Friday, July 10, 2026 at 7pmjoin Women Who Submit for PUBLISHED! 2026 at the Democracy Center (100 N Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012). We’re celebrating literary publications from the last 12 months as reported through the WWS Monthly Publication Roundup edited by Team Member, Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo. Come for the stories and poetry, stay for the cake and music.
The night includes featured readings from Gabriella Contratto, Mahru Elahi, Stephanie Barbรฉ Hammer, Jacqueline Lyons, Ronna Magy, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley, Carla Sameth, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Audrey Shipp, and is hosted by Suhasini Yeeda.
Women Who Submit (WWS) is a literary organization empowering women and nonbinary writers to submit work for publication as an action for gender parity and wider representation of marginalized writers in literary publishing. WWS offers the following free services to women and nonbinary writers across LA County and to nearly 20 chapters both in the US and abroad:
Professional development panels and workshops with hybrid options
Individual grants of $400 for BIPOC writers for conference/residency travel fees
Individual grants of up to $100 for submission fees
Online publication opportunities and book reviews with the WWS Blog Series
Open mics and readings featuring WWS members
Outreach to conferences, festivals, and college campuses
Remote community circles and online discussion boards
By joining the WWS community, you support the expansion of what it means to be a writer and whose stories get told.
The WWS CERTIFIED list was first created for AWP-Los Angeles in 2025 by WWS Board member, Noriko Nakada. Of the list’s inception she said, โIn 2019, I walked into the book fair at AWP Portland and into complete overwhelm. The enormous convention space held presses big and large, writing programs both esteemed and unheard of and writers, agents, and publicists everywhere. The whole place was so big and white and male. I had no idea where I might feel welcomed, where my stories may find a home.โ The goal was to find the spaces that illustrated a clear appreciation for diverse voices. She combed through the Bookfair list of exhibitors looking for two criteria: an editorial board, board of directors, or masthead that was at least 50% women and 50% POC.
Using these same criteria, WWS Board member, Ashton Cynthia Clarke has curated a new list for AWP-Baltimore. Below are 32 (11 more than last year!) literary magazines, journals, organizations, and writing programs that have at least 50% women and 50% POC on their mastheads and/or Boards. Check them out. Chat them up, and then, after AWP, submit your words.
Each year Women Who Submit puts together a guide of all places you can find our writers, partners, and friends. See below for a list of panels, readings, and meetups where our writers are featured and use this list catch up with likeminded folks.
Features: Hosted by Kai Coggen and with readings by Ching-In Chen, Brenda Vaca, Dahlia Aguilar, Donna Spruijt-Metz, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, and many others.
Location: United Methodist Church – 10 E Mount Vernon Place
Description: Start your AWP on Wednesday night at this historic former church with 32poems, Barrelhouse, and Smartish Pace a 5 min drive from AWP in beautiful Mt. Vernon. Part of the fun of this event is seeing inside an iconic historic space in Baltimore: a long-shuttered 19th-century church at the inception point of being reimagined and renovated for the future. Itโs really beautiful, but it means the venue is not ADA accessible and has quirky bathrooms. Admission is free.
Features: Amy Raasch, Emma De Lisle, Erin OโLuanaigh, Grace Gilbert, and many others.
Location: Room 323, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 9:00am – 10:15am
Description: The X in Xicana is the vital confluence of past with future marked by our present voices. Eighty contemporary Xicana writers make up Somos Xicanas, an anthology that connects those represented with future generations in a call to liberate all. โรchale tu canto al viento, paโ que llega mรกs lejos,โ writes editor Luz Schweig in the introduction. Join this panel with the anthologyโs editor, publisher, and contributors to discuss from where those songs derive and just how far they can go.
Features: Dahlia Aguilar, Brenda Vaca, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, and Angela C Trudell Vasquez
Location: Room 329, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 9:00am – 10:15am
Description: Excavating the gritty literary landscape of sexual violence is scary. By sharing how we write our dark emotional terrains, this diverse panel of women will discuss how we create safe spaces to teach students ways to approach trauma such as rape, sexual harassment, and incest. What role do content warnings play? While acknowledging potential triggers and navigating Title IX requirements, how do we equip our students with the tools they need to overcome resistance, shame, and silence?
Features: Nicole Walker, Karen Michelle Otero, Brooke Champagne, Sue William Silverman, and Jill Christman
Location: Room 328, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 12:10pm – 1:25pm
Description: House of Amal is in its sixth year of community programming, teaching, mentorship, and publishing. Amid an uptick in global Islamophobia, it is vital to create spaces centered on both craft and community for aspiring Muslim writers who require a unique kind of mentorship. Bridging the overlap between the spiritual, literary, and artistic identities, House of Amal will share the lessons learned while crafting and recrafting our twelve-month Writing Residency curriculum and membership programming.
Features: Sara Bawany, Safiya Khan, Amal Kassir, and Salma Mohammad
Location: Room 301, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 1:45pm – 3:00pm
Description: Writing has remained an essential practice for Levantine peoples, even during times of war. Spoken word poets from Syria and Palestine will perform powerful political poems inspired by their personal and familial experiences with loss through war, genocide, and settler colonialism. They discuss the intersection of their Muslim and Levant identities and the impact of the diaspora on their poetry, and further, how this influences their teaching of both craft and writing identity at House of Amal.
Features: Sara Bawany, Salma Mohammad, Amal Kassir
Location: Angie’s Seafood, 1727 E Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21231
Time: 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Description: Butterflies Over Land is an anthology co-edited by Jen Cheng and Camille Hernandez. Readers will be reading from the book and other work.
Come enjoy the world premiere and book launch party of a new immigrant rights anthology BUTTERFLIES OVER LAND: Voices and Visions Resisting Anti-Immigrant Terror. This book includes a mix of genres, from poetry to nonfiction personal essays and short fiction. This off-site event offers a conversation about immigrant rights from Southern California and nationwide.
Location: Angeli’s Pizzeria, 413 S High Street, Baltimore
Time: 5:30PM – 7:30PM
Description: We are really excited to introduce you all to our new poets and Joel Longโs essay collection! Please join us in Baltimore for our #AWP26 offsite reading. Angeliโs is a short walk from the convention center and a chance to relax and enjoy great food in Baltimoreโs Little Italy. We have reserved this great area all to ourselves, which is fully accessible.
