thoughtful, narrative non-fiction accounts of that experience. The writing should explore the challenges and benefits of such an arrangement. Stories of permanent, long-term relationships are of particular interest. Submissions should be approx. 4 – 14 pages, in standard manuscript format (double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman font) with full contact information on the first page.

Submit by mail to Linda Breault, 918 Murdoch Street, Creston, BC, V0B 1G4 or by e-mail to breault.gillespieTBA@gmail.com Please include your e-mail address or an SASE.

Deadline: April 1, 2011.

November Update

The Mapping Me team are currently is the slow phase of the book development. Tamara is overseas pursuing numerous leads while simulataneously working on her own projects. For myself, I am juggling the demands art directing for television, my novel and poetry collection yet for both of us, Mapping Me is never far from our minds. We are both excited by the range of voices we have selected. Nevertheless the process is a slow one as we are both keen to develop a project of which everyone can be proud. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at mappingme(at)gmail(dot)com.

October Update

Thanks all who submitted to Mapping Me. We are in the process of emailling all those who submitted. We are not accepting any more entries to the project. Our aim is to have a complete manuscript my the end of this year and finalise any shortlisted contributors. Thanks to all.

Infinite Dance Crew

For anyone in Lower Hutt, please consider attending the fund-raising event for Infinite Dance Crew. This event is to help them get to The Netherlands to compete in the FISAF world championships.

Date: 25th September, 2010

Time: Doors open 6 pm, starts 6:30 pm

Place: City Church, 22 Marsden St, Lower Hutt

Price: Adults $10, children under 12 years old $5.

Tickets at the door, or Pre-sales from: Langi’s Island Style, High St, Lower Hutt.

More Information: Infinite.worldofdance@gmail.com

Submissions

Hi all.

First of all thank you very much for all your submissions. We have been snowballed with a fantastic response but it does mean that our response time is going to be slower than we anticipated. I will hope that we can contact everyone by the end of September/beginning of October. As a writer myself, I do appreciate the agonising wait!

For those who have expressed concerned about the 7.1 earthquake that hit NZ on the 4th of September, thank you for kindness. Tamara and I are based in Auckland, far out from the devastation. All my friends in Christchurch are accounted for so a good outcome!

Sweta Srivastava Vikram's Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors

It is said that the human eye can identify approximately 10 million different shades of color. Yet how we perceive color depends upon our subjective experiences as well as the wavelength of light. It is no wonder then that Sweta Srivastava Vikram's Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors uses a dazzling spectrum as a meeting point between reader and poet to share the most intimate and human of experiences. Each poem captures authentic emotion that makes Sweta's words so accessible to the modern reader. Essentially, Kaleidoscope is a marriage of ideas and moments that whisper its punch lines and allows the brevity of language to carry the full emotional impact long after the poem has finished.

From a young girl's charming innocence (When daddy tells me grandpa is a star in the sky....I take out my Wonder woman transport..., and ride through optimism to bring him back) to a middle aged woman's defiance (colour me red), this chapbook is the dazzling display of a poet who teases us with fresh imagery and delicate linguistic craftsmanship.

The result is a stunning array of 19 poems that transcends the singularities of ethnic identity.Published by Modern History Press, Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Color is available from the Ingram Book Group and New Leaf Distributing, Betram's books and of course at Amazon.

Deadlines And Guidelines.

Just a reminder that our deadline is the 1st September. We are getting a few submissions which aren't following the guidelines so I'm re-posting them. PLEASE READ THEM. It's really problematic when we have to turn away writing because they don't conform to our word count requirements. Submission guidelines are a pain - I'm a writer and I know they can be tedious as ever to read but they serve an important function of maintaining even story lengths, pace and structure. They help us to help you.

Secondly, Tamara and I are based in New Zealand. Please don't just put in your country/state of origin as as DE or FL OR WA or SA. These mean nothing to us. If you are from the United States, tell us. If you are Scottish, living in Siberia - let us know. The reason is quite simple: we are hoping to obtain a broad demographic but in order to do so we need to know where you awesome writers are.

