Author: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

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A Farewell to Our Gracious Leader, Ashaki M. Jackson

Women standing in line holding the Accolades anthology in their hands. A WWS is behind them.

Dear writers,

After nine years of service to our community as Cofounder, Chapters Director, consultant, and mentor, Ashaki M. Jackson will be leaving her official leadership roles within Women Who Submit to focus on other endeavors.

A Note from Ashaki

I remember writing late nights in Santa Monica. Alyss and I were a decade younger and buoyed by The Writers Junction’s bottomless coffee and tea. It was a short era where poems and creative paths came easy. Women Who Submit was one of those paths that became an endless road of opportunity, artistic generation, friendship, and change. I’ve appreciated the long walk with this community and now look forward to following other paths with greater intention. It gives me great pleasure to have walked beside many  inspired artists in Women Who Submit, and I hope your respective journeys are rich and productive. Safe travels to us all!

  • A woman presents a talk in front of a group of women seated at tables with laptops.
    Ashaki leading a new member orientation at Art Share.
  • A group of women sitting on couches around a coffee table.
    A leadership meeting at Blu Elephant Cafe.
  • A group of women standing together in a conference booth. WWS banner is hanging in front of them.
    AWP Los Angeles in 2015
  • One woman stands in front of a group of other women gathered around laptops.
    Ashaki leading a new member orientation at the Exposition Library
  • A group of women siting on couches around a coffee table.
    A leadership meeting at Semi-Tropic.

In the summer of 2011, Ashaki invited me to partner with her and Alyss Dixson to establish what Alyss called, a submission party. I hosted our very first submission party at my parents’ house where I served homemade quiche. Ashaki brought a portable office of supplies and journals for our first lending library. So much of what has become standard within WWS is because of Ashaki’s vision and dedication.

It was Ashaki’s insistence to diminish any and all financial barriers to becoming a member of our community that established WWS as an organization that offers free workshops and support all year round. And thanks to her leadership as Chapters Director, a No Fee standard now exists with WWS communities across the continent.

We thank her for enriching our commitment to women and non-binary writers and the fight for gender parity and representation in literary publishing.

We honor Ashaki and her vision by renaming our submission fee regrant, The Ashaki M. Jackson No Barriers Grant. We congratulate her on moving forward into new and exciting path!

About the Grant

The Ashaki M. Jackson No Barriers Grant offers funding to our members on a quarterly basis to help offset submission fee costs. While much of the literary landscape supports “pay to play” models, Women Who Submit believes minimizing barriers, such as submission fees and other financial hardships, is central to the pursuit of gender parity and representation in literary publishing.

Funds are awarded in conjunction with our quarterly public workshops. Members are welcomed to request between $20-$100. During Covid, these fees may go towards writer relief. This grant is open to members of the Los Angeles headquarters. To become a member you can join a “New Member Orientation” on the second Saturday of February, May, August, or November.

The first official recipient of the Ashaki M. Jackson No Barriers Grant is Alix Pham. Co-lead of the West Los Angeles Chapter with Diana Love, Alix will be using her grant to submit poetry to chapbook contests.

To make a donation to this grant as well as our 2021 free workshop series, please go HERE. Your support makes our mission possible.

With respect,

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, WWS Director

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Breathe and Push: Writing Through Despair

By Noriko Nakada

Three months have passed since I’ve written here, and this week the weather in LA turned cool. Back in March, I wore jeans and hoodies to teach my classes from the kitchen table, and this week I pulled on sweaters and socks and continued teaching from the kitchen table.

A fall dawn sky with silhouetted with trees.
Fall sky in Los Angeles.

We are living through a pandemic. An election looms. The humidity has dropped tempting spark and smoke.

Despair rests around the edges. In the dregs of my coffee. In the nightmares that wake me. In the cough I hope is just a tickle in my throat and nothing more sinister.

I revisited an essay tonight as I watched the World Series with one eye, too afraid to hope for a Dodger victory. In the final essay of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, “On Become an American Writer,” Alexander Chee discusses many ideas, but one is how we must continue to create when writing feels pointless. He considers what to say to his writing students when overwhelmed with despair; when they wonder, “What’s the point?”

Over the past few months, I’ve often asked myself this same question. As I stare into digital rectangles, some fluid with life, others dark and revealing just names, I’m not sure what to say to my students as we hurl across our syllabus toward a month of novel-writing. I’m not sure what to say to myself, or to other writers when we meet to discuss our work. And still, I believe in telling stories, and I believe in the stories within each of us.

Chee says, “I turned my back on the idea that teaching writing means only teaching how to make sentences or stories. I needed to teach writing students to hold on—to themselves, to what matters to them, to the present, the past, the future. And to the country.”