Features: Krissy Kludt, Holly Johnsen, Natalya Sukhonos, VA Smith, and Joel Long
Location: Chesapeake Wine Company – 2400 Boston Street, suite 112
Time: 6:00pm – 7:45pm
Description: Join Alice James and Persea for a fabu offsite reading at the lovely Chesapeake Wine Company on Thursday March 5th, beginning at 6pm. Free appetizers, cash bar, and many memorable poems from new/recent books from both presses!
Features: Michelle Peรฑaloza, Carey Salerno, Cecily Parks, Elizabeth Bradfield, and others.
Location: Room 315, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 9:00am – 10:15am
Description: As cultural touchstones, fairy tales and myths provide fertile creative ground. Leveraging their known settings, characters, and story arcs, writers can slip into ekphrasis, persona, narrative, and more. This panel will offer examples and prompts from poets and prose writers of diverse cultural backgrounds who have used tales and myths to process grief; explore emigration and culture; and question gender, power, and neurodivergence, while using the familiar as a palimpsest to write something new.
Features: Emily Perez, Oliver de la Paz, Kate Bernheimer, and Jessica Q. Stark, and Elline Lipkin
Location: Ballroom II, Baltimore Convention Center, Level 400
Time: 10:35am – 11:50am
Description: When you are active in your local literary community, how do you carve out time to maintain a writing practice? After reading from their work, the poet laureate of Wisconsin, the cofounder of a vibrant reading series in Philadelphia, and the executive director of a community-based literary organization in California will share insights on the challenges of balancing their artistic practice while also serving their local communities.
Features: Raina Leon, Brenda Cardenas, Karla Cordero, and Cloud Delfina Cardona
Location: Room 318-319, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 10:35am – 11:50am
Description: Moving off the page and through the body, five multigenre writers activate possibilities for witness, solidarity, and transformation through performance. The panel celebrates performance as a vital leap from the public literary reading, a meeting of form and content that builds community through practices of ritual, generative discomfort, and care. Panelists within and outside the academy will share and discuss their work to provoke writers toward expansive, liberatory creative practices.
Features: Crystal Odelle, Ching-In Chen, Gabrielle Civil, Joss Barton, and Ali Gali
Location: Room 315, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 12:10pm – 1:25pm
Description: It is imperative that our social justice novels live anew on stage. This panel explores the stage adaptation of Keenan Norrisโs award-winning novel The Confession of Copeland Cane, examining social realism as an enduring genre and the systemic inequities limiting such works by Black authors. Featuring authors, playwrights, and educators and casting audience members as โspect-actors,โ this panel will model the transformative power of collective performance in bringing social justice narratives from page to stage.
Features: Tommy Mouton, Deborah Mouton, Toni Ann Johnson, Keenan Norris, and Timmia DeRoy
Location: Baltimore Brewhouse 511 W Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Description: There are moments when stories are not just read but truly shared. Where Our Voices Meet is one of those moments. Each poet carries their own rhythm and lived experience, and each voice reflects a different way of seeing the world. When they come together in the same space, something meaningful happens.
Features: Stella the Poet, Peter Lechuga, Hope Cerna, Jefferey Martin, Cherice Cameron, Donato Martinez, and Erica Castro
Location: Baltimore Convention Center – Room: 308, Level 300
Time: 10:15am – 11:30am
Description: Writerโs block is a perpetual problem. Confronted with an ominous blank page, what is a writer to do? This craft panel explores the ways in which creative practices outside of writingโfilm, painting, dance, and performanceโcan bring us deeper into writing. Books are not born from vacuum. The panel seeks to uncover how engagement with media outside of text can, in fact, be a powerful gateway into writing books and beyond. A presentation of each writerโs work concludes the craft panel.
Features: Cathy Linh Che, Elisabeth Houston, Serena Chopra, Jackie Wang, and Gabrielle Civil
Location: Bookfair Stage, Hall A-D, Level 100, Baltimore Convention Center
Time: 12:10 PM – 1:25 PM EST
Description: โItโs Not Okayโ is a poetry event featuring powerful voices speaking out against injustice. These poets will share work about the impact of immigration policies on families, the violence in Gaza, and the pain and frustration so many are feeling. Poets will read about the injustices of our current administration in order to bring light and connect with the audience regarding these issues. Published poets: Cherice Cameron, Peter Lechuga, Clara Roque-Wagner, Erica Castro, and Jeffery Martin.
Features: Peter Lechuga, Jeffrey Martin, Cherice Cameron, and Erica Lopez
Location: Wet City Brewing, 223 W Chase Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Description: A reading celebrating FlowerSong Press authors.
Features: John Compton, Tatian Figueroa Ramirez, Eddie Vega, Michelle Otero, Luivette Resto, Sarah Browning, Natalia Treviรฑo, Genevieve Betts, and Joseph Ross
Description: Hosted by the WWS-DMV chapter, come and meet up with other Women Who Submit members throughout the nation and the world. Say hello, debrief with other writers on your conference experience, and share publication goals!
Description: Join Daxson Publishing for an essential after hours reading exploring liberation in a changing landscape. Featuring a diverse lineup of West Coast voices, this event explores the intersection of identity, geography, and the navigation of a rapidly changing world.
Features: Cherice Cameron, Donator Martinez, Erica Castro, Jeffery Martin, Hope Cerna, Peter Lechuga, and Stella the Poet
We at WWS know that many of you are feeling scared, drained, and at a loss on how to help. In response to the murders of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, Keith Porter by an off-duty ICE agent in Los Angeles on December 31, 2025, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez by an ICE agent in Chicago on September 12, 2025, and the more than 20 people killed in ICE detention in 2025 alone, WWS has put together a short list of resources on how to get involved.
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jrโs memory and message, we encourage you to take a few minutes today to look over our list and find a couple of places to donate to, volunteer with, or follow.
Women Who Submit, our members, authors, and affiliates, support and uplift diversity and equity in our storytelling, programming, and actions. Our organization was founded with the intention to promote women and non-binary people to tell their truths in writing. In a society that too often amplifies white Christian heteronormative stories to promote a homogenous American lie, WWS especially aims to uplift underrepresented voices to promote complex and compassionate visions of humanity.