Overview

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is an anthology of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography and artwork. Its objective is to explore the connections – the invisible threads – that exist between women across the globe. Our starting point is to place the most basic question of identity, “Who am I?” within the complexities of culture and ethnicity. How do women respond to motherhood, rage, loss, relationships and loneliness across cultures? Do we share the same concept of grief and sadness, joy and love? We ask the writers and artists to tell stories, which negotiate the demands placed upon everyday women by society. The goal of this project is the sharing of such stories that allow the readers to draw their own conclusions whether or not culture is a divisive state between women.

Content

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is about transcending the physical geography of our contributors as they map the internal landscapes of their lives. Our themes are those ‘points which connect us.’ While the female reality varies across countries, still we laugh and we cry. We may not personally understand the experience of arranged marriages, bound feet, or restrictions across checkpoints but we can understand a mother’s love, a daughter’s pain and a young girl’s giggle. Some of our themes explore the bonds between women, shifts in consciousness and experiences in extreme situations but all our stories are by women and their choices. Our objective is to breakdown the different stereotypes in an entertaining - and sometimes comical – way. This anthology gives voices a chance to be heard and the reader an opportunity to listen to positive female stories outside of tabloid global gossip.

Some Questions To Think About

So what does this mean for you? Well really, it is up to you. Some questions we have we been asking artists and writers to think about are:

1. Who are you? Are you a 'Culture' first or a 'Woman' first? What is your voice?

2. How do you negotiate the cultural and/or societal authorities that tell you to be thin, pretty, get married, have children, worship, obey/disobey, have a career, stay at home etc.

3. Do you have a burning story about an event, a lost love, heartbreak, arranged marriages, unarranged marriages, infertility, fertility, or even a bathroom cluttered with make up.

4. Do you want to express conflict? Family dynamics? Frustrations over rivalries, children, demands of home and work, silences, arguments, tension with extended

families. Do you have a story of revenge? Manipulation? Women are complex creatures and we are capable of great loving as well as great evil too. We are, of course, human.

5. Who do you see in the mirror each morning? How does your culture affect your body image? Does it? Do you fight against it? Do you buy into any stereotypes? Do you have a funny story to share. We are looking for humour too. This is not a grim book.

Categories

Please select a category and create a story, poem, creative non-fiction or artwork.

· Category 1. Stories of movement and motivation, restriction and escape.

· Category 2. Stories about food and nurturing.

· Category 3. Stories about, touch, love, sexuality or virginity.

· Category 4. Stories about self-image, judgments, perceptions and observation.

· Category 5. Stories about motherhood, family, marriage, fertility, birth.

· Category 6. Stories of laughter, fun, malice, viciousness.

Additional Guidelines

Please make sure your work conforms to the following guidelines:

· For round two, contributors’ literary works must be original and unpublished.

· You may submit as many works as you wish.

· Writer’s Word Count Guidelines

1. Short stories: no more than 1000 words
2. Creative non-fiction: no more than 1000 words
3. Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces.

4. Flash fiction - anything less than 500 words.

· Your work must be submitted as either an attachment in a rich text format (RTF) or a word document (doc). No PDF files or docx files, please! We simply cannot work with these file formats. Alternatively, you may paste your work in the body of the email. If your writing has a specific format, attach it as a file to the email.

Works can be submitted in your mother tongue. Please provide an English translation with your submission.

· Artwork Guidelines

· You may submit as many paintings, photographs or a mix of art and prose as possible. We accept JPG files (no JPF)

· Submit your work to Orchid Tierney and Tamara Azizian at mappingme@gmail.com

· Please provide a cover letter and include a short biography (no more than 50 words).

· Let us know under what categories you are submitting your works.

· Deadline is the 1^st of September 2010

· Our reading period is 1 to 3 months

Please do not send links of your writing or artwork. We will not read them.

Payment

We regret that are unable to provide payment to contributors as this is a self-funded enterprise.

Any questions please contact us at

mappingme (at) gmail (dot) com or visit us at www.mapping-me.blogspot.com

Book Review: "Because All Is Not Lost" by Sweta Srivastava Vikram

I don't normally write reviews but this is one chapbook that deserves to be acknowledged for the simple reason that grief surpasses both gender and borders. Sweta Srivastava Vikram's Because All Is Not Lost: Verse on Grief is an optimistic voyage through the process of grief and healing that draws upon the landscape and basic humanity as vehicles of expression.

