Submissions for the Writing for Change Journal are open for this semester.
The Writing for Change Journal is, according to its website, a “multimodal publishing space” open for students and members of the Boise community. Because the journal is “multimodal,” it is open to submissions of visual art, film, photography and any number of other expressive modes.
The Writing for Change Journal was first published in spring 2021. Its contents featured various topics, but heavily focused on reflecting on the events of the last year. The topic this time around is still in the same vein: “‘coping’ with change.”
Kyle Boggs is the journal’s creator and an assistant professor of rhetoric and composition at Boise State. The journal not only advocates for change but also gives writers, especially students, a valuable opportunity to have their work published and tell their stories.
“I think there’s still a gap when it comes to ‘how do I get my work published?’” Boggs said. “The Writing for Change Journal is something that I created first and foremost as a way for students to get [publication] experience.”
The journal doesn’t just publish traditional writing, either. It is willing to publish other kinds of artistic media. In the first collection, a junior at Boise High, Katrina White, wrote a piece of poetry that was published in the journal.
Vienne Aberele is an English major who submitted to the journal last year. She mentioned her experience writing for the journal was very positive.
In an email interview she wrote, “When I write, my biggest motivation is to write things that matter, that have an impact on people, whether that’s one person or one thousand. I decided to submit to the journal because it gave me a place to reach out to the community and make that impact, to let my voice be heard on an issue that is really important to me.”
Boggs mentioned how many writers found the experience of writing and submitting to elicit change in their own lives.
“I’ve heard from [writers] that the experience produced a kind of confidence that wasn’t there or a sense of being proactive about something that was otherwise festering in their heads,” Boggs said.
“One of the main things that I see in the journal is just helping students have a voice, how they can use it, and the opportunity to develop as writers,” said Makyra Williamson, an editor for the journal and a rhetoric and composition graduate student.
The journal is a place for people of all backgrounds and political ideologies to feel free to express themselves. Despite the divisive political climate of today, “civility, dignity, and respect for all communities are the minimum” for the journal.
“Through emphasizing the experience and the stories and the things that we have in common, we don’t have to entrench ourselves into political divisions,” Boggs said.
With all of the political, environmental and social changes of the last couple of years, the topic of the journal, “coping with change” is particularly relevant.
“We’re in a world … that is just moving faster and faster,” Williamson said, “We need those coping methods so that we can grow in healthy ways.”
If you are interested in submitting, view the specific submission guidelines here.
Essays should not exceed 1500 words, and any audio/visual submissions with large files should be transferred via other means outside of email.
Submissions are due Oct. 28 and should be emailed to submissions@writingforchangejournal.org.
Boggs mentioned in an email the due date can be flexible. To submit at a later date, contact kyleboggs@boisestate.edu.
“Everyone has something to say, and now is the time to say it!” Aberle said. “The prompt ‘coping’ is also so relevant, with the state of our world in the pandemic and socially in general. There are so many stories that need to be told, and this is a wonderful place to start sharing.”
Photo courtesy of Alexis Brown