As the women and non-binary writers of Women Who Submit stare down this unfathomable stretch of time, I invite us to believe Chee when he reminds us that writing matters. “[I]t’s the same reason that when fascists come to power, writers are among the first to go to jail. And that is the point of writing.”

Are you writing? Is it a poem, a phrase, a string of words waking you up at night? Are you staying up late or setting the alarm early? Do you log into a Zoom or steal a few moments while the kids watch tv? What are you writing?

Keep breathing into your work. Keep pushing your best work into the world. Otherwise, what’s the point?

headshot of racially ambiguous writer Noriko Nakada

Noriko Nakada writes, parents, and teaches eighth grade English at Emerson Middle School in Los Angeles. She is the author of the Through Eyes Like Mine memoir series. Excerpts, essays, and poetry have been published in Kartika, Catapult, Meridian, Compose, and Hippocampus. She is spending her time in quarantine perfecting sourdough, biscuits, and pie crust. She has two kids and answers approximately three thousand questions a day. 

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Final Workshop of 2020

Join us Saturday, November 14th at 10am for our final workshop of 2020, “How To Boost Your Literary Citizenry By Writing and Placing Book Reviews” with Melissa Chadburn. Chadburn has placed book reviews in such prestigious publications as The LA Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, New York Times Book Review, and the New York Review of Books. Help in our mission for gender parity in publishing by learning how to write and place book reviews and bring visibility to historically marginalized voices.

Women Who Submit is a supportive community for women and non-binary writers submitting work for publication. To become a member, you can register and participate in this month’s new member orientation. EDIT: NEW MEMBER REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED DUE TO BEING OVER CAPACITY. * There is no fee to join.

The Schedule for the Day:

10am-11am – “How To Boost Your Literary Citizenry By Writing and Placing Book Reviews” with Melissa Chadburn and hosted by Lauren Eggert-Crowe

11am-12pm – New Member Orientation with Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

11am-12pm – Returning Members Checkin with TBD

12pm-1pm – WWS Submission Party

This workshop is over Zoom. Those admitted to the orientation will receive the Zoom link through email a week before. To participate, you’ll need a laptop or desktop computer, personal research on magazines, journals, and open calls, and crafted poems/essay/short story ready to submit.

* Orientation is limited to 20 participants and preference will be given to LA writers, BIPOC writers, LGBTQ writers, and writers who’ve tried to attend a previous orientation.

WWS is a grass-roots, volunteer organization. Though online workshops have made us more accessible to writers outside of Los Angeles, we do not have the funding or support to serve people beyond the LA area.

But don’t worry! We have chapters all across the country including three chapters in the greater Los Angeles area in Long Beach, West Los Angeles, and Pasadena. If you do not make it into our November orientation, you can connect with a chapter lead near you. And if you don’t have a chapter in your area, we can help you get one started!

Connect with chapters here.

About our workshop facilitator:

Melissa Chadburn’s work has appeared in The LA Times, NYT Book Review, NYRB, Longreads, and dozens other places. Her essay on food insecurity was selected for Best American Food Writing 2019. She is the recipient of the Mildred Fox Hanson Award for Women in Creative Writing. She is an Atul Gawande mentee with the Solutions Journalism Network. Her debut novel, A Tiny Upward Shove, is forthcoming with Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. She is a PhD candidate at USC’s Creative Writing Program. She loves your whole outfit right now.

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7 Steps to Submitting

Our 7th Annual Submission Blitz is coming Saturday, September 12th. This online event is our annual drive to submit to tier one journals as an action for gender parity in publishing.

In the summer of 2011 a group of women met together in a kitchen to share food, literary journals, and submission goals to encourage each other to submit work for publication. The idea for this first submission party came from WWS cofounder, Alyss Dixson as a response to the Vida Count. We began the Submission Blitz in the summer of 2014 to honor our beginnings and continue to push for gender parity in top tier publishing.

We’ve come to understand that submitting to tier one journals is no easy ask, so to help, check out the 7 Steps to Submitting below. And consider joining us on September 12th. It’s as easy as marking yourself going to the event, submitting to a journal, notifying us know on FB, Twitter, or IG, and letting us shower you in claps and cheers.

Images from our 2019 Submission Blitz LA meet-up at the Faculty Bar in East Hollywood.

7 Steps to Submitting:

by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

1. Select a Manuscript – When selecting a piece (for poetry this may be 5-7 poems) to submit, be sure sure to choose a story, essay, or poems you absolutely love or need to see in the world. These are top tier magazines, so if you don’t love the work and need to see it published, why would you expect the editors to?

2. Research & Pick a Journal – Begin by looking through this list of tier one journals with links to guidelines curated by Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera. Some things to look into: Who’s on the editorial team? Who’s been published? What’s their mission statement? Do you like what’s been published? Does your work fit within their guidelines?

3. Read & Follow the Guidelines – the fastest way to get your work rejected is to not follow guidelines. Don’t make it easy for an editor to say no to you. 

