NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all who submitted.
Inaugural Call for Submissions: Protection Spell Online Folio
Barahm Press is a new micropress committed to uplifting BIPOC diasporic voices. Recognizing the challenges our communities face due to structural racism, we seek to amplify stories that speak to these complexities of displacement, cultural memory, and the ongoing struggle for liberation. We publish handcrafted letterpressed books and broadsides as well as online folios.
In our inaugural call for submissions, we look to harness the protective magic of poetry in the face of overwhelming global devastation. As genocide and war ravage Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Ethiopia, Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere, we ask:
What power does poetry wield? How can our words conjure a collective community, mend our broken spirits and transform despair into hope?
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We invite BIPOC diasporic writers to send us protection spells—poems that weave magic and reflect our interconnectedness and humanity.
Your words will not only find a home on our digital platform alongside evocative visual work but also be woven into a collaborative spell, culminating in a limited edition letterpress broadside.
Join Barahm Press on our inaugural journey. Your voice matters. Your words have power.
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How to Submit:
1) Please fill out our Google form.
2) We invite BIPOC diasporic writers to submit 1-4 unpublished poems in document or pdf format to barahmpress@gmail.com with the subject "Submission for Protection Spell Folio."
3) Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please email should you need to withdraw work. Submissions open June 25th and close September 1st, 11:59 PM PT.
As a collective that strives to make poetry and publishing more accessible, we particularly invite unpublished poets and those without an MFA to send work. This is a fee-free opportunity.
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A Note on Diaspora and Spells:
By “diasporic,” we at Barahm Press focus on the experiences of BIPOC communities, particularly those who have been dispersed from their ancestral homelands due to historical forces such as colonialism, slavery, indentured servitude, or political conflict. These experiences are marked by enduring systemic racism and settler colonialism, which in turn shape opportunities, challenges, and identities within the diaspora and broader community. We also recognize ourselves as settler colonialists since we occupy unceded land; contending with this truth, we are committed to supporting Indigenous voices.
We also recognize that the idea of a spell may not be something intended to be shared with outsiders of a culture. We are not asking for sacred wisdom meant to stay private be made public, but if you are moved to offer language toward protection that does not cross spiritual boundaries, we would gratefully receive it.