The brevity of some poems encapsulates the universe of grief. In many ways, certain poems like A Fallen Soldier and Making the choice deliver guerrilla-style punches which leave the emotional impact of her visual and linguistic plays to carry on. Relentless poetry on mortality and finality can be potentially taxing to a reader but Sweta Vikram manages to effortlessly negotiate the boundaries of loss with last lines that leave the reader with moments of possibility - those of regeneration and healing.

The imagery of the landscape in Because All Is Not Lost serves as welcomed grounding motif to what is essentially an intensely emotional and intimate experience. Whether or not, life goes 'on like the Ganges,' the reader is reminded that like the natural world, loss is part of a wider cycle of birth, death and rebirth through acceptance of death. While the intensity of loss may diminish over time, memories of loved ones, like rivers, will continue to shape the landscapes of our individual worlds.

The real joy of this collection is its potential to be read in a single sitting, multiple times, with each subsequent reading revealing new insights. For poetry virgins, this text demands no sophisticated knowledge of poetics and literary discourse. To put simply, it is an accessible piece of enjoyable writing, a concept with which a lot of poets seem to struggle.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the book at Modern History Press or visit the personal website of Sweta Vikram.

Mapping Me - Update

As the sun is setting on another beautiful cool winter's day Orchid and I are discussing and reviewing the submissions we've received so far. It is both exciting and humbling to discover daily submissions from our worldly creatives. August will be the reading month - looking forward to it. Meantime, positive news as Orchid is having her poetry published in Otoliths, Street Cake magazine and Potroast (she did not want me to mention it, claimed it as being naff - but here we are). After 1 September submission deadline we will be drafting the book and distributing it to publishers. Thank you for your stories and your patience. More updates to follow.

Week Ending 17 July 2010

Greetings everyone. Well, to start off, apologies for the lack of updates for the last two weeks. Tamara has been suffering from a godzilla type virus and I've been pulled away from Mapping Me to work some days for a television show as well as setting up my new magazine. Yet, you know what they say: no news is good news. We are receiving a steady stream of submissions - much to our delight- and we will contact everyone after the 1st of September deadline. If you have any queries, please drop us a line.

I Am Somebody

Thanks to Tania van Schalkwyk for forwarding this I Am Somebody email.

Copied below is Toni Stuart's text.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So it is better to speak/ remembering/ we were never meant to survive. - Audre Lorde, Litany for Survival


I Am Somebody! is a youth organisation that uses storytelling to bring together 18 to 21 year olds from all races, cultures and classes in Cape Town. Using life and archetypal storytelling, we run a two-year mentorship programme with the youth to develop their self-awareness, get them to connect across the invisible barriers of race, culture and class to understand one another and build relationships based on compassion and trust. Thirdly, we help youth develop their innate gifts and then use these to address needs and issues in their own communities. Youth will do research into the issues in their own communities and identify one area they would like to tackle.
The group will then bring their research together and using the skills, knowledge and resources of all the communities represented, they will develop creative solutions to their problems. Our aim is to use the talents of all communities to start developing solutions to Cape Town's problems from the ground up.

"Storytelling, you know, has a real function. The process of storytelling itself is a healing process, partly because you have someone there who is taking the time to tell you a story that has great meaning for them. Stories differ from advice, in that once you get them; they become a fabric of your whole soul. That is why they heal you." - Alice Walker, author of The Colour Purple.

At the end of July, we are hosting a mini-storyteling festival and auction. This is our first fundraising event, to raise the money we need to start implementing our programmes this year. A number of artists who understand, believe and live storytelling through their work and life, will perform at the storytelling festival. Wang Thai Lagoon Beach has offered us their restaurant for the night.
We have started sourcing prizes to auction off, but we need a few big prizes like weekend getaways, breakfasts at hotels to really draw interest and raise a significant amount of money.

Below is a link to the blog of one of our mentors, Warren T Te Brugge. It features a short article and video clips of why we are doing this work.

http://www.manzimvula.com/blog/2010/04/18/yes-i-am-somebody-communicating-your-heart/

Week Ending 4th July 2010

Greetings from the Mapping Me team. Not a lot to report this week, I'm afraid. We are steadily reading through submissions and contacting writers from round one. At the weekly meeting today, we discussed the artwork we would like to see in the final product. It is a particularly hard task when the quality has been exceptionally high.

