In light of the Saugus High School shooting, the nonprofit Forge Ahead Arts is seeking creative writing submissions by Santa Clarita Valley residents and community members in response to the shooting for inclusion in an anthology.
“Mai Nguyen Do, a local poet and artist, came to us with a proposal to do an anthology of writing around the Saugus shooting,” said Stephanie O’Connor, FAA executive director. “We’ve been starting to see (similar) poems and editorials posted on Facebook, so we thought there must be more people out there expressing and working through feelings (in this manner).”
Those writing submissions are then expected to be assembled into an anthology, with proceeds from copies sold donated to support victims of gun violence.
“This is very much in line with what Forge Ahead Arts does, as our mission is to build community through artistic participation,” O’Connor added. “We hope this can help support and strengthen the community of Santa Clarita and help the community heal.”
Though only writing is requested at the moment, FAA will also be looking for artwork to complement the writing, according to organizers.
Submission guidelines:
- Please submit your documents as Word documents or RTF files.
- Please title your files as LastName_FirstName_Title
- Previously published work is acceptable. Please note in your email where the piece previously appeared.
- Submit 1-3 poems of no more than 5 pages in total.
- Submit 1-2 pieces of no more than 4,000 words for fiction.
- Submit 1-2 pieces of no more than 4,000 words for memoirs or creative nonfiction.
Submissions should be sent to [email protected] by the March 15 deadline. For more information, visit forgeaheadarts.org.
