Use this form to read the full call and submit your work.
“Something in me that was broken, cracked—becomes whole. The cracks, if I write them with utter honesty, are where ‘the light gets in.’ The present meets the past, and healing begins.”
— Pat Schneider, How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice
We are pleased to announce the call for submissions to Making Space for the Light, the third anthology in our survivor-centered series. This anthology will be edited by Mary Simmerling, Ph.D. and published by Write Where We Belong Press.
Introduction
A message from the editor: As a poet, scholar, and survivor of sexual violence, I have come to understand the profound impact of creative self-expression on healing and social change. Through my organization, Write Where We Belong, I work to raise awareness of the global public health crisis of sexual violence and abuse, help survivors of sexual violence and abuse reclaim their voices through writing and art, and create platforms where those voices can be celebrated and shared.
Making Space for the Light builds on the work of the first two collections, offering a dedicated space for survivors of sexual violence and abuse to share their writing. In doing so, we underscore the belief that writing can help us reclaim our agency and decide how we will incorporate and make meaning of our trauma, rather than being defined by it. We also recognize that sharing our stories in a communal setting can amplify our capacity for collective reflection and transformation.
By contributing to Making Space for the Light, you can add your voice to a collective effort aimed at healing trauma, advancing social justice, and dispelling harmful victim-blaming myths around sexual violence. Together, we can create a community of support and solidarity, demonstrating how words can disrupt isolation, nurture belonging, and lead to meaningful change.
Anthology Theme
Pat Schneider—who founded Amherst Writers & Artists—understood that sharing our writing can help to “close the wound of loneliness” and allow us to “participate in healing the broken world”:
“When we write, we create, and when we offer our creation to one another, we close the wound of loneliness and may participate in healing the broken world. Our words, our truth, our imagining, our dreaming, may be the best gifts we have to give.”
— Pat Schneider, How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice
Drawing on Pat Schneider's work, together with the groundbreaking work of Dr. Alfred Adler - particularly the importance of meaning-making, belonging, and community, this anthology encourages survivors to take part in a creative community of belonging and healing. By sharing poems and short prose pieces focused on sexual violence and its aftermath, we create community, foster mutual recognition, and bear witness to the power of story. We also use writing as a tool to challenge victim-blaming narratives and deepen our commitment to social justice. Rather than remaining isolated by the harms we have experienced, we gather our voices together in an anthology to offer testimony, hope, and new ways of understanding the impact of such violence. In doing so, we make space for the light that enters through the “cracks,” transforming broken places into spaces of renewal and resilience.
We are seeking writing that fits within the scope of this anthology from survivors of sexual violence and abuse.
Submission Guidelines
Review & Selection Process and Timing
We expect to receive many submissions and regret that we cannot include them all. Final selection is at the sole discretion of the editorial team, based on the focus of the anthology and the variety of submissions received. Notifications of decisions will be made October 31, 2025. Projected publication date: December 2025-January 2026. Submissions containing hate speech of any kind will not be considered. We look forward to reading your writing.
USE THIS FORM TO READ THE FULL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS AND SUBMIT YOUR WRITING.
WHERE TO GET HELP IF YOU NEED IT
We recognize that writing about experiences of sexual violence can be both empowering and challenging. If you need support, please reach out to Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN) through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (USA): 800.656.HOPE (4673). The Online Hotline is available in English & Spanish online.rainn.org / rainn.org/es. RAINN's services are free, confidential, anonymous, and available 24/7. A quick-exit feature is provided for your protection. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