Just a reminder to writers: please don't send us anything in docx format. This seems to be primarily a mac extension (please correct me if I'm wrong) so make sure that you save your document in word 2003. Unfortunately, I am struggling to read docx as my computer doesn't have the latest word and converting it to a readable text will disrupt any special formatting you might have saved. That being said, certainly we will not be turning down these submissions and personally, any editor who would is shooting themselves in the foot. It would make our lives easier (and yours) if we can read a text exactly as how you intended it.

Positive Stories

Tamara and I want to remind all writers how varied the female experience is. We laugh and we cry. We dance for joy and we shiver with fear. Mapping Me aims to share the totality of the female experience. That means we are eagerly waiting to read the positive stories that make up our individual lives. Sometimes it seems we focus to easily on the hardships and those things that make us suffer but the female experience is much more than that. Mapping Me isn't a grim book. It's about women making choices - good and bad - about survival and moments of happiness, laughter and humour.


The biggest criticism of anthologies of this nature has been the depressingly grim and bleak realities of many women. Yet for every day of darkness, there is also a moment of light. What are they? If we deny those moments, deny that they exist, then we deny the complexities of our lives and our humanity. We want to inspire women, show them at their finest happiest moments so when they are at their lowest, their spirit can never be broken.

Un Paisaje de historias de mujeres

Un Paisaje de historias de mujeres es una antologia de ficcion, realidad creative, poesia, fotografia y arte. Su Objetivo es explorar las conexiones – los hilos invisibles- que existen entre las mujeres alrededor del mundo. Nuestro punto de partida es la pregunta de identidad mas basica “Quien soy? Dentro de las complejidades de la cultura y la etnicidad. Como responden las mujeres a la maternidad, ira, perdida, relaciones y soledad en distintas culturas? Compartimos acaso el mismo concepto de pena y tristeza, gozo y amor? Pedimos a los escritores y artistas que cuenten historias, las cuales discutan las obligaciones del rol de genero femenino impuestas diariamente por la sociedad. La meta de este proyecto es compartir estas historias que permiten a los lectores formar sus propias conclusiones en respecto a la cultura siendo, o no un estado dividente entre las mujeres.


Algunas preguntas en las que pensar

Que significa esto para ti? Realmente, depende de ti completamente. Algunas preguntas que les hemos estado preguntando a artistas y escritoes son?

1.- Quien eres? Eres una persona con prioridad en la cultura o con prioridad en ser mujer?

2.- Como percibes y manejas las autoridades culturales y/o sociales que te dictan ser esbelta, bonita, casarte, tener hijos, adorar, obedecer/desobedecer, tener una carrera, quedarte en casa, etc.

3.- Tienes historias acerca de algun evento, algun amor perdido, desamor, matrimonios arreglados o desarreglados, esterilidad, virilidad, o un tocador atiborrado de maquillaje?

4.-Quieres expresar conflicto? Dinamicas familiars? Fristraciones sobre rivalidades, infantes, obligaciones del hogar y el trabajo, silencios, discusiones etc.
Tienes historias de venganza? Manipulacion? Las mujeres somos creaturas complejas y somos capaces de profesar gran amor y tambien de hacer un gran mal. Somos ante todo, seres humanos.

5.- A quien ves en el espejo cada amanecer? Como afecta tu cultura a tu imagen fisica? Tratas de evitar que la cultura la afecte? Te dejas manejar por los estereotipos? Tienes alguna historia graciosa que contat? Tambien estamos buscando historias humorosas.

Categorias

Selecciona una categoria y escribe una historia, poema, prosa u obra de arte.

Categoria 1. Historias de movimiento y motivacion, restriccion y escape.
Categoria 2. Historias acerca de comida u nutricion
Categoria 3. Historias acerca de tacto, amor, sexualidad o virginidad.
Categoria 4. Historias de imagen personal, juicios, percepciones y observacion.
Categoria 5. Historias de maternidad, familia, matrimonio, fertilidad y nacimiento.
Categoria 6. Historias de risa, diversion, malicia y vicio.

Lineamientos adicionales

Por favor asegurate que tu trabajo obedezca a los siguientes lineamientos

Para la segunda ronda, los trabajos literarios inscritos tendran que ser originales y nunca antes publicados.
Puedes inscribir tantos trabajos como quieras.