4. Prepare your Manuscript – be sure to adjust your manuscript according to the guidelines, give it to a friend read through for any last minute notes, and read through it out loud before sending to catch any typos. 

5. Write a cover letter – be sure to personalize a cover letter with the name of the editor and a sentence about why you’ve chosen to send your work to them. Though it’s up for debate if cover letters are even read, this is a good practice for keeping open communications with editors you hope to create a working relationship with. See more about cover letters here.

6. Submit – once you’re ready, HIT SEND! And then be sure to let us know on our social media accounts so we can clap and cheer for you!

7. Record your Submission – a submission tracker is a spreadsheet and a great tool for keeping your submissions in order. What you put on the tracker is up to you, but the name of journal, name of submission, and date it was submitted is a good place to start. This is helpful for checking back on submissions that have been out for three, six, or more months, as well as keeping up communications when practicing simultaneous submissions (see the link in point 5 for more information on this). 

This is image represents the first six months of my personal 2019 submission tracker.

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Why I Will No Longer Advise Poets Against Publishing on Social Media

Because Elijah McClain was just going home.

Because Breonna Taylor was home.

Because Dominique Rem’mie Fells deserved everything she hoped for.

Because George Floyd called for his mama.

Because news reports call Andrés Guardado a man, but he was barely on his way to becoming one.

Because over 130,000 people have died of Covid in the US, and people still call it just the flu.

Because Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez died of the flu on a cold cement floor with no family to comfort him.

Because Toyin Salau needed refuge.

Because Vanessa Guillen needed help.

Because Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter, Angie Valeria needed a chance.

Because Sandra Bland didn’t kill herself.

Because Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe was stolen from the Lakota.

Because Standing Rock protects the water.

Because Flint still doesn’t have clean water.

Because all people have to do is wear masks and wash their hands.

Because for some words can’t ever be clean enough for their standards.

Because Elijah McClain said, That’s my house. I was just going home.

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WWS for Black Lives Matter

A neutral tone fence in front of a construction site and a yellow construction vehicle. "Black Lives Matter" is spray painted across the fence in red, with "BLM" in black.

Written by Ryane Nicole Granados, Edited by Lauren Eggert-Crowe, and Resources by Ashley Perez

It is with a heavy heart that we find ourselves in a position, once again, to draft a statement in support of Black lives and to denounce police brutality, while reaffirming our commitment to fighting anti-Black racism. We know members of our community are tired. The exhaustion is a soul deep weariness from a lifetime of saying name after name of those murdered in the name of hate. 

The ongoing, tragic killings of unarmed Black men and women, including most recently, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade have continued to expose our society as a system built to oppress and harm Black people while perpetuating white supremacy.

As a result, Women Who Submit stands in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Some of our members are Black mothers and daughters and spouses and artists and educators and activists, and their very existence in a world determined to deny them their humanity is revolutionary. We recognize their revolution. 

One action we can take immediately is to make our solidarity visible through our art, activism and our voices. If you are protesting, let us know and we will spread the word. If you are writing, let us encourage you to submit because your words matter. If you are tired, let us help you carry on because the more of us who mobilize, the greater our impact will be. 

Black writers’ lives matter. Black readers’ lives matter. Black children’s lives matter. Black women’s lives matter. All Black lives matter, now and always.

We believe in a world that values community over policing. We want to build a society that invests in education, housing, healthcare and the arts, not an ever-expanding and dominating police presence. We lend our time and energy to the work of building a network of resources that nourish the community and uplift Black lives.

Resistance is a collection of small and grand acts by people who care. Women Who Submit leadership and membership are resisting by attending protests, donating to organizations that support Black lives, making calls to legislators, demanding independent prosecutions in unlawful killings and supporting bailout efforts for protestors. Below is a list of organizations that need your dollars, and as we search for additional ways to help bolster the fight, we also share the following collection of works and resources that we have found helpful in these troubling times.

When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent we are still afraid. So it is better to speak–Audre Lorde

Black Lives Matter

Roxane Gay: Remember, No One is Coming to Save Us

Teachers Must Hold Themselves Accountable for Dismantling Racial Oppression

Black Lives Matter: A Playlist of Powerful StoryCorps Interviews

Ways to help Black Lives Matter

Directory of Community Bail Funds

Black Visions Collective

Campaign Zero

Reclaim The Block

Mental Health Resources for Black Folx:

Other Mental Health Resources:

Work for Non-Black People of Color and White folxs to do:

 

Tips on Resistance Beyond Protesting & Thoughts on Protest:

 

Anti-Racist Education Resources:

 

Actions to Take:

 

Support Black Owned Business:

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Idle Hands and Roti

A stack of round and orange sweet potato roti in a red towel.