We do not agree with the LA Public Libraryโs decision to cancel the Read Palestine Week event featuring Jenan Matari, author of Everything Grows in Jiddo’s Garden and Nora Lester Murad, author of Ida in the Middle. The silencing of these Palestinian authors, especially when the Palestinian people are actively experiencing a genocide by the Israeli government is wrong. From “Women Who Submit joins the Palestinian-led Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israelโpublished in June 2025:ย โFor over 600 days, the Israeli Occupation Forces have decimated Gazaโs schools, universities, and libraries, attacking the nerve centers of Palestinian knowledge and culture. They have assassinated over 200 journalists, 115 civil defense workers, and over 1,200 healthcare workersโฆAlong with the crime of genocide, the IOF have committed domicide (the destruction of homes), scholasticide (the destruction of schools) and epistemicide (the destruction of archives, libraries and other sites of knowledge production).โย
In a world where the Palestinian people are actively being murdered in their homeland, we consider this an act of racism, anti-Palestinian sentiment, and censorship.
In Los Angeles, we demand the freedom of libraries to remain public spaces where individuals may access institutional resources, knowledge hubs, and programs from a variety of sources, including those that contend with and center the voices and perspectives of communities the Trump Administration continues to target. As Supreme Court of the United States attacks libraries and creates an uncertain environment for federal funding sources for libraries as centers of knowledge, it becomes all the more important for public institutions not to concede to ostentatious displays of power.
As the Los Angeles Central Library celebrates its centennial in 2026, “Dedicated in July 1926, the Los Angeles Central Library became an instant architectural icon and guiding light of learning for the city,” we remind the Central Library that to remove this event is not only contradictory to its mission to be a “guiding light of learning,” but is an act of cowardice.
Women Who Submit stands by those who need assistance in uplifting their narrative. We do not tolerate censorship of any kind. We stand by the Palestinian and Jewish authors who were denied the opportunity to tell their narratives at the Los Angeles Library as literary advocates and as a literary organization whose members encompass women and nonbinary people of the global majority. We will not allow for these voices to be silenced.
Saturday, September 13, 2025 Women Who Submit (WWS) hosts our 12th annual SUBMIT 1 Submission Drive. This marks the one day a year we encourage women and nonbinary writers across the globe to submit to tier one journals as one community.
As an act of solidarity, SUBMIT 1 dares to connect marginalized writers to top tier editors and publishers, widening the spectrum of voices reaching audiences and influencing arts and culture across the world. And you can be apart of the movement!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
1. Before September 13th, study this list of โTop Ranked Journals of 2025โ with current open calls to find a good fit for your work. BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES.
2. On September 13th, submit your writing to at least one tier one magazine from wherever you are in the world at any time of day.
3. Join one of the following SUBMIT 1 Meetups to submit as a community:
***BE SURE TO CHECK TIME ZONES***
WWS-Los Angeles Saturday, September 13, 2025, 5pm-8pm Pacific Blossom Market Hall 264 S Mission Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776 2nd Floor Meeting Room Elevator access, ADA bathrooms, and free parking available Hosted by Luivette Resto Contact: admin@womenwhosubmtilit.org
WWS-Austin, Texas Saturday, September 13, 2025, 9:30am-11:30am Central Central Market (Upstairs) / 38th Street Location Contact: ramona.reeves@gmail.com
WWS-Bay Area - In person with Carrie Saturday, September 13, 2025, 1pm-3pm Pacific San Francisco Public Library โ Main 100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 Mary Louise Stong Conference Room, 1st Floor https://sfpl.org/locations/main-library/rooms/mary-louise-stong-conference-room 415-557-4400 https://sfpl.org/locations/main-library
WWS-Bay Area - Virtual with Joyce Saturday, September 13, 2025, 2pmโ4pm Pacific Check in with members between 2pm-3pm Pacific Via ZOOM To register for link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGUMN8aUPSTUdAyn5FvzOqArrHIj9xyNlMFUBwegBryjLOhg/viewform
WWS-Europe Saturday, September 13, 11am-12pm Central European Via Zoom with Joy Notoma Contact: joy.notoma@gmail.com
WWS-Long Beach Saturday, September 13, 2025, 10am-12pm Pacific Wrigley Coffee 437 W. Willow Street, Long Beach, CA 90806 Contact: lucy@lulustuff.com
WWS-San Antonio, Texas Saturday, September 13, 2025, 11am-4pm Central Archie's Coffee 9630 Huebner Rd, San Antonio, TX 78240 Contact: Queenviktory@yahoo.com
WWS-West Hollywood Saturday, September 13, 2025, 11am-1pm Pacific WeHo Library 625 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069 Contact: jasmine.vallejo.love@gmail.com
4. Tag @WomenWhoSubmit on Facebook or Instagram and use the hashtag #SUBMIT1, to share when youโve submitted, so we can celebrate with you!
5. After submitting, log your submissions with THIS FORM to help WWS track how many submissions were sent out as a community.
6. Consider donating to WWS to support more women and nonbinary writers submitting their work for publication.
HOW TO PREPARE A SUBMISSION:
READ AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES: It may sound obvious, but editors can receive thousands of submissions a year. If you don’t follow their guidelines, they won’t bother with reading your work and automatically reject it. Don’t make it easy for them!
READ A SAMPLE OF THE JOURNAL: All journals ask that submitters read the journal before submitting. You don’t have to read the whole journal or even more than one, but do read a few sample pieces in the genre you’re submitting in to see how your work may fit in.
PERSONALIZE YOUR COVER LETTER: Address your letter to the genre editor by name and be sure to include a sentence that details something you like about the journal, a previously published piece, or how you see your work fitting in. This will show you’ve read ahead of time and you’re choosing them specifically. For more on cover letters, check out this article from Adroit Journal.
CHOOSE A PIECE YOU LOVE: If you want your writing to stand out to readers and editors, make sure it’s a piece of writing you’re excited to share or something you feel must be shared. You can’t expect others to love something you’re only lukewarm about.
GIVE IT TO A READER: Before submitting, see if you can exchange pages with a friend for notes and then revise it to the best of your ability. No writing will ever be perfect, but a second set of eyes can do wonders. Finally, make sure to read it aloud to catch any errors before hitting send.
MANUSCRIPT SUPPORT:
WWS Board member, Noriko Nakada is hosting a Submission Q&A on Saturday, September 6, 2025 from 9:30am-10:30am Pacific / 12:30pm-1:30pm Eastern / 6:30pm-7:30pm Central European. This event is on Zoom and is an opportunity to meet with an experienced published author, editor, and indie publisher. Come with all your submission-related questions.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT:
If you are a WWS member, either locally in Los Angeles or with a WWS Chapter, you are invited to apply for financial support through the Ashaki M. Jackson No Barriers Regrant. WWS members can request between $20 – $100 to be used toward their submission fees for SUBMIT 1 and other submission goals during the month of September. Applications are due September 10th.
To request an application form, email admin@womenwhosubmitlit.org.