Lineamientos de extension

1.Cuentos: No mas de mil palabras.
2. Prosa de eventos reales: No mas de mil palabras
3. Poesia: 4 a 6 piezas.
4. Ficcion flash- cualquier cosa menor a 500 palabras.

Tu trabajo tiene que ser inscrito ya sea como un archivo RTF o un documento Word (.doc). Favor de no enviar documentos PDF o docx. Simplemente no podemos trabajar con este tipo de formatos. Ultimadamente puedes tambien copiar y pegar tu pieza literaria u obra de arte en el cuerpo del email. Si tu texto tiene un formato especifico, adhierelo al email como un archivo.

Los trabajos pueden ser inscritos en tu primer idioma. Por favor incluye tambien una traduccion al Ingles en tu inscripcion.
Por favor no nos envies links de sitios de internet para leer tus trabajos o ver tu arte. No los leeremos.

Lineamientos de obras de arte.

Puedes inscribir tantas pinturas, fotografias, o una mezcla de arte y prosa cuantas sean posibles. Aceptamos archivos JPG (no JPF)
Inscribe tu trabajo a los editores en mappingme@gmail.com
Por favor inlcuye una carta de presentacion y una corta biografia de no mas de 50 palabras.
Dinos en que categoria estas inscribiendo tu trabajo.
La fecha limite de entrega es el 1 de Septiembre del 2010
Nuestro periodo de calificacion es de 1 a 3 meses.

Pago
Lamentamos no poder pagar a nuestros colaboradores. Nuestra meta es proporcionar una copia del libro a ellos, pero esto depende de la casa editorial.

Cualquier pregunta, favor de contactarnos en mappingme@gmail.com o visitanos en www.mapping-me.blogspot.com

Submissions Round Two

Thanks to everyone who submitted for round one. We will be in touch with each of you by July. We are now moving into round two of submissions.

Overview

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is an anthology of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography and artwork. Its objective is to explore the connections – the invisible threads – that exist between women across the globe. Our starting point is to place the most basic question of identity, “Who am I?” within the complexities of culture and ethnicity. How do women respond to motherhood, rage, loss, relationships and loneliness across cultures? Do we share the same concept of grief and sadness, joy and love? We ask the writers and artists to tell stories, which negotiate the demands placed upon everyday women by society. The goal of this project is the sharing of such stories that allow the readers to draw their own conclusions whether or not culture is a divisive state between women.

Content

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is about transcending the physical geography of our contributors as they map the internal landscapes of their lives. Our themes are those ‘points which connect us.’ While the female reality varies across countries, still we laugh and we cry. We may not personally understand the experience of arranged marriages, bound feet, or restrictions across checkpoints but we can understand a mother’s love, a daughter’s pain and a young girl’s giggle. Some of our themes explore the bonds between women, shifts in consciousness and experiences in extreme situations but all our stories are by women and their choices. Our objective is to breakdown the different stereotypes in an entertaining - and sometimes comical – way. This anthology gives voices a chance to be heard and the reader an opportunity to listen to positive female stories outside of tabloid global gossip.

Some Questions To Think About

So what does this mean for you? Well really, it is up to you. Some questions we have we been asking artists and writers to think about are:

1. Who are you? Are you a 'Culture' first or a 'Woman' first? What is your voice?

2. How do you negotiate the cultural and/or societal authorities that tell you to be thin, pretty, get married, have children, worship, obey/disobey, have a career, stay at home etc.

3. Do you have a burning story about an event, a lost love, heartbreak, arranged marriages, unarranged marriages, infertility, fertility, or even a bathroom cluttered with make up.

4. Do you want to express conflict? Family dynamics? Frustrations over rivalries, children, demands of home and work, silences, arguments, tension with extended

families. Do you have a story of revenge? Manipulation? Women are complex creatures and we are capable of great loving as well as great evil too. We are, of course, human.

5. Who do you see in the mirror each morning? How does your culture affect your body image? Does it? Do you fight against it? Do you buy into any stereotypes? Do you have a funny story to share. We are looking for humour too. This is not a grim book.

Categories

Please select a category and create a story, poem, creative non-fiction or artwork.