By Thea Pueschel

Welcome to the brave new world, where your commute (unless you are an essential worker) is from your bed to the couch. Perhaps you are feeling a bit judgmental. With so much extra time on your hands, the thought I should be writing might be circling your brain. 

For those who are new to working from home or have an ample amount of time due to being furloughed or being laid off, you may have realized that a 1-hour task can take 16 hours. The lack of structure, and the ability to make your schedule, might have you reeling for normalcy and discipline. Reeling seems to be a symptom of the pandemic. 

My father, the king of ADHD and distraction, likes to say about himself, “It doesn’t take me all day to do an all-day job, it just might take me all day to get there.” Going from a film studio corporate structure with set hours and workload to being my own boss– I hate to say it, but I resemble that remark, especially with my inherited ADHD. 

This thing called time organization might be new to you. I’ll be honest; it can be a struggle at the best of times.

Time travel is weird, y’all. You don’t even need a time machine to do it. Your mind might be rushing to the future. What will the world look like after this? Your mind might be on the present. Do I have another roll of toilet paper? Your mind might be in the past. I miss XYZ; I felt so much happier then. You might find yourself in a time loop, repeating the same time thoughts over and over again.

These days I see friends and colleagues lament on social media about their lack of productivity, and unsure of where the time has gone. I know where— time travel. The mind cannot be in the present if it’s occupied with the future or the past. Pandemics are great time traveling devices as there are a lot of unknowns and uncertainties.

Remember the old idiom idle hands are the tools of the devil or another version of it idle hands are the devil’s playthings. Folks often believe this expression came from the bible, but we can thank Chaucer’s Tale of Melibee (1405) for the proverb. The character Melibeus says, “Dooth somme goode dedes, that the deuel, which is oure enemy, ne fynde yow nat vnocupied.” My translation of that is, stay busy, so the devil doesn’t find you some work. My interpretation is biased by my experience. Growing up, if my sisters or I said we were bored, there was always a woodpile or brick pile that we would have to move from one side of the yard to the other and served no other purpose. Amazingly, it cured us of boredom, or perhaps it just taught us sublimation.

To me, the idiom is not so much about falling prey to sin; it’s about how the mind can reel, how time travel happens when we are not otherwise occupied. Doing something with your hands can be very grounding. It can help disrupt the time loop. They say gardening and baking can help you feel more grounded, but maybe you don’t have the resources to do that. I have a two-ingredient sweet potato roti recipe for you. Works on a hotplate or stovetop. It will give you the opportunity to smash, knead, flatten, and roll. I dare you to attempt to time travel while making this. 

2 Cups flour of your choice (I use Bob Mills 1-to-1)

2 Cups sweet potato 

Pinch of salt (optional)

Flour for dusting

Steam the sweet potato(s), let it cool slightly. Peel the skin off the sweet potato when it is cool enough to touch. Mash it with a fork or potato masher until it is mashed really well, or all your existential angst is gone. Then stir in the flour. Knead to mix well, until dough forms. Divide into 12 balls. Put one ball on a flour-dusted surface, flatten it with your hand, then use a rolling pin to flatten it even more to about 2mm. Heat a skillet on medium heat. Once hot, place one roti at a time, flipping it after 2 minutes each side. If you don’t want to make 12, match equal parts sweet potato and flour, it will still work. The roti also freezes well. 

After you have paid the devil his due, and enjoy the roti, it’s time to wash your hands and get back to writing.

Dark-haired woman writer in a black top, leaning against a green wall.

Thea Pueschel is a hypnotherapist, yoga/meditation teacher. She writes, creates visual art, and teaches yoga teachers and doulas how to deliver and write meditations in and around L.A. and Orange County. She is committed to submitting, only in a literary capacity with light-hearted yet dark creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.

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WWS at AWP20 San Antonio

Black woman speaking from podium in a conference room as other women in her black mother collective look on.

By Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

It’s time for our annual WWS-AWP guide. Below you will find a list of panels, readings, and book signings featuring our members, including the release of our very first anthology, ACCOLADES on Thursday, March 5th at La Botanica. Last year in Portland, I chose to only attend WWS events, and the result was inspiring. I wrote about the powerful collaborative panels I was lucky to attend last year in this piece for our blog. If you’re overwhelmed by all the offerings, try what I did and pick a few events from our list.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

Neon Lit Offsite Reading

The Twig Book Shop: 306 Pearl Pkwy #106 San Antonio, TX 78215 / 7pm-9pm / FREE

Featuring WWS member, Lorinda Toledo. From description: “Please join us for our Neon Lit Alumni Reading @ AWP, San Antonio! There will be raffles/prizes.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

Making Place in Hybrid Tongues

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 2016A / 10:35am-11:50am / FREE

Featuring WWS member, Sehba Sarwar. From description: “This panel highlights the work of writers who explore remembered and imagined attachments with place. Featuring five women of color whose living and writing transcend national borders and literary genres, the panel asks whether the places we navigate demand their own hybrid literary forms. Writers who wear multiple tags—novelist, memoirist, poet, translator, critic—read from new work. These works embody aesthetic and political choices involved in representing locales across genres.”