WWS HISTORY:
Inspired by the 2009 VIDA Count from VIDA, Women in Literary Arts, which published quantitative evidence illustrating the dearth of womenโs voices in top tier publications, Women Who Submit was founded in 2011 to empower women writers to submit work for publication and help change those numbers. In September 2014, a group of writers gathered at Hermosillo Bar in Highland Park, CA for a day of beers, cheers, and literary submissions. It was the first time we called on our WWS community to submit to tier-one literary journals en masse as a nod to the original VIDA Count. SUBMIT 1 continues today as an annual event and call to action for equity and wider representation in publishing with submission drives hosted at public places across Los Angeles. From 2020-2023, we moved our annual gathering to the @WomenWhoSubmit Instagram, but we’re excited to continue the tradition of gathering in public places to share our work and our joy as one community.
Most of us never learned about los desaparecidos from Central America in school, how throughout the 1980s in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, American supported militaries disappeared priests, nuns, whole villages who opposed them. Now, four decades later, as vibrant jacarandas bloom purple across the Southland, our cities have become vulnerable to these same United States Federal forces.
As communities resiliently recover from this winterโs devastating fires, as students wrap up the accomplishments of another school year and walk across stages, our friends, neighbors, and family are being pulled from our streets and classrooms, from car washes and fields. As the ongoing genocide in Gaza continues to unfold, our screens have become overwhelmed with images of violence in our streets, schools, and workplaces.
Women Who Submit stands in unwavering support of our vulnerable Latinx communities and all those being racially profiled by these illegal deportation actions. We stand shoulder to shoulder with these Black and Brown communities and all those being treated inhumanely. We call for the immediate release of those callously disappeared from our neighborhoods and families. Women Who Submit opposes the existence of ICE and the presence of the National Guard and military troops in our city. The presence of these forces legitimizes the illegal and cruel efforts of ICE and escalates violence against those engaged in civil disobedience and other forms of protest.
It is Trump, ICE, Border Patrol and the US military bringing violence and chaos to the people of Los Angeles and of the Americas.
We urge our community to take action. We acknowledge the unique and varied ways people are able to push back and urge you to connect to local efforts in your area. If you have the wherewithal to push back financially, here are some funds and resources to pass along.
Vecinos Unidos Whittier: Whittier advocates for how to support our immigrant communities
Centro CSO: Grassroots organization based in Boyle Heights
JailSupportLA raises funds to support jailed protestors (Venmo: JailSupportLA)
There are growing opportunities for direct action as well. As we head into this summer, we urge you to lean into the community and resist fascism as it rears its head in all of our communities.
Finally, for those in our community personally affected by these raids and acts of terror, know that Women Who Submit supports you, your families, and your loved ones. We see your struggle, and we fight with you.ย
Itโs almost time! LA will play host to the iconic writerโs conference, AWP from March 26 – 29th, 2025. So many panels, readings, and off-site gatherings, itโs a lot for a group not especially known as extroverts. Iโm looking at you, fellow writers. But donโt worry, weโve got you covered.
Weโve put together a list to help you connect with other members of Women Who Submit. Itโs a way for you to support old friends and to make new friends. There are a ton of events featuring members. Check them out below. From book signings to readings to moderating, WWS will be representing at AWP.
Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of the conference.
First, we know you want to do all the things. So many sights to be seen, but remember you canโt do it all and to give yourself grace. Plan the events you want to attend and be sure to schedule some downtime in between. If you need to chill out, rooms 506 and 507 in the convention center are designated quiet spaces. Hit up room 511C if you need low lighting.
Second, stay hydrated, bring snacks, and for the love of all things holy, wear comfortable shoes. Bonus points, dress in layers because you never know what the air conditioning temps will be like. The days will be long, so pack a phone charger.
Third, have fun and be inspired! So inspired, maybe, that you will be ready to meet up on Sunday, March 30 for a WWS Submit All party (see below).
Anywho, enjoy and hope to see you at the conference!
Description: Join us for an unforgettable evening of powerful words and vibrant voices, a celebration of Los Angeles-based Latine poets who carry the legacy of resilience, identity, and cultural renaissance. This event brings together poets from the city that inspires them with resistance, justice, and action.
Poets: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Luivette Resto, Matt Sedillo, Jose Hernandez Diaz, William Archila, Angelina Sรกenz, Melinda Palacio, Vickie Vรฉrtiz, Antonieta Villamil, Luis J. Rodriguez, Hosts: Rey M. Rodrรญguez and Jorge H. Rodrรญguez
Location: Location: 1642, 1642 West Temple Street Los Angeles, CA 90026
Description: Seven literary luminaries perform their creative nonfiction work, at this benefit reading for LA fire relief. Audience donations on the night will go towards six local authors from the literary organization Women Who Submit, who lost their homes in the recent fires.
Speakers: Vanessa Angรฉlica Villarreal (Magical Realism), Annie Liontas (Sex With a Brain Injury), Shze-Hui Tjoa (The Story Game), Grace Loh Prasad (The Translatorโs Daughter), Jackson Bliss (Dream Pop Origami), and Minelle Mahtani (May It Have a Happy Ending). Hosted by Katie Lee Ellison, organizer of the Nonfiction for No Reason Series.
Location: Room 408B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: How can creative writers bring their expertise to the composition classroom? This panel will discuss how women of color/genderqueer creative writers challenge โtraditionalโ white supremacist frameworks in college-level composition courses.
Location: Booth T3358 Cรญrculo de poetas and Writers Booth, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description:Conversaciones con los difuntos / Conversations with the Dead is Diosa Xochiquetzacรณatlโs 5th poetry collection, her first fully bilingual book, and first collection to be published and artisanally handcrafted in Mexico by Editorial Desierto Mayor.
Location: Room 408A, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This multigenre, intergenerational panel focuses on a working-class literary Los Angeles that makes the glint possible, tasking us to rewrite our cityโs imaginings or get written out. Through fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and nonfiction, these writers craft a diverse, gritty, tangled city, capturing the complex interchanges of Los Angelesโs cultural and social history.
Panelists: Moderator: Vickie Vertiz Presenter: Steve Gutierrez Presenter: Joelle Mendoza Presenter: Jenise Miller Presenter: Tanzila Ahmed
Location: Room 402AB, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel will discuss how emerging TV writers and screenwriters can establish a community of writers, producers, development executives, managers, and agents who can support and mentor them throughout their careers.