· Category 1. Stories of movement and motivation, restriction and escape.

· Category 2. Stories about food and nurturing.

· Category 3. Stories about, touch, love, sexuality or virginity.

· Category 4. Stories about self-image, judgments, perceptions and observation.

· Category 5. Stories about motherhood, family, marriage, fertility, birth.

· Category 6. Stories of laughter, fun, malice, viciousness.

Additional Guidelines

Please make sure your work conforms to the following guidelines:

· For round two, contributors’ literary works must be original and unpublished.

· You may submit as many works as you wish.

· Writer’s Word Count Guidelines

1. Short stories: no more than 1000 words
2. Creative non-fiction: no more than 1000 words
3. Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces.

4. Flash fiction - anything less than 500 words.

· Your work must be submitted as either an attachment in a rich text format (RTF) or a word document (doc). No PDF files or docx files, please! We simply cannot work with these file formats. Alternatively, you may paste your work in the body of the email. If your writing has a specific format, attach it as a file to the email.

Works can be submitted in your mother tongue. Please provide an English translation with your submission.

· Artwork Guidelines

· You may submit as many paintings, photographs or a mix of art and prose as possible. We accept JPG files (no JPF)

· Submit your work to Orchid Tierney and Tamara Azizian at mappingme@gmail.com

· Please provide a cover letter and include a short biography (no more than 50 words).

· Let us know under what categories you are submitting your works.

· Deadline is the 1^st of September 2010

· Our reading period is 1 to 3 months

Please do not send links of your writing or artwork. We will not read them.

Payment

We regret that are unable to provide payment to contributors as this is a self-funded enterprise.

Any questions please contact us at

mappingme (at) gmail (dot) com or visit us at www.mapping-me.blogspot.com

Update

Just a quick update from the Mapping Me Team. After a marathon seven hour meeting yesterday, Tamara and I have finished our proposal and we begin the submission process next week. As some of you are aware, this next stage is very much 'let's wait and see' so please bear with us. In the meantime, the first round of sample pitches will begin next Saturday where we will be looking at individual samples. From Tamara and I, we hope you have a wonderful weekend and for the Kiwis: a safe Queen's Birthday Weekend. Drive carefully, the weather is terrible and the roads are slippery!

The Landscape Across Borders

تضاريسي, أو "ماپنچ مي": منظور في قصص النساء, هو عمل أدبي فني مثير يهدف الى جمع مختارات من القصص القصيرة و الشعر و الأعمال الفنية و الومضات الخيالية و التصوير الفوتوغرافي, تبحث في تجارب نسائية من ثقافات و أعراق متنوعة.

هدف المشروع هو المشاركة بقصص نسوية عن الحب و الالم و السعادة و السخط, و إعطاء مساحة للقرّاء لإستنباط احكامهم الخاصة حول ما إذا كانت الثقافة عنصرا فاصلا بين النساء.

نطلب إليكن ان تبعثوا لنا باعمالكن الأدبية و الفنية مع سيرتكن الذاتية. كما و سوف نقوم بإخطاركن حول آخر موعد للتسليم في وقت لاحق.

المهارات الأساسية التي نبحث عنها:

سواء نشرتِ أدبك أو عرضتِ أعمالك الفنية فيما سبق أم لم يتسنَ لكِ ذلك بعد, فنحن نبحث عنكِ.

للراغبات بالمشاركة, يرجى إرسال عينة من اعمالكن على:

mappingme (at) gmail.com

مع العلم باننا نحتاج الى أن تُترجَمَ الأعمال المكتوبة الى الإنجليزية لكي نقوم بنشرها.

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women's Stories is an exciting new anthology collection of short stories, poetry, art work, flash fiction and photography that explores the female experience of women across cultures and ethnicities. The key of this project is the sharing of feminine stories of love and pain, joy and rage and allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions whether or not culture is a divisive state between women.

Currently we are seeking samples of creative work and a biography. Submission deadlines for the anthology work will be provided at a later date.

Key skills sought:

Both published and previously unpublished/unexhibited women of any age and ethnicity.

If you are interested in this project, please email samples of your work to:

mappingme (at) gmail.com

Please note, we would need to translate your work into English.

MM - it's short for Mapping Me not the chocolate sweet.

