Appetite
Primordial appetites – mother’s milk, a father’s warm touch, the flashy colours of a toy train, the appetite to love, the insatiable curiosity to delve into the mysteries of life. Before we know it, our appetites turn subliminal: to belong, to be, to ignite passion.
Epicurean, sartorial or romantic, how many walls should you scale before your appetite is satiated? What belief systems take away your very right to have the appetite to eat, drink, wear, love, be? Which insatiable appetites leave you, or your character starving forever in silence?
Only royalty had the right to the tender succulence of jackfruit, or to purple fabric. And isn’t there that infamous historical anecdote of the suggestion to have cake instead of bread that led to a revolution?
What revolutions are brewing in you? Give in to your appetite to resist, protest, unsilence – without restraint, without censorship. Gulp down this theme of appetite, allow it to reveal the hungers within you.
And then, write to us with your stories, poems, essays, visual narratives, book reviews, and interviews in English and in translations into English. We’re waiting, famished, for your literary works.
With love,
Team Usawa
General Guidelines
Mandatory Contributor Form: Please fill this form for your submission to be read by the Editors.
Submission Format:
Payment Policy:
Submission Limitations:
Editing Policy:
We encourage you to peruse our previous issues and review our monthly newsletters to gain insight into our editorial preferences. You may subscribe to our newsletter here http://eepurl.com/iv7LdA
Due to the high volume of submissions and limited staff, we regretfully cannot offer feedback on declined pieces.
Thank you for adhering to our submission guidelines. We eagerly anticipate reviewing your work.
Section Guidelines
Poetry:
Please submit 4-6 poems to our Poetry Editor, Babitha Marina Justin, at babitha@usawa.in
Usawa will be publishing unpublished poems only. However, poems that have been shared on the author’s social media are acceptable. If you have previously published work that strongly resonates with our theme kindly share the same with the Editor stating why you would like the piece to be considered. The body of editors will review it collectively and take a decision accordingly.
Short Fiction:
Submit short fiction of length up to 5000 words to our Fiction Editors, Smita Sahay, at smita@usawa.in and, Kinshuk Gupta, at kinshuk@usawa.in
While we primarily seek literary fiction, exceptional genre fiction is also welcome.
Translations:
Submit your translated works to our Translations Editor, Sonakshi Srivastava, at Sonakshi@usawa.in. Include at least 4 poems or a text ranging from 2000-5000 words for consideration. The translation should be alongside the source text.
Please ensure that you have the original author’s consent and mention the same in your submission.
Book Reviews:
Submit 1000-1500 word book reviews to our Books Editor, Ankush Banerjee, at ankush@usawa.in. Reviews can be of fiction, poetry, and non fiction books.
Submission Guidelines for Book Reviews
Non-Fiction
Submit non fiction of length up to 5000 words to our Non Fiction Editor, Namrata Pathak, at namrata@usawa.in.
We are looking for pieces that reflect honesty of the experience, personal or from the point of witness. Show us the universality of the personal, the ingredients that bind us all as human, one. Vulnerability, curiosity. An evident love for the language, care for the sentence and structure, and attention to detail. We do expect pieces to reflect craft but give us authenticity to go with it. Simply put, we may pick a piece that is honest over one that glorifies technique.
If addressing a topical issue, consider contacting the editor for timely consideration.
Photography submissions
Please send up to six-eight stand-alone photographs or photo essays in .jpeg format at 300dpi along with an artist statement or paragraph about the inspiration behind your piece to our Visual Arts Editor, Priyanka Sacheti, at priyanka@usawa.in.
We are looking for images which see the world anew, the camera revealing what our gaze sometimes overlooks. There are so many ways of looking and we are particularly interested in those images moving away from and challenging the patriarchal/male gaze. We would also like to see images where the framing of a subject is as much a story as the subject itself.
We welcome both landscape and portrait oriented images, as well as colour and black and white images.
Interview Submissions
Kindly send your interview submissions accompanied with a short description of 100 words in the body of the mail, highlighting what made them choose the individual, to our Interviews Editor, Kabir Deb, at kabir@usawa.in
We are looking for interviews of people from every sphere of the society. Since our world is built with dreams, hard work, kindness and compassion, our objective is to understand people who embody these traits in their work. Our idea is to acknowledge and celebrate an individual’s contributions towards shaping the society.
The interview piece should have at least 5-8 questions. Kindly mention whether you have taken the interview in person or by any virtual tool or through questionnaires.
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