One Day on the Gold Line (Black Rose Writing 2019) Book Signing Featuring Carla R Sameth / Bookfair, Table #958 / 1pm-5pm

Accolades: WWS Anthology AWP Release Party

La Botanica: 2911 N Saint Marys St, San Antonio, Texas 78212 / 4pm-7pm / FREE

Join us in celebrating the release of ACCOLADES: a Women Who Submit Anthology at AWP! We will have featured readers, copies of the anthology for sale, and La Botanica will have drinks and food for sale. We’ve been empowering women and nonbinary writers to submit work for publication since 2011, but this is our very first, all our own publication.

One Poem Festival: Canto Mundo, Letras Latinas, and Macondo

San Antonio Public Library: 600 Soledad St, San Antonio, Texas 78205 / 6pm-7:30pm

Featuring WWS member, Vickie Vértiz as well as other writers from Macondo Writers Workshop, Canto Mundo, and Letras Latinas. 

Poetry on the River Walk | AWP Offsite

Casa Rio (Veranda Room): 430 E commerce St., San Antonio, TX / 6:30pm-10pm / FREE

Featuring WWS member, Tanya Ko Hong. From description: “Join 32 Poems, Beloit Poetry Journal, Crazyhorse, Poetry Northwest, and Quarterly West for an AWP offsite poetry reading. Walk from the conference center to Casa Rio (Veranda Room), located on the River Walk. Free drinks and appetizers while they last. See you there!”

Tupelo Press 30/30/Conference Alumni Reunion Reading

La Villita Historic Arts Village: 418 Villita St, San Antonio, Texas 78205 / 7pm-9pm / FREE

Featuring WWS member, Donna Spruijt-Metz along side other Tupelo Press alumni. From description: “This fifth annual Alumni Reunion Reading for 30/30 and Conference alums.”

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2020

ACCOLADES: A WWS Anthology Book Signing Featuring WWS Contributors / Bookfair, Nosotrxs: More Than Books #1038 / 12pm-2pm

The Woven Verse: An Exploration of the Latinx Verse Novel in Kidlit

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 217B / 12:10pm-1:35pm

Featuring WWS Member, Vickie Vértiz. From description: “Latinx novels in verse have burst the children’s and young adult literary world open with award-winning and groundbreaking books. Join celebrated authors as they delve into the craft of writing a novel through the art of poetry as well as how their unique Latinx identity and experiences inform and nourish their work.”

New Suns: Afrofuturist and Cyborg Aesthetics

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 214B / 1:45pm-3pm

Featuring WWS member, Karolyn Gehrig. From description: “Octavia Butler writes, “There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” Taking a cue from Butler—Afrofuturist and disabled writer—this panel will discuss and demonstrate some new suns. What can a poem do in the 21st century? What is the strange new grammar of screens? How do we create and conscript images for activism? Panelists work in multiple genres including creative nonfiction, mixed media, performance, and poetry.”

To Be Young, Black, & Tenure Track: Diversity in Higher Education

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 008 / 1:45 pm to 3:00 pm

Featuring WWS member, Ryane Granados. From description: “What does it mean when you walk into a classroom and the person at the podium looks like you? As colleges across the nation increase diversity and inclusion efforts to close equity gaps for students of color, they may be overlooking one thing—diverse faculty representation. Published authors and professors, our panelists share best practices for culturally responsive pedagogy, their experiences in academia, tips for supporting Black teachers, as well as how they make time for writing.”

UGA Author Signing Featuring Colette Sartor / Bookfair, UGA Press Booth #1730 / 3pm

Veliz Books, offsite reading

Menger Hotel: 204 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX 78205, United States / 5:30pm / FREE

Featuring WWS member, Sehba Sarwar.

3×3: Offsite With ALR, The Pinch, and The Arkansas International

Francis Bogside: 803 S Saint Marys St, San Antonio, Texas 78205 / 6pm-8pm

Featuring WWS member, Soleil Davíd. From description: “3×3: A reading hosted by American Literary Review, The Pinch Literary Journal, and The Arkansas International. Come join us for another #awp off-site reading.”

New Futures: Apogee x Offing Off-Site

The Cherrity Bar: 302 Montana St., San Antonio, Texas 78203 / 6pm-8pm FREE

From description: “2020 is The Offing’s fifth birthday and Apogee’s ten-year anniversary! Come celebrate with six authors (all joint contributors) who are writing what’s possible for literatures to come. We’ll dream up what our communities need for ten more years of extraordinary publishing—writing for us and by us, another decade at the outermost.”