Location: Room 515A, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two
Description: How can writers cultivate a sustainable creative practice while paying the bills, growing a career, and accounting for domestic responsibilities? Award-winning authors with multiple books and diverse lived experiences discuss their ongoing journeys to do soโwhile also taking into consideration the roles of culture and institutionsโas well as their best advice for tending to the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of the writing life.
Panelists: Presenter: Amanda Churchill Moderator: Lorinda Toledo Presenter: Karen Connelly Presenter: Janet Fitch Presenter: Reyna Grande
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
BOOK SIGNING: West of the Santa Ana and Other Sacred Placesby Diosa Xochiquetzalcรณatl
Location: Concourse Hall 153 ABC, Level One, Convention Center
Description: What do a queer undocumented immigrant, a former packinghouse worker, an organizer around issues of extrajudicial killings of Black people, a Korean adoptee, and a lawyer by training have in common? They are all poets laureate from various parts of California. These poets celebrate California but also challenge positions of power and privilege. The laureates will discuss their roles, read from their books, and engage in a Q&A with the audience.
Speakers: Moderator: Lee Herrick Presenter: Tongo Eisen-Martin Presenter: Yosimar Reyes Presenter: Joseph Rios Presenter: Lynne Thompson
Location: Room 408A, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel explores aspects of erasure, evanescence, and loss, as in the erasure of oneโs identity and subjectivity through racial and historical lenses, as in the extinction of 150 species in an average day, and how poets can โknock on silence,โ in the words of Chinese poet Lu Ji, so as to give voice to those rubbed out by ideology, history, and time, to reach across the void instead of staring into it and becoming monsters.
Panelists: Moderator: Tony Barnstone Presenter: Angie Estes Presenter: Mark Irwin Presenter: Douglas Manuel Presenter: Lynne Thompson
Location: LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 N Main St, Los Angeles 90012
Description: Come celebrate the launch of our 30รฑera: Thirty Years of the Macondo Writers Workshop in Los Angeles! The night will be filled with poetry, stories, and the spirit of Macondo, accompanied by light refreshments and snacks. Bring your friends and celebrate with us as we honor 30 years of the workshop LA style! Speakers: Monica Palacios, Pat Alderete, Camilo Loaiza Bonilla, Ofelia Montelongo, Lori Anaya, Amelia Montes, Jonathan Ayala, Melissa Hidalgo, Natalia Treviรฑo, Denise Tolan, Renรฉ Colato Lainez, Lesley Tรฉllez, Mona Alvarado Frazier, Adela Najarro, Sebha Sanwar, Karina Muรฑiz-Pagรกn, Jennifer Nguyen, Alex Espinoza
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm FUNDRAISER: The Offing’s 10th Birthday and LA Fire Recovery Fundraiser Location: The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA-LA), 1717 East 7th Street Los Angeles, CA 90021 Description: Come celebrate a decade of creativity, community, and culture. Join us for birthday cake, a toast, and the release of The Offing’s anniversary anthology! We will donate all proceeds from our $5 ticket sales to rebuilding the Palisades Public Library and repopulating books burned in Pasadena Unified School District libraries. Cost $5 – $20
Location: Truly LA, 216 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Description: Exposition Review is turning 10! You are officially invited to Expoโs in-person, off-site, literary citizenship extravaganza. Letโs party, seltzer-style!
Location: Japanese American National Museum, 100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Description: Join poets Brynn Saito and traci kato-kiriyama for a reading celebrating the forthcoming April 2025 release of The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration. Edited by Saito and Brandon Shimoda, this poetry anthology explores the afterlife of the historical yet enduring injustice of World War IIโera prisons and camps. Featured readers include David Mura, Heather Nagami, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, James Fujinami Moore, and others, with a special tribute to poet, educator, and activist Amy Uyematsu and Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan.
Location: Room 404AB, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel represents distinct literary voices of several contemporary essayists from California who are drawn to re-envisioning โthe spirit of a placeโ in ways that challenge and fulfill the literary imagination.
Location: Room 503, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This session investigates how we can adopt inclusive, socially responsible approaches to creative projects. Presenters steeped in how writing inspires change will explore creative freedom and cultural sensitivity.
Location: Room 411, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two
Description: Can a handful of established institutions serve the communities of a sprawling desert properly? Should BIPOC talent and labor be used to fight for access to PWI, or are we better served by creating and building our own spaces? Four writers, publishers, teachers, and community builders from the Los Angeles area discuss who benefits from inclusion into historically white spaces and whose work gets co-opted and ultimately wasted when BIPOC communities donโt build their own institutions.
Panelists: Hiram Sims, Peter Woods, Romeo Guzman, Sarah-Rafael Garcia, traci kato-kiriyama, moderated by Chiwan Choi
Location: Concourse Hall 152, Level One, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: This panel features cross-genre authors of color as they examine how to navigate the publishing industry on their own terms while alchemizing a code of belonging.
Location: Room 404AB, Los Angeles Convention Center, Level Two
Description: The panelโwhich includes editors, reviewers, professors, and scholarsโoffers insight and advice for those working on or trying to publish story collections; trend observations; and thoughts on how and why reading for the contest altered their own work.
Panelists: Moderator: Lori Ostlund Presenter: Jenny Shank Presenter: Hasanthika Sirisena Presenter: Michael Wang Presenter: Toni Ann Johnson
Location: Room 502A, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center Description: How can hauntings be used to illustrate larger human stories? How can our own personal hauntings create and inspire stories that will haunt readers? From cities haunted by displacement and erasure, to haunted battlefields, to family ghost stories, five writers discuss how hauntings, real and metaphorical, have inspired their poetry and fiction. Panelists: Presenter: Xochitl Bermejo Moderator: Kate Maruyama Presenter: Latoya Jordan Presenter: Tanzila Ahmed Presenter: Chiwan Choi
Location: Los Angeles Convention Center, Hub City Booth #730
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
READING: House Party, a Tin House Prose Reading Location: Other Books, Comics, and Zines, 2006 East Cesar E Chavez Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90033 Description: Come hear nine authors from Tin House perform โlightning readingsโ in fiction and nonfiction! Author chats and a book-signing session available afterwards. Speakers: Alisa Alering (Smothermoss), Myriam J.A. Chancy (Village Weavers), Talia Lakshmi Kolluri (What We Fed to the Manticore), Cleo Qian (LETโS GO LETโS GO LETโS GO), Shze-Hui Tjoa (The Story Game: A Memoir), Lena Valencia (Mystery Lights), Elissa Washuta (White Magic), Jane Wong (Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City), and Ghassan Zeineddine (Dearborn)
Location: Echo Park Writing Lab, 1714 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Description: This event welcomes all 826LA community members, Angelenos, and visiting writers to engage with us during this pivotal moment. Whether you want to perform or simply listen, all are welcome to be part of this gathering.
