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 through October 21st for the Death & Grief Issue.
Current issue: Death & Grief
Submission deadline: October 21st, 2026. Submit here!
As the seasons change, we’re entering a period of darkness and reflection. Cycles of death and life mirror this seasonal change. Grief may be especially present as we approach Trans Day of Remembrance in November. Many of us carry memories of loved ones we have lost across our lives. For Issue #8 of Trans Survivors, we’re looking for submissions that invite us to slow down and reflect during this period of change.
We welcome your creative interpretations of this theme. To get you started, some possible topics to explore include:
- Grief and death rituals
- Ways we remember our ancestors and history
- Cycles of death, rebirth, and change
- Ways we process grief and loss
- …and more
In all submissions, we welcome your joy, grief, rage, and creativity around the issue theme, 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.
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). Please submit up to five poems or two pieces of fiction, under 1000 words each.
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.