Tamara and I had a long meeting today. Needless to say, I am exhausted and in desperate need of a good English breakfast tea. So sit back, kittlings, put your feet up and let your hands cup a warm mug of soy/milk/coca/coffee/tea, it is time for our weekly update.

Over the coming weeks we will be assessing our samples/submissions. It will a careful process made so much harder by the incredible quality of the work we have received. Our reading period is currently a month, so please feel free to nag us if you haven't heard from us by July. Nevertheless, we are truely heartened by the responses. We will be setting up a database of emails to keep our readers and contributors in the loop of any developments. As a writer myself I know how tedious and nerve-wrecking the waiting process is. Believe me, Tamara and I are currently living it!

The purpose of our meeting today was to nut out our proposal. After seven hours, I think not only surpassed our goal but we left it quaking at the side of the road. Our next step is to begin to approach literary agents and publishers with the view towards the international market. Watch this space.

As always, we are appreciative of the support and kindness of all women who have submitted their samples. Please pass on the word about Mapping Me to your friends, colleagues and families. The more people are aware of this project, greater is the readership for our contributors!

Facebook Invasions and Help in Unexpected Places

I'm a believer in the simple adage: what you don't ask, you don't receive. Sometimes you ask and you don't get that expected outcome but really, c'est la vie. Still all you can do is try again and if necessary, keep asking because sometimes you just might score that gold medal. Tamara and I are very grateful for those medals we have received thus far on this Mapping Me journey. We thank the Fantasticos from Femrite: Ugandan Women Writers Association and the Palestinian Writers and Their Friends group as well as all the wonderful women who have so far submitted some truly astounding literary and artistic work. Which leads me to my next point. Mapping Me isn't about a couple of sheilas with an idea. It's about giving a loudhailer to all the screaming, laughing, crying, joking and whispering voices of women who are living our stories. Our purpose is simple: through literary and artistic expression, women can become empowered. And empowered women are HEARD.

In the true spirit of over-saturating the internet, check out our new Facebook group. Over the next few weeks, Tamara and I will be building our publisher's proposal but if you want to drop us line, say hello, or pose a question feel free to email us at

mappingme (at) gmail.com

No question is too big or small. Just remember, artistes, what you don't ask, you don't receive.

Poof....the week that was

It seems as I grow older, the days turn faster. Certainly it has been the case this week, as Tamara and I approach the middle of May with our 1st of June deadline approaching. Of course, I have been working on a television show this week - it's hard and fatiguing work - yet after a long day it's a pleasant feeling to open my inbox and see those samples waiting to be read. Truly I'm astounded to see the wealth of talent, those quiet voices finding voice within the magma of literature and unpublished writing.

The key to empowering and encouraging women in literary endeavours is to encourage the creativity of family and whanau, of village and town, of city and country and of Nation! Mapping Me isn't just a project about celebrating women - it's about celebrating what it means to be human upon this blue planet.

So for anyone wondering: 'can I write or draw? Can I contribute?' the question I would ask you is

'will you?'

Happy writing.

Hi

Hello everyone!

This is Tamara (and assisted by Orchid!)- the other half of Mapping Me. I decided it's time I learn how to use this blog (I am the non-technical one...and a bit challenged in that area). I am very excited about the interest that we've received from various corners of the world including Zimbabwe, South Africa and Nepal! This week we continued with our research and we met with book store owners to discuss the process and what is trending at the moment. Right now we are having our Saturday meeting update to read our latest submissions over coffee and health store sweet goodies (sourced by Orchid).

We'll be in touch soon.

Submission Guidelines Amendments

After reviewing our proposed format, Tamara and I have made the following adjustments to our word counts:

1. Short stories: no more than 1000 words
2. Essays: no more than 1000 words
3. Interviews: no more than 1000 words.
4. Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces. Or 1. Really it's up to you!

Flash fiction (any words less than 500 words) will be enthusiastically received!

Longer works will still be accepted although please be aware they may be edited for the final product. Any problems? Email me!

A Week of Mapping Me

It has been a busy week. Not only are we managing our daily jobs, Tamara as a production coordinator for a National Broadcaster and myself - working on my novel, but also Mapping Me is slowly mapping into place.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to meet with a publisher to discuss avenues of publication, markets, proposals and potential areas of concern as well as funding strategies. It was incredibly informative and Tamara and I left the meeting fully convinced that this project is a sure thing.