Location: The Count’s Den1039 South Olive Street Los Angeles, CA 90015
Description: Poetics of Liberationย is an intersectional feminist reading and community gathering celebrating radical and queer writers whose work inspires social transformation. Hosted at The Count’s Denโa stunning, vampiresque theater in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles.
Speakers: Amanda Johnston, heidi andrea restrepo rhodes, mรณnica teresa ortiz, m. mick powell, Lily Someson, Stephanie Niu, Cloud Delfina Cardona, Jae Nichelle, Tala Khanmalek, Ari Kelly, Em Palughi, andย Anel I. Flores
Location: Pieter Performance Space, 2701 North Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90031
Description: โAll of us live in unruly bodies that weโre all trying to take care of as best we can.” โRoxane Gay Readers will share a story about their relationship with a body that refuses to act โas it should.โ In a world that controls and punishes bodies that are queer, trans, disabled, mad, sick, fat, and/or racialized, how can we begin to celebrate our unruly bodies?
Description: What craft techniques, including storytelling styles from our own culture, can we utilize to write into and around truth(s)? How can nonfiction subvert or defy expectations imposed on us as women and nonbinary people in underrepresented communities? Filipino women and femme nonfiction writers discuss the complexities and nuances of sharing their experiences, while confronting the uncomfortable truths of a culture that hasnโt always looked favorably on the act of public disclosure.
Speakers: Jen Palmares Meadows, Anna Cabe, Melissa Chadburn, Laurel Flores Fantauzzo, and Anna Cabe
Location: Room 405, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: Celebrating titles that feature the color pink on their covers, poets will read work that highlights the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and identity, and discuss how pink came to be a prominent element of their book, and what the color means to them and their writing.
Location: Room 403B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: In this panel, five award-winning fiction and nonfiction authors and screenwriters discuss the perils and rewards of writing around family secrets.
Panelists: Moderator: Aimee Liu Presenter: David Francis Presenter: Elle Johnson Presenter: Toni Ann Johnson Presenter: Colette Sartor
Location: Room 411, level 2, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: These five poets representing LAโs diverse identities, including city poet laureates, examine queer community organizing through poetry. This combination discussion panel and reading will pair poems exploring poetryโs ability to hold space where trauma is prevalent and joy and delight are desperately needed.
Panelists: Moderator: Brian Sonia-Wallace Presenter: Jireh Deng Presenter: Jose Rios Presenter: Carla Sameth Presenter: Victor Yates
Location: Room 515B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center
Description: Our panelists will offer insights on literary activism, identity complexities, collaboration pitfalls, and best practices. We hope to acknowledge the work of women and femmes and ignite a new cohort of community leaders, hosts, teaching artists, and organizers.
Panelists: Presenter: bridgette bianca Presenter: Danielle Mitchell Moderator: Kelsey Bryan-Zwick Presenter: Natalie Graham Presenter: Jessica Wilson
Location: Room 410, Level Two, LA Convention Center
Descriptions: This multigenre panel of writer-librarians will share their knowledge, strategies, and best practices for how writers can connect with libraries and librarians for research, community, workshops, and book promotions.
Panelists: Moderator: Elizabeth Galoozis Presenter: Lisa Eve Cheby Presenter: Cybele Garcรญa Kohel Presenter: Lauren Salerno
Location: LA Convention Center, Room 405, Level Two
Description: Contemporary writers of the Salvadoran diaspora use the speculativeโthe imaginativeโto parse through the urgent sociopolitical issues affecting the US and El Salvador. If much of El Salvadorโs past was documented by outsiders, its future will be written by these speculative writers and their contemporaries.
Location: LA Convention Center, Level 2, Room 515B
Description: What does it mean to write about and from an unruly body? In a world that controls and punishes bodies that are queer, trans, disabled, mad, sick, fat, and/or racialized, writing about our unruly bodies can be an act of resistanceโbut that act can come at a cost. How do we write about our unruly bodies in a way that supports our flourishing? Is such a practice possible, and if not, what is needed to make it so?
Panelists: Moderator: Margeaux Feldman Presenter: Amanda Choo Quan Presenter: Carolyn Collado Presenter: Fariha Roisin Presenter: Kai Cheng Thom
Location: Espacio 1839, 1839 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Description: Join us for a community reading and discussion across all 15 issues of the New York War Crimes during Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) week.
*Accessibility notes: Masks are required for this event. Masks will be provided for those without one at the event.
Limited metered street parking is available. Espacio is one block away from the A-line. (formerly Gold line) Mariachi Plaza metro station.
Free but (if you can) please bring cash for donations.
Location: Beyond Baroque 681 Venice Blvd. Venice, CA 90291
Description: Close out your stay in L.A. with an event at the iconic Beyond Baroque with the Inlandia Books Road Show! Inlandia Books authors will share their work and you can meet and mingle and pick up signed copies of their books. Doors open at 5:30 pm and the event will begin promptly at 6 pm.
Speakers: Will Barnes, Elizabeth Cantwell, Lewis deSoto, Tiffany Elliott, Ellen Estilai, Elizabeth Galoozis, Stephanie Barbรฉ Hammer, Jennifer MacKenzie, and Angelica Maria Barraza Tran. Emceed by Cati Porter.
Location: Bar Franca,438 Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90013
Description: A star-studded lineup of local poets read their life-giving work, in conjunction with the LA-based literary journal Exposition Review. Audience donations on the night will go towards 3 organizations aiding with fire relief: World Central Kitchen, Octavia’s Bookshelf, and the Tongva Nation Eaton Wildfire Recovery Fund. Author signings and chats afterwards.
Location: Figat7th Food Court, 925 W. 8th St. DTLA
Description: In celebration of the AWP Writers Conference being in Los Angeles, and with support from the California Arts Council, WWS is hosting an in-person submission drive. Join us with your computer, your list of journals and open calls gathered from the AWP Book Fair, and your drive to “hit send”!
WWS CERTIFIED AT THE 2025 AWP LOS ANGELES BOOK FAIR
In 2019, I walked into the book fair at AWP Portland and into complete overwhelm. The enormous convention space held presses big and large, writing programs both esteemed and unheard of and writers, agents, and publicists everywhere. The whole place was so big and white and male. I had no idea where I might feel welcome me, where my stories my find a home.
