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 one of our previously published issues of the Trans Survivors Zine.
Submissions are currently OPEN May 1st through May 31st, 2026.
Current issues:
Submissions are currently open for two issues. We are looking for submissions on:
Issue #6: Race & Culture – Release in June 2026.
- Personal experiences and relationships to culture
- Submissions from BIPOC contributors will be prioritized
- Family and community traditions
- Intersections of transness and racial/cultural identity
- Trauma and healing through the lens of cultural identity
- Experiences of connection and disconnection
Issue #7: Disability & Health – Release in August 2026.
- Experiences with disability and chronic health conditions
- Navigating healthcare systems, social connections, and everyday life while disabled/chronically ill
- Stories/poems/art about COVID and long-COVID
- Connections between trans identity and disability
- The impact of disability and health on trauma, healing, and wellbeing
In all submissions, we welcome your joy, grief, rage, and creativity around the themes of Issues #6 and #7, which might be focused on growth, imagining the future, healing, trauma, and resilience. Your submissions help us to shape the focus of each issue; please interpret the themes broadly, and feel free to take directions we might not expect.
While the May 2026 submission window is open, you are welcome to submit to one or both of the issues above.
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.
Contributors are welcome to use a pseudonym or be published anonymously.
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.