It’s more important than ever to highlight trans and nonbinary art, to uplift trans joy, and to share stories of healing and connection. Help us share hope through art and writing! We invite you to contribute to the new Trans Survivors digital zine.
Throughout the year, we’ll invite submissions on specific themes (see below). These can be interpreted loosely. We welcome your full range of emotions and expressions. We encourage content focused on race and anti-racism; bodies and disabilities; class, housing, survival realities; and content that focuses or encompasses our complex, intersectional lives.
For a better idea of the kind of work we publish, check out the first issue of the zine: Trans Survivors: Healing in Action.
Submissions are currently OPEN and will close on August 1st, 2025. Submit here.
Submission windows:
- Aging and growth: July 14th – August 1st
- IPV/DV/Interpersonal harm: August 18th – September 8th
- Death/grief: September 22nd – October 13th
Current issue: AGING AND GROWTH
Our current issue, with submissions open July 14th – August 1st, will focus on aging and growth.
Our experiences of transness change across our lifetimes. The ways we relate to ourselves and our communities shifts. Trans elders shape our communities, and yet the experiences and challenges that trans elders face in our shifting cultural climate are often ignored.
We welcome art and writing with a focus on aging, change, and growth. How has your sense of self shifted over the years? What do you imagine for yourself and trans communities in the future? You do not need to identify as a trans elder (self-defined) to submit, but we particularly welcome work that comes from this perspective.
Submission guidelines:
We welcome a variety of artforms, including visual art, poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction (fiction/nonfiction under 1000 words).
You may submit multiple poems or fiction/nonfiction under 1000 words, but please include them in the same document (Word document or PDF preferred).
Simultaneous submissions are welcome (meaning you can submit to the Trans Survivors zine while having a piece also considered by another publisher). Please let us know right away if your work is accepted elsewhere!
We welcome your expressions of rage and grief, humor and silliness, beauty and curiosity. We reserve the right to refuse submissions that include racism, anti-trans attitudes, or other oppressive language. We are accepting original art/writing (not generated by AI).
If your work has been published in the Trans Survivors Zine before, you are welcome to submit again, but we will prioritize artists/writers we have not published in the most recent issue. If your work has been held for consideration from a previous issue, you are welcome to make additional submissions.
Contributors will receive $25 if their art or writing is accepted. We aim to include as many voices and experiences as possible.
FORGE requests non-exclusive rights to publish your work in the Trans Survivors zine and promote it on our social media. Your work still belongs to you. If you have any questions about submissions, please reach out to caleb@forge-forward.org.