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Women Trespassing: Women Breaking the Rules in Fiction and Their Writing Careers

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 008 / 9am-10:15am

Featuring WWS member, Liz Harmer. From description: “A Catholic-turned-Buddhist has sex with her Zen master. A biomechanist builds a deer suit to live in the woods. A woman stalks the celebrity living on her street. A girl basketball player navigates a male-dominated world. In this panel, women writers discuss how they write trespassing women and break rules in their writing lives. Women writers have been too long excluded from spaces of authority. We’re taking the power back. This panel is for writers ready to make risky choices and daring work.”

In Limbo: The Dilemma of Digital Thesis Repositories

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 210B / 10:35 am to 11:50 am

Featuring WWS member, Lorinda Toledo. From description: “As universities across the nation have transitioned to electronic theses, many graduate students face a dilemma: to earn a degree they are required to submit their work to a digital thesis repository. And though several top programs offer exemptions, not all programs protect students from having to submit their creative work to open-access repositories. What solutions exist for programs to protect creative theses from future publication roadblocks or potential piracy? We’ll describe a few.”

Macondo Writers Workshop Book Signing Featuring Sehba Sarwar / Bookfair, Gemini Ink/Macondo Booth #1471 / 12pm

Writing Medicine: The Role of Artists in Cultural and Community Healing

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 213 / 12:10 pm to 1:25 pm

Featuring WWS member, Maya Chanchilla. From description: “In November 2018, the FBI reported that hate crimes increased for the third consecutive year. Writers and artists build resilience and help communities heal, not only through our work on the page, but through our work in the world. Panelists offer reflections on their healing practices, from hosting pláticas following the Pulse Nightclub shooting, to working with Central American migrants at the border, to rewriting the centuries-old proclamation for the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico.”

Being an Accomplice: Supporting Local Communities through Literary Programming

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 206B / 1:45-3pm

Featuring WWS members, Kate Maruyama and Traci Kato-Kiriyama. From description: “There is an explosion of literary events all over the country, from readings showcasing famous writers to poetry nights at the local bookstore. But a neighborhood, a community, a city needs more. Literary accomplices can work together to create events that open spaces, fight erasure, and shift culture, providing environments that are safe, generative, supportive, and inclusive. Join four panelists producing events around the country to elevate the unique communities in which they work.”

Chicanas de la Frontera: Writing and Activism from the Border States

Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 205 / 1:45pm-3pm

Featuring WWS members Marisol Baca, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, and Viktoria Valenzuela. From description: “In the tradition of the 1960s Chicano Movement, made well-known by the United Farm Workers strikes of Central Valley, California, and high school blowouts of Los Angeles, Chicana poets and writers from the four border states—Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California—discuss creative writing, activism, and the connections between the two. Listen to poems and stories from the borderlands, learn about current day actions to fight tyranny, and gain strategies for organizing in your own communities.”

#DignidadLiteraria Read-In at AWP

The Grassy Slope Outside the Henry B. González Convention Center / 5pm / FREE

Featuring many Latinx and BIPOC writers. From description: “No badges. No featured writers. Just us, our words, our people, our dignity.”

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WWS at the Start of 2020

Three women writers of color sitting at a table discussing the validity of writing programs. WWS banner in blue and green is displayed behind them.

By Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

February has been exciting! WWS partnered with #DignidadLiteraria and Antioch University Los Angeles to host the conversation, “Latinos and the Crisis in U.S. Publishing,” addressing the American Dirt and Flatiron controversy first ignited by Myriam Gurba’s review, “Pendeja, You Ain’t Steinbeck: My Bronca with Fake-Ass Social Justice Literature” published at Tropics of Meta. The panel conversation featured, Roxane Gay (founder of Gay Mag), Myriam Gurba (author of Mean), Romeo Guzman (editor at Tropics of Meta), Christopher Soto (cofounder of Undocupoets), Wendy C. Ortiz (author of Excavation), and moderated by yours truly. The night included a community conversation where those in the audience were invited to share their own grievances and solutions. You can see coverage of the night from L.A. Times, or watch the full conversation on the WWS Facebook page.

Writers of color sitting at a long table with microphones speaking on a panel on the crisis of Latinx writers in publighing.
From left to right: Christopher Soto, Myriam Gurba, Romeo Guzman, Roxane Gay, Wendy C. Ortiz.

This past weekend we hosted our first public workshop of 2020 at the Exposition Park Regional Library. Saturday, February 8th, we began at 10am with “Should I Go?” a discussion on applying to and attending creative writing programs with Dana Johnson, Sara Borjas, and Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera. They talked about financial barriers, family expectations, traversing white spaces, and more. You can catch the full conversation on the WWS Facebook page. At this event we also gifted five regrants to WWS members to offset submission fees. Our next regrants will be offered in May.

