Islam on My Side: An Anthology
Islam on My Side has been silent for a long time, but for good reason. I began this blog with a hope that it could be used as a platform to put together an anthology of Muslim American voices. The time has come for me to fully pursue that goal. Insha’Allah Muslims in our ummah will respond en masse. Allow me to detail the goals of this anthology.
Islam on My Side (www.islamonmyside.com) will be an anthology of the individual voices of Muslims in American living their lives post-9/ll. The collection will be works of creative nonfiction that address the following themes: How has life changed for you post-9/11? More specifically, how did the events of 9/11 impact the way you present yourself as a Muslim? Has your view of other Muslims changed? Do you believe the way your friends, family or peers view you has changed? Has your view of yourself as a Muslim been altered?
I am looking for honest and compelling essays that illuminate the many and varied experiences of the members of our ummah. I hope to present a broad spectrum of voices; voices from Muslims of both genders, all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. There are many kinds of Muslims out there, and I want to hear from all of you. At this time I cannot promise compensation for your submissions. However, I will be pursuing funding for this collection with the goal of compensating every writer featured in the collection.
Send your prose and queries to submissions@islamonmyside.com. DO copy the text of this blog and send it widely to your friends or anyone who might be interested along with the address of this blog. I will be posting updates and excerpts as this anthology takes shape.
I have high hopes for this collection. Insha’Allah you share them. I have seen and heard stories of many Muslims living life in America post-9/11. Most often, they are brief newsclips offered by the media. Human coverage of us has been both good and bad, but often out of our control. This is a chance for us to take that control back and present ourselves to the world with our own voices; to give the world a chance to absorb what we have to say. Writing our stories down allows us to reflect heavily on every word so that we can be certain we’ve said what we mean. Please take this opportunity to tell your own story the way you believe it should be told.
I will work with writers on editing accepted submissions, but will not consider submissions rife with spelling and grammar errors, or that do not have a clear and cohesive structure to the story being told. Also, your prose must have a working title. For detailed submission guidelines, click here.
Please do not send fiction and poetry submissions at this time, although I do plan to solicit those in the future for a companion collection. For now, I will be reading only non-fiction.
Again, send your prose and queries to submissions@islamonmyside.com. Please do forward this call for submissions widely. And visit the site to stay apprised of this collection’s development.
February 17, 2008 7:46 am 4 Comments
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Ijtema » Blog Archive » Call for Essays: Islam on my Side — February 19, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
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By Broken Mystic, February 19, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Salaam
This is such an excellent idea! The prejudice and discrimination towards Muslims in America after 9/11 is one of the most important and least discussed issues in contemporary times, and it’s really great to see other fellow Muslims who acknowledge that.
I recently wrote a 21 page research paper for my applied social psychology class last semester about the experiences of Muslim-Americans in the post 9/11 era. I was required to discuss two psychological research studies that were related to my topic and also present a personal experience. Would you find this appropriate for something that you’re looking for? If so, let me know and I can e-mail it to you. I can always chop it down or edit it so that it qualifies to fit what you’re looking for. Take care and salaam!
~ BM
By Moazzam Sheikh, February 22, 2008 @ 12:17 pm
It is a good idea as long as the project is open-minded and doesn’t restrict the definition of what it means to be a Muslim.
Moazzam Sheikh
author of The Idol Lover and Other Stories of Pakistan
By Shawna, February 22, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
Salaam Moazzam,
I absolutely agree, and insha’Allah Muslims of all types will submit their stories for this collection. It’s about time we showed a true representation of the diversity in our community. I hope you will consider submitting and that you will pass the invitation along!
Sincerest wishes,
Shawna