Black women's stories of love, courage and hope wanted | $200 per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL

Deadline: 15 January 2021

I’m Speaking Now: Black Women Share Their Truth in 101 Stories of Love, Courage and Hope

Chicken Soup for the Soul is thrilled to announce a new title for Black women, publishing June 1, 2021. Award-winning novelist Breena Clarke will serve as a coauthor for this new Chicken Soup for the Soul book. You may remember her first novel—River, Cross My Heart—an Oprah’s Book Club pick.

It’s been 14 years since Chicken Soup for the African American Woman’s Soul came out, so let’s get the world up to date. Now, more than ever, the strong, independent, empowered voices of Black women are being heard loud and clear. Black women are speaking, for themselves and their families, and everyone is listening.

Share your dreams and your triumphs and failures. Write about your lives and community, which have unique challenges not well understood by others. This unique collection of stories will be for readers of all colors. Readers of color will recognize their struggles in these pages, and all readers will benefit from an inside view of Black life in America, Canada, and the diaspora. Don’t be afraid to get real and raw. Chicken Soup for the Soul is not just about heartwarming feel-good stories.

We’re looking for everything from the serious to the silly. There will be 101 stories, so we can go wide and deep, and we’d like to share stories from Black women of all ages, from late teens to women in their nineties.

Here are some suggested topics but we know you can think of many more:

• Black Lives Matter
• Raising Black children in a dangerous world
• Intersectionality
• Writing as a Black woman
• Traveling as a Black woman
• Children’s dolls and toys
• Television and films and how they affect you as a Black woman
• The strength of cultural roots and family
• Police brutality, fear
• Institutional racism, redlining, stereotypes
• Inequity and barriers, including voting
• Politics
• Role models and pioneers
• Sisterhood
• Dating and romance — the good, the bad, and the crazy
• Self-image and beauty
• Resilience and excellence
• Overcoming obstacles
• Humorous stories
• Entrepreneurship and making it as a woman
• Inter-racial marriages and relationships
• Stereotypes
• Physical health — how you are bettering yourself through physical activity.
• Mental health — taking care of your mental health just as much as your body
• Self-care — investing time into making yourself feel good, physically and mentally
• Managing finances — budgeting and investing for yourself
• Finding joy and happiness — how you have found JOY in your life.
• Life during the pandemic
• Life lessons — what storms have you been through that made you stronger?
• Sexual harassment/Abuse — how you fought back
• Confidence — coming forward and telling the truth, like it is, regardless of the consequences
• Self-esteem — understanding that you are terrific and can do anything
• Being brave enough to take educated risks
• Girls and women in sports — at school, college, professionally, Olympics
• Women in what used to be considered men's roles/jobs/occupations
• Thinking outside the box
• Becoming a role model or mentor for other women
• What role models helped you?
• Speaking up for your rights
• Balancing marriage, kids and your own independence
• Following your passion
• Volunteering and giving back

Write about your truth, your everyday and your milestones, and your feelings. As Breena says, "Come ahead with your story. Tell it straight, tell it slant, tell it loudly or softly. Speak up now."

The deadline for story and poem submissions is JANUARY 15, 2021 but submissions will be reviewed as they come in, so please don’t wait until the deadline.

Link: Story guidelines

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Submissions: Via the webform

Website: http://www.chickensoup.com