We are excited to announce the release of our very first anthology, ACCOLADES, edited by Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera and Rachael Warecki and published by Jamii Publishing. Join us Thursday, March 5th at 4pm at La Botanica in San Antonio for our AWP release party featuring Sakae Manning, Désirée Zamorano, Cybele Garcia Kohel, Kate Maruyama, Cynthia Carlson, Heather Romero Kornblum, Sehba Sarwar, Tanya Ko Hong, Mia Nakaji Monnier, Leticia Urieta, and hosted by Noriko Nakada. This anthology was made possible by the Center for Cultural Innovation, Investing in Tomorrow grant.

Mexican-American woman with short black hair, yellow top and red-lipped smile

New this month, we welcome back former “Claps and Cheers” editor, Ramona Pilar Gonzales with her new series, “Storytelling in Action,” which highlights interesting, alternative professional applications for (creative) writing skills and experience: podcasting, marketing, content creation/development, and whatever else there might be! Ramona Pilar Gonzales writes plays, prose, and songs. Her works have been produced around Los Angeles, published online and in print, and performed across Southern California. Her dramatized essay “Del Plato a la Boca” was produced via a grant from La Plaza Cultura y Artes Foundation.

Here at the WWS website, we offer new content every Wednesday. Be sure to visit us each week for new writing from “Submitting on a Budget” with Lisbeth Coiman, “Closing the Gap” with Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, “Storytelling in Action” with Ramona Pilar Gonzales, “Breathe and Push” with Noriko Nakada, and “WWS Publication Round Up” with Laura K. Warrell published on the last day of the month. And check out our guidelines and consider submitting an essay to any of the above.

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation and Poetry Foundation. A Macondo Writers’ Workshop member, she has work published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, and American Poetry Review among others. A dramatization of her poem “Our Lady of the Water Gallons,” directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño, can be viewed at latinopia.com. She is a cofounder of Women Who Submit.

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How I Came to Host a #DignidadLiteraria Read-In

Protest posters, one with the words "I grew up crossing the border on Saturday mornings. #dignidadliteraria" surrounded by #ownvoices books.

by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

When I first saw the Vroman’s Bookstore event for American Dirt had been cancelled I thought to call up a new guy and set up a date for Tuesday now that my night was clear, but then I waited. I remembered the #DignidadLiteraria manifesto just out from Myriam Gurba, David Bowles, and Roberto Lovato. I went back and read their call to actions and thought, what if something else took its place?

At first I waited to see if something was already in the works. I mean, the call had already been put out to protest the event. People were ready, but I waited to see who might still be going. A few others asked the same question on Twitter. I sent a DM to Myriam–whose critique of AD was the first voice of dissent on the issue–asking if anything was being planned and waited for a response.

I know Myriam through the LA literary scene, we once featured together, but I don’t know her really, and yet, her words have saved me.

When the El Paso shooting happened on August 3, 2019 killing 22 people and injuring 24 others, and the news came out that the shooter was targeting Mexicans, I was horrified and heartbroken. Later that same week my family gathered for our annual summer pool party, and when I panned across the 80+ family members in their different shades of brown, I thought if a person wanted to kill Mexicans we were an easy target gathered in the open and covered in nothing but swimsuits and sunshine at a public El Monte pool. It’s as if we were flaunting it. I should have been laughing with my tías and racing my nieces, but instead I kept a watch on the entrance gate and marked every new arrival who came through looking out for any persons I didn’t know.

That week I was scared silent.

But Myriam had words. On August 5th, just two days after the horrific event, she had this to share on Instagram.

Simple. To the point. And yet, one of the hardest things to say in that moment. Through her words on social media, I felt seen and not alone. She helped me find my bravery again.

I may not know Myriam, but I know it isn’t easy being that one voice time and time again, and so when I hadn’t heard back via Twitter I thought, She doesn’t always have to do the heavy lifting. I, too, can do something at Vroman’s. It’s my local bookstore, after all, and Myriam can be the one to call up a honey and enjoy her night.

So that’s what I did.

I started by emailing a call to my friends and organizers, a list of people I actually see and work with and trust on a regular. Most sent back encouraging regrets and maybes if traffic was kind. It was a Tuesday night, and though I’m a San Gabriel Valley local, most of my compatriots are not. I pushed on.

Next I put the call out on social media. Though I don’t have a big following, I figured I might catch a few people, and thankfully, others reposted the call as well. Over a day, I had two people confirmed to join.

The morning of I woke with the idea to reach out to Vroman’s and see if they’d officially host us. They had the space going unused, and maybe if I had this piece of the puzzle more people would join. They said no, but that an #ownvoices event is in the works for March 21st. Would I like to be involved?

Sure.

Was what I wrote out in the reply email but didn’t press send. I left the computer for a while and went on to get ready for the day and drive to work. On the drive, where I do my most intense thinking, I drafted a response in my head. When I arrived at the office, I sent it off.