So, for those of you heading to AWP LA, here are 21 WWS vetted presses tabling at the book fair. They show an appreciation for diverse voices in their spaces by having at least 50% women and 50% POC on their mastheads. Check them out. Chat them up, and then, after AWP, submit your words.
Saturday, September 14, 2024 Women Who Submit (WWS) hosts our 11th annual SUBMIT 1 Submission Drive & Fundraiser. This marks the one day a year we encourage woman-identifying and nonbinary writers across the globe to send one of their most beloved pieces of writing to tier one journals as one community.
As an act of solidarity, SUBMIT 1 dares to connect marginalized writers to top tier editors and publishers, widening the spectrum of voices reaching audiences and influencing arts and culture across the world. And you can help!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
1. Before September 14th, study this list of โTop Ranked Journals of 2024โ with current open calls to find a good fit for your work. BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES.
2. On September 14th, submit one of your most beloved pieces of writing to at least one tier one magazine from wherever you are in the world at any time of day.
3. Join one of the following SUBMIT 1 Meetups to submit as a community:
WWS-Los Angeles Saturday, September 14, 2024, 11am-2pm Highland Park Brewing: 1220 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Bring computers and money for beer and snacks Masks recommended & provided Contact: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo (admin@womenwhosubmtilit.org)
WWS-Long Beach Saturday, September 14, 2024 10am-12pm The Hangar at LBX: 4150 McGowen St, Long Beach, CA 90808 Contact: Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley (lucy@lulustuff.com)
WWS-West Los Angeles Saturday, September 14, 2024, 2pm-4pmย West Hollywood Library: 625 N. San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood Contact: Angela Franklin (afrankone@gmail.com)
WWS-Bay Area Saturday, September 14, 2024, 1-3pm Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94104 Contact: wwsl.bay.area@gmail.com
WWS-Austin, TX Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 9:30am Central market Cafe, Austin, TX Contact: Ramona Reeves (ramona.reeves@gmail.com)
4. Tag @WomenWhoSubmit on Twitter (or X) and Instagram and use the hashtag #SUBMIT1, to share when youโve submitted, so we can celebrate with you!
5. After submitting, log your submissions with THIS FORM to help WWS track how many submissions were sent out as a community.
HOW TO SUPPORT:
In conjunction with SUBMIT 1, WWS is raising $5,000 to support projects like purchasing new technical equipment to ensure our hybrid workshops and panels are offering the best quality of online programming making professional development accessible to any writer in need and growing writers funds to help more writers offset the costs of starting and maintaining a writing career.
By donating to the SUBMIT 1 Submission Drive & Fundraiser, and by sharing the fundraiser link and flier on social media and with your communities, you help spread the word on WWSโs mission to push the needle in publishing toward equity and inclusion as one.
Remote community circles and online discussion boards
WWS HISTORY:
Inspired by the 2009 VIDA Count from VIDA, Women in Literary Arts, which published quantitative evidence illustrating the dearth of womenโs voices in top tier publications, Women Who Submit was founded in 2011 to empower women writers to submit work for publication and help change those numbers. In September 2014, a group of writers gathered at Hermosillo Bar in Highland Park, CA for a day of beers, cheers, and literary submissions. It was the first time we called on our WWS community to submit to tier-one literary journals en masse as a nod to the original VIDA Count. SUBMIT 1 continues today as an annual event and call to action for equity and wider representation in publishing with submission drives hosted at public places across Los Angeles. From 2020-2023, we moved our annual gathering to the @WomenWhoSubmit Instagram, and this year we return to a focus on public meetups with online support.
Women Who Submit is proud to serve woman-identifying and nonbinary writers across the nation and the world through our Chapters program. Started in 2017 by cofounder, Ashaki M. Jackson, WWS Chapters has continued to grow under the leadership of Chapters Director, Ryane Granados with support from Chapters Liaison and WWS-Long Beach Chapter Lead, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley. We thank Ryane and Lucy for their last four years of service. Together they have been essential in making WWS resources available and accessible to countless writers and community members.
Women Who Submit is excited to share that Ryane Granados’ first book, The Aves, won the 2023 Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize and is slated for publication in fall 2024! As she takes on this new chapter in her writing career, she bids farewell to WWS Chapters. WWS thanks Ryane for her commitment and grace and sends many claps and cheers for what’s to come! As we like to say in orientation, once a WWS member, always a WWS member!
Women Who Submit is proud to welcome our new Chapters Team! We happily announce as Chapters Director, our former Chapters Liaison, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley, and introduce as Chapters Liaison, WWS member and collaborator, Thea Pueschel.
Please read below for a farewell message from Ryane and an introduction from Lucy and Thea.
Literary Play Cousins: A Farewell Message From Ryane Granados:
Recently my inquisitive middle son asked me why he had so many cousins. I only have one sister, so when I married my husband, I was drawn to his familial bonds that came with multiple siblings through biology and marriage. In addition to the cousins who carry the same surname, my son also has the privilege of play cousins. These enduring connections defined my childhood, and in turn they are enriching his. Play cousins are a mainstay in the Black community and they are bonds born from chosen family. These relationships transcend ancestral ties and date back to slavery when families were often torn apart. In my sonโs case, his play cousins are the kids of our closest friends. The arrangement is best described as a braid with a group of threads crossing over and under each other into one.
This same braided image comes to mind when I think of my role as Chapters Director for Women Who Submit. I accepted the role at a crossroads both professionally and personally. I had stepped down from a tenured teaching position to manage the medical needs of another one of my children, and I found myself in search of an identity that encompassed retired professor, overwhelmed mom, artist, activist, author, and hopeful community builder. This braid had a lot of threads, but what it was missing was the cultural continuity of close-knit networks. This is what I liken the development of our WWS chapters to be. Expanding our organizational reach was a worthy endeavor, but for me, it wasnโt purely altruistic. In all sincerity, I was in search of literary play cousins and as our chapters grew, I found them. In New Chapter Lead Orientations, I would often joke about the idea of meeting chapter leads all across the globe; a kindred connection of cousins with the shared mission of encouraging women and non-binary writers to submit their work for publication.
I am grateful for my time as Chapters Director and after 4 plus years and 35 plus chapters, I find myself at a new crossroads. My gratitude for this journey is matched only by my appreciation for the partnership formed with my longtime Chapters Liaison, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley. In the ongoing spirit of leadership development, another unexpected byproduct of WWS, I am excited to hand over the role of Chapters Director to Lucy. Additionally, she will be working in collaboration with Thea Pueschel, our new Chapters Liaison. Together they are exceptionally suited to help usher the chapters direction of Women Who Submit into a new and exciting season.
