As part of the Southeast Asian Queer Cultural Festival 2021: Be/Longings, we are calling for submissions to an anthology of poems that engage with and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This digital anthology aims to gather the multivalent and polyphonic voices of queer Southeast Asian poets. It will consider how we have been affected and transformed under quarantine or lockdown, creating a space for poems that reflect our diverse experiences during these troubled times.

Guidelines

1. Southeast Asian writers who identify as queer are invited to send their work.

2. Submit up to two (2) original and previously unpublished  poems.

3. Works can be in English or other languages, as long as an English translation is provided.

4. All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter in the body of the email, which should include a bio note (50 words or less), your country (for migrants and refugees, indicate both country of birth and country of residence), which part of the LGBTIQ spectrum you identify as, and your preferred pronoun. For translated works, please include a bio note of the translator as well.

5. Poems should be in one Word (.doc or .docx) file, with the file name format: [Family Name], [Country], [Title of First Poem]. For example: Sirorot, Thailand, Quarantine.

6. Email submissions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 10 December 2020.

7. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw the piece promptly if it is accepted somewhere else.

8. People who wish to remain anonymous may submit under a pseudonym.

9. A modest honorarium will be paid to contributors via PayPal for non-exclusive rights. Copyright of each work will remain with the author. The anthology will be distributed and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 International License.

Editor

Rodrigo Dela Peña, Jr. (he/him) is the author of 𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩 and and co-editor of 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘗𝘰𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘔𝘰 2018: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺. His second poetry collection, 𝘛𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦, is forthcoming from the University of the Philippines Press. His poems have been published in 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘢𝘯: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘢 𝘒𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢, 𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴, 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘦, and other journals and anthologies. He has received prizes from the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Kokoy F. Guevara Poetry Competition, Sixfold, British Council, among others. Born in the Philippines, he has been based in Singapore since 2011.