“I appreciate Vroman’s planning an #ownvoices reading in March, but I find it unfortunate that the organization doesn’t see value in having two #ownvoices events. You have an opportunity to support your local immigrant and children of immigrant communities as well as other readers and writers of color by opening up a space [that] is currently going unused. While the March event will likely feature books and writers already on your shelves, this is a chance give space to indie, emerging, and newer writers who are currently hurting from lack of representation and support in publishing. 

I hope you reconsider.  Thanks for your time. “

By now it was noon, and I had told people to meet at Vroman’s at 7pm. I waited.

The Vroman’s rep wrote back that they would still not host us without time to promote, but they would be interested in collaborating on such an event with me. This seemed good: open communication and a possible future event featuring my fellow writers. The questions became, Do I call off the event? Do I tell Vroman’s we’re already planning to be there?

I reached out to two trusted friends, and one was available for feedback. After some more thought, I sent a reply.

“Thank you for the invitation to work on either the March 21st event or a separate event. I appreciate your interest in building bridges with local writers of color both already featured at Vroman’s and those not yet on the shelves. I do want to work with you on a future event. 

The idea to host a reading tonight came out of a call from #DignidadLiteraria–a collective created by Myriam Gurba, David Bowles, and Roberto Lovato–to organize read-ins and other actions, and the canceling of the AD event felt the perfect time to act in solidarity with the work they’ve been doing. I do have a small group of people interested in coming out tonight. I know you can’t host us at this time, but would it be possible for us to gather in the outside courtyard at 7pm? I would encourage people to patron the store to buy Marcelo’s book and other picks from the #ownvoices displays.

I want to honor the store’s wishes and continue this conversation beyond today, but I still feel compelled to join with people tonight in either in the courtyard or another space close by.”

Vroman’s gave us permission to gather in the courtyard.

At 6pm, friend and advocate, Désirée Zamorano treated me to a quick happy hour bite and glass of wine down the street. At 6:30pm I brought out my roll-away amp and speaker, a few blank posters, Sharpies, and an armload of #ownvoices books and started setting up.

On one poster I wrote: “I grew up crossing the border on Saturday mornings.”

The publishing industry (and movie industry) believes in only one portrayal of the border, but I actually grew up going to Tijuana with my parents for day shopping trips. We’d buy school shoes, Christmas presents, and inventory for their concession stand at Pico Rivera Sports Arena. My weekends were spent in three places: my grandmother’s house in Boyle Heights, shopping malls in Tijuana, and selling candy to Tigres del Norte fans in Pico Rivera, but that’s not the border story big publishing wants to hear. I tell it anyway.

Right at 7pm, friends Kate Maruyama, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, Ashaki M. Jackson, and Luivette Resto walked up. I encouraged people to write their own messages on posters provided, and we displayed the words with the books I brought.

At 7:15 we began with Désirée Zamorano reading her essay “Scarification” published at Acentos Review. Next up was F. Douglas Brown reading a basketball poem in honor of the fallen star and father, Kobe Bryant. Sehba Sarwar read from her newly released novel, Black Wings and shared how it was difficult for her to publish the book because publishers and editors wanted to put her in a box she did not belong in. Angela M. Sanchez shared an essay on the colonization of the ahuácatl/aguacate/avocado. Josh Evans read poems about his Black experience and wanting to fit in. Luivette Resto read work from Judith Ortiz Cofer and Puerto Rican ancestral poet, Julia de Burgos. I closed out with a poem from Sara Uribe’s Antígona González and my poem “To Be the Daughter of Immigrants” about those Pico Rivera days.

By 8:15 we were done and the audience had grown to about 20. People coming in and out of the store had stopped by to listen. A mother and daughter sat right up front for the whole thing. When I talked to them after, I found out that they had come out to see what American Dirt was all about. “All I knew was Oprah picked it,” the mother said and laughed that maybe that was a poem. The daughter talked about a writer coming to visit her class. They were happy to have found us. I met a shy Latinx librarian. I met booksellers and a rep from the the publisher, and looking back now, I wish I could have talked to more people.

In the end, I’m glad we were able to gather together, and I’m thankful for those who showed support along the way. If I were to do it over, I would have brought more books to display and asked my friends to amplify the call sooner so more people could join, but in the end, I’m happy for all the waiting and starting small.

This is all to say, You, too, can host a #DignidadLiteraria read-in. I hope you do. One thing I take from Myriam Gurba is we cannot be silent.

Latinx woman with curly black hair and red lipstick smiles at the camera in front of a bookcase

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation and Poetry Foundation. A Macondo Writers’ Workshop member, she has work published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, and American Poetry Review among others. A dramatization of her poem “Our Lady of the Water Gallons,” directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño, can be viewed at latinopia.com. She is a cofounder of Women Who Submit.