As for me, I am stepping down to focus once again on family, professional commitments, and the launch of my forthcoming novella. I am also stepping out with an identity fortified by my braided connections and my multitude of literary play cousins. In my season as Chapters Director, I was given as much as I gave, and I hope that my interactions will leave a lasting impression on our ground-breaking artistic community.
In Solidarity,
Ryane Nicole Granados
Outgoing WWS Chapters Director
WWS Member
Welcome
Q & A with the Chapters Team: Introducing Chapters Director, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley and Chapters Liaison, Thea Pueschel
How and when did you first hear about Women Who Submit and how did you first become involved?
LUCY RODRIGUEZ-HANLEY: In 2013 I took a memoir workshop with writer/editor Seth Fischer. He encouraged the women in the class to join Women Who Submit. At the time, I had no idea the positive impact this community would have in my life. Iโve gotten published by my sheroes; Vanessa Martir, Reyna Grande and Myriam Gurba. I have benefited from mentorship and a myriad of resources that have helped develop my voice as a writer. I have two young children and have found solidarity with other moms in the community. The people Iโve met have become favorite people and/or the most fantastic friends.
THEA PUESCHEL: I first heard about WWS from the Airing out Your Dirty Laundry Workshop I took at the 1888 Center in Orange, CA. The facilitator asked me if I had been submitting my work. I responded maybe once or twice a year just to validate that I am not a literary writer. She told me I needed to join the WWS. This was before the Lockdown times, and so I had to wait 6 months to attend an in-person orientation. The first time I submitted with WWS was May 11, 2019, according to Submittable.
What excites you about working with WWS Chapters?
LRH: I love community building and encouraging women and nonbinary writers to submit their work to publications. I am an optimist, every month I see the change this organization is making when our members get published, even the rejections count. Facilitating opportunities, spreading our mission and sharing resources with our chapters, like our upcoming 2024 Summer Workshops or soliciting submissions to our anthology or grants is very gratifying.
TP: Helping others facilitate the magic of bringing more voices to the literary landscape.
What is something you wish people knew or understood about the WWS Chapters?
LRH: A chapter can be as simple as two writers getting together to submit their work to publications. You donโt need big numbers to be a successful chapter. As a Chapter Lead your sole duty is to host the gathering and cheer submissions on (most of us clap when a submission has gone out). You are not there to read someoneโs work, facilitate a workshop or provide feedback. You can have multiple people leading a chapter, you can also have multiple chapters in the same region (Los Angeles and the Bay area both have multiple chapters).
TP: Each WWS chapter is a support network. A net to catch us when we get those hard-hitting rejections. A cheering squad for when we get those hard-won yeses. An audience to clap when we put our big kid chonies on and submit. For those of us humans that have come up as creative lone wolves for years and decades because we may not have the creative connections or known how to maneuver the literary world the WWS Chapters offer support. A village for us to walk on our two legs, to transform from lone wolf creatives to writers with a community. I think additionally, itโs such an important space particularly for those of us who grew up working class without connections whether we were the first generation to go to college or were bitten by the creative bug without formal education. WWS chapters bring experience, and resources.
Not all WWS Chapters are the same, but they are all worthwhile and community based.
If someone was interested in starting a chapter in their area, how might they begin that process and what does it look like?
LRH: If possible, I suggest attending a meeting to make sure it is something you want to take on. Ask yourself why you want to lead a chapter and what youโd like to gain from the experience. Do you want to lead alone or co-lead with one or two people? The process is simple, after filling out an application, we schedule an orientation where we share information, resources and best practices about the organization and the submission process. We also have a social media manager that can help you spread the word when you are ready to launch your chapter.
TP: Itโs pretty easy peasyโฆ 1. Check the WWS website for orientation dates, 2. Follow the direction and guidelines on the WWS website and submit your packet of interest to start a WWS Chapter, 3. Patiently wait while we analyze the materials, 4. Once you get your invite attend a WWS orientation, 5. Ask us questions!
We’re all writers and creatives first at WWS, what are you working on these days? Do you have any exciting news to share?
LRH: I am writing 500 words per day. The last six months have been hard for me on the creative front. I started a writing challenge this month led by fellow mom and WWS member, LiYun Alvarado. Itโs a lot of shitty first drafts but Iโm writing again! The goal is to get back to my memoir in May. Iโm really happy about this and celebrating every day that I write a new page.
TP: Right now, I am in the process of having rehearsals for two plays that I am directing for the Short + Sweet Hollywood 10-minute play festival. I havenโt directed in a decade, so I am extremely excited about this.
In 2021, I had a solo exhibition of mixed media work at the Center in Orange. I realized that once the triptych of large format paintings stood next to each other I wasnโt pleased with how they looked. Separate I felt that the intention was clear, but when the series was lined up, I realized they just didnโt work. I like the foundation of the original paintings but feel that more is missing than my desired effect which is about displacement. Iโve been in the process of making smaller concept mockups and playing with color and design in my studio.
Monday, June 17th 6pm-7:30pm I am leading a FREE workshop Discovering Your Subconscious Thematic at the Cerritos Library in the Skylight Room. Itโs a journey of personal discovery for writers. It provides a safe space to sift through the stories that attract us and analyze our own work. By discovering our personal theme, we are able to connect on a deeper level with our own work and create more generative flow.
Join Women Who Submit in celebrating the publication of our third anthology, TRANSFORMATION! Thanks to the work of Managing Editors, Ryane Granados and Noriko Nakada, Advising Editor, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera, eight Genre Editors, Lorinda Toledo, Erin Anadkat, Flint, Laura Sturza, Luivette Resto, Hazel Kight Witham, Aruni Wijesinghe, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley, and publisher Nikia Chaney and Jamii Publishing, our third anthology features poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama from 42 women and nonbinary writers from around the world.
“Given these perilous times of great global and local humanitarian failures, cruel objectives cemented by morally repugnant mindsets, and given the history of violence which has proven all too predictable, I know my words may appear hugely insufficient in protecting the most vulnerable, may prove never to be enough to diminish the sorrow and suffering of others, and yet as a writer, I continue to write.”
Inspired by these words by Helena Maria Viramontes, shared at her AWP 2020 keynote address, Women Who Submitโs third anthology, TRANSFORMATION, centers work that speaks to the ways writers and other artists can promote change in the world.
