I’m afraid I’m too young to qualify for this call, but if you fit the bill this call is for you:

Untying the Apron:

Daughters Rediscover and Remember Mothers of the 50s.

Edited by Lorri Neilsen Glenn

In this collection, writers of fiction and poetry (some established, some emergent) gather their recollections of the women who raised them in the 50s. What do we realize we didn’t see then? Has our perspective changed on these women as mothers, and as women? Given the social and cultural climate in which these mothers lived, worked, and raised children, how do we read now the various ways they adapted (or didn’t), accepted, rebelled against, repressed or expressed who they were or wanted to be?

This call for contributions invites prose and poetry of no more than 2,000 words (prose) and 1000 words (poetry). Emphasis for this collection will be on vivid, engaging prose and poetry filled with fresh insights and compelling anecdotes. The aim here is to create a collection that transcends the ordinary to reveal complexities, nuanced understandings, anomalies, and startling observations.

Confirmed authors in this collection include Daphne Marlatt, Sharon Thesen, Jane Munro, Marsha Lederman, Zoe Landale, Pat Clifford and others. Marjorie Anderson, editor of the successful Dropped Threads series, has kindly agreed to write an introduction to the collection.

The project was conceived more than 18 months ago to honour the lives of a dying generation; then, the editor, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, put the project on hold for several months because of her own mother’s illness and death.

Postmark deadline for submissions: February 20^th, 2009. Earlier submissions welcome. Unpublished, new work is preferred, but previously published work may be considered depending on the themes and issues emerging. (Please ensure you have retained the copyright on any published work you submit).

Email to lorrineilsenglenn@gmail.com or mail to Lorri Neilsen Glenn, 10 Laurentide Drive, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3M 2N1. Phone messages can be left at 902-457-6156.

A Note on Submissions: Please use a standard 12 font such as Garamond, Times, or Courier and if you are submitting electronically, please send the work as a separate attachment in Word 2004 (or earlier) or in rtf.

Lorri Neilsen Glenn is the author and editor of six academic books on women, literacy and research, and the author of four collections of poetry, including the forthcoming Lost Gospels (2010). Her nonfiction and poetry have won national and international awards. She is currently Poet Laureate of Halifax and is Professor at Mount Saint Vincent University where she teaches literacy and literary studies.