CFC: Unapologetic Magazine

November 15, 2024 Deirdre Call for Papers, General News, New Publications

Issue 4: What is a Home?

Call for contributors

Deadline: February 10th 2025 5pm Irish Standard Time

About the magazine

Racism, nationalism, ethnicity, intersectional identities, and belonging are at the forefront of current Irish political discourse and artistic practice. Unapologetic is a multidisciplinary, literary, cultural, and artistic response to the social issues and creative opportunities of contemporary Ireland, offering a reboot and upheaval. The forms which such an upheaval might take are not always authorised by orthodox ideas on what constitutes ‘culture’. With irreverence, we invite contributors to be Unapologetic – in both thought and form – regarding how they wish to express themselves in this contemporary moment.

With this magazine, we want to capture a historical moment post- BLM, marriage referendum, and repeal the 8th as we move towards a new definition of what it means to be Irish. All these intersectional ideas of change are contributing to the modern discussions of contemporary Ireland. This magazine will give people from minority and diverse backgrounds a space to be unapologetically themselves while simultaneously highlighting the social issues we see and experience in Irish society today. Your voice matters.

Unapologetic is about creating a medium that showcases the cultural richness of the multiple heritages defining contemporary Ireland and unrepresented in modern discussion. Seeing that these voices are absent, Unapologetic seeks to cherish them through celebratory and critical engagement, putting them in conversation with one another.

Unapologetic aims to be a collective, a medium, a space, and a community that works towards a vision of a better Ireland–where Ireland’s intersecting social issues can be explored. Our goal is to create an artistic, lived experiences, and collaborative space (meitheal or harambee) where academics, activists, and artists alike can share their love for activism and change.

Theme and prompts

For us, the question, ‘What is a Home?’ is a complicated but important question. Home is something that is interpreted and understood in a myriad of ways and exists in every one of us. We want to know what home is to you and hear your narrative. We invite contributors to engage with and contemplate this theme from a national and international lens. Below we provide some prompts and themes that may act as an inspiration to your writing and creative process. Should you use these prompts, reflect on how they relate to the theme of home and state in your submission which prompt you are responding to.

To build a home; ways in which we can find comfort and belonging in foreign places.
A home within; to find a refuge in your own body.
The role of ‘found families’ in marginalised communities.
The expectation of a link between ‘home’ and property ownership is a huge part of Irish culture and art, particularly as a rhetorical device in the postcolonial era to indicate the reclamation of Ireland from the coloniser (see ‘The Field’ as a prime example). How does the weight of this cultural expectation square with the reality of the housing crisis?
“How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof thinking of home.” — William Faulkner. How does the current housing crisis in Ireland contribute to young people feeling like they need to emigrate to find a new home?
“Home is where one starts from.” — T.S. Eliot. How do we understand the concept of home amidst the ongoing refugee crisis ?
“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” — Matsuo Bashō
Reflect on how war and/or crisis affects the meaning of home.

Submission Requirements

Important notes:

The work must be original and cannot have been previously published. This rule includes personal blogs.
We ask that you comply with these requirements as much as possible. If a requirement is an obstacle for you, please reach out to us via email: narrativeschanging@gmail.com.
This magazine is peer-reviewed. It goes through two blind processes, please comply with the reviewers remarks as much as possible.
The Unapologetic team is working hard to secure funding to pay you for your work. As soon as we secure funding, you will be paid for your work.

General requirements:

All written pieces must be submitted in .doc or .pdf format.
Use the following file name convention: YourName_Category. For example, JaneDoe_Poetry
Maximum of 3 submissions per person.
To submit to the magazine please fill in this Google Form by February 10th 2025.

Review process

Submissions will be peer-reviewed by academics, activists, and artists. There will be one (1) round of revisions for works on the cusp of being accepted to the magazine.
We ask that you respect and comply with the reviewers recommendations. If you feel any recommendations were unfair, reach out to us. We will happily discuss the remarks with you.
If your contribution is selected, you will be asked whether you are interested in participating in workshops, exhibitions, or other working opportunities.

Category specific guidelines:

Poetry

Please format poetry how you imagine it printed. We ask that you refer to previous issues to see which way we publish poetry pieces.
No more than 2 pages for double column poems and 3 pages for single column poems.
A readable font like Arial or Time New Roman (size 12).

Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Academic Essays

Maximum length is 2000 words.
1.5 or 2 spacing.
A readable font like Arial or Time New Roman (size 12).
Academic pieces should use the recognised referencing format Modern Language Association (MLA). Please see OWL Purdue for referencing guidelines: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
Academic Essays may seek an increased word count – email narrativeschanging@gmail.com to discuss prior to writing.

Visual Art, Music, Photographs

Image files may be submitted via email in PDF or PNG format (depending on file size).
Up to 200 words detailing the inspiration for the piece and the artist’s vision/process for creating the piece and how it relates to this issue’s theme in a doc or PDF.

Audio, Other Electronic Media

10 minutes Maximum.
.mp4 format Only.
An introductory text to accompany electronic media to give the audience a better understanding of the work and its significance to the selected theme.

Contributors’ Rights

After publication, Unapologetic retains nonexclusive rights for the continued use of your work in electronic form. You may republish work published in the journal as long as you credit Unapologetic with the original publication.

The magazine is not limited to the prompts. If you are inspired to respond to this call and have any other ideas that you feel are relevant to the magazine, please email us at narrativeschanging@gmail.com and we would be happy to discuss possible ideas or answer any questions about submission formats and the submission process.