Prairie Fire
announces a special
Young Adult Writing Issue - Fall 1998.CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Young adults arrive, almost overnight, onto the threshold of a strange new world of exhilarating and frightening pressures. Much as they sometimes wish, there is no return to the more familiar place they have just left. And they must struggle, often feeling completely alone, along this upward twisting passage of life carrying their child-size cache of experience-out-of-sync with the heavy baggage of an unfamiliar adult body.
Once we live through an experience, we are awarded an aerial view of it. As adults, we can look back at the panorama of our adolescence. We are able to see the times our choices were right, and the times they went horribly wrong. We are able to examine, with perhaps relief and perhaps regret, the unchosen paths. Young adults do not yet have this aerial view. And it is partly for this reason that they may be the most demanding audience to write for. They command respect and dignity. They will not tolerate condescension or moralizing. As adult writers for young people, we are the ones on trial. We are the ones who must prove ourselves worthy in order to be trusted enough to be read by them.
The work sought for this issue is not that of personal nostalgia, but rather fresh, powerful new writing. We will consider unsolicited submissions of short and (excerpted) long fiction. No poetry, please. Contributors will be paid. Submissions must be postmarked no later than October 31, 1997, and must be accompanied by a self addrressed stamped envelope. Maximum length 4,500 words. Guidelines and rates are available with a self addressed stamped envelope.
Guest Editor: Linda Holeman
PRAIRIE FIRE
423-100 Arthur Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3B 1H3
Phone: (204) 943-9066
Fax: (204) 942-1555