So here we are, at our weekly meeting discussing the samples you have sent to us already and building a mock up book to give ourselves an idea of the look we hope to achieve. It is a slow processes but the turtle did eventually win the race!

Keep those stories, poems, artwork, photographs coming!

Speakers Of Other Languages

As soon as I wrote 'Other Languages' I realised my faux pas. How negatively have I qualified language by the simple placement of the word 'other.' Am I suggesting that English is in some way a normal dialogue and anything outside of its boundaries is different, marked and perhaps, dare I say, less effective as a mode of communication. Actually, tonight I have realised the constraints of English. As with any language communicating with people whose mother tongue I don't share (or communicating with those who I do!) is a mixed bag: sometimes we understand and sometimes we make mistakes. It's a matter of guess and sometimes semantics. Either way, any dialogue is a minefield. So let's begin again without the 'other':

Speakers of [World] Languages

I'm seeking assistance from people who have a firm grasp of French, German, Czech, Aboriginal, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, any language at all to help us compose letters to art faculties and magazines. If you like to help, please drop me a line.

Call for Artists

Mapping Me is a multi-disciplinary approach to the question of 'Who Am I?' As well as short stories, poetry and essays, we are calling for women artists and photographers to submit visual works which explores their experiences as women within their cultures. We seek sketches, paintings and photography to exist alongside our literary sisters. If you are interested in submitting something, please email me for a synopsis of the project. As with creative writing submissions, please include a sample of your work in JPEG format along with a short biography about yourself.

A Question of Answers

I've had a few questions via email so grab a cuppa and take a seat, wise Orchid will answer all for you.

Do you have a submission deadline?

Yes and no. All we require at this initial stage is an author's biography, detailing any publisher's credit and your nationalities and a sample of your work. We would appreciate it if we could receive this information by the 1 June 2010. This sample doesn't need to be the piece you want published, it's merely to give Tamara and I an idea of your style and scope.

Who will be publishing the anthology?

As of April, Tamara and I do not have a publisher on board. Yet. That's the operative word. That being said, I am extremely hopeful. The women's market is a dynamic sector in the publishing world and both Tamara and I are extremely passionate about this project. Given our location (NZ) and the nature of this project, we want to be absolutely thorough with our proposal in order to secure its success with a publishing house. So patience!

Can we paste our sample/submission in the body of the email or are attachments are?

Either way is acceptable. But please be aware that formatting often changes when you paste in the body of an email.

Can I send a previously published poem/short story?


This question is a little more tricky to answer. It will depend upon the contract and arrangements you have with your publisher. By all means, submit it if you feel strongly about the work but please provide dates of publication and the name of the publishing house. Be aware we may not be able to obtain clearance to use your work.

I've never been published, can I submit something?
Of course! We are actively encouraging unpublished writers to be a part of this opportunity.

And a final word,

This project is an organic process. We are working with women who don't always have access to computers or their internet connections are unreliable. Tamara and I will endeavour to keep in touch with you as we develop this project but we do ask for patience.

Happy writing!

Submission Guidelines

I've been fielding a few questions about word count and for the sake of clarity, I'm posting our guidelines on this blog.

Contributors can submit prose pieces, poetry, essay, artwork, photography, interviews, or mix-media. Really, we are that flexible. Want to submit only quotes? Sure why not? Tamara and I are asking you to surprise us.

Work can be in English or your mother tongue but we require English translation to accompany your work. We accept Standard British and American English. Or Pig Latin. Yes, we are really that flexible.

1. Short stories: no more than 1000 words
2. Essays: no more than 1000 words
3. Interviews: no more than 1000 words.
4. Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces. Or 1. Really it's up to you!

Flash fiction (any words less than 500 words will be enthusiastically received!)

Surprise us. Challenge us.

One point to note: unpublished women are welcome!

Welcome

"Mapping Me" is an exciting new anthology project of women's stories which will explore the complexities of lives across ethnic and cultural divides. A collaborative effort between New Zealand writer Orchid Tierney and Russian Armenian writer, Tamara Azizian, this anthology will pose the fundamental question of "who am I" in an eclectic range of poetry, artwork, photography, essays, interviews and short story creative writing.