Call for Poetry by Sex Workers

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers’ Poetry

Edited by Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme

Sex workers are one of the most researched groups in the world (even though sex workers do not accrue or collect any benefit as a result). Can the antidote for massive invasive and often bias research be found in verse? Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers’ Poetry, edited by Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme, will be a trailblazing collection in which sex workers share their experiential knowledge through the expressiveness, nuance and beauty of poetry.

Self-identified sex workers from any part of the industry (survival or trade, past or present) may submit. Poems specifically about sex work are strongly encouraged, though writing about relationships, healing, identity and other themes that may overlap with sex work is also welcome.

Submission Guidelines:

– Deadline: Friday September 14, 2018

– Length: between 1 to 6 pages (6 page maximum)

– Any and all written poetic forms will be considered, including narrative prose poems

– Include a short 50 – 100 word bio with your submission (you may use an alias)

– Email: HustlingVerse@gmail.com with submissions or questions

The book will be published by Arsenal Pulp Press in the fall of 2019.

About the editors:

Justin Ducharme was born and raised in the small Métis community of St. Ambroise, Manitoba. He is a graduate for Vancouver Film School, and the writer/director of four short films, most recently the 2018 drama, Positions, which tells the story of a queer, Indigenous, male sex worker in Vancouver. Justin has been a Metis dancer since the age of 10, performing with the troupes The St. Ambroise Youth Steppers and the Louis Riel Métis Dancers. He is currently finishing first poetry collection.

Amber Dawn white queer femme survivor currently living in Unceded Coast Salish Territories, Vancouver. She is the author of four books (the most recent of which is the novel Sodom Road Exit) and the editor of two anthologies. Her memoir How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir (2013) won the Vancouver Book Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. She currently teaches creative writing the University of British Columbia, as well as guest mentors at drop-in, sex work-driven community spaces.