Dear Family Member of an Incarcerated Writer:

Exchange for Change is a South Florida based nonprofit that offers writing courses in prisons. We provide semester longer classes aimed to improve writing communication skills for students on the inside and disseminate their work on the outside to help inform the public about who fills our local jails and prisons.

To that end, we have launched a project to record this period of the pandemic in book form, not just for our students to express how they feel about what is going on but for all incarcerated writers across the country, as well as their family members. Our decision to include family members was inspired by this moving piece written by the sister of a former E4C student.

If you or another family member want to participate in our book project, please see the information below. We want to record your voices. We want to know what communication has been like for you. Share a heartfelt story, something that is unique and personal to you and yours.

One more favor. Please share this call for submissions with anyone else who may have family members in prison.

Thank you.

Exchange for Change

The COVID Collection, a one-time book publication with Disorder Press, seeks compelling prose, poetry, and art from incarcerated writers, healthcare workers, and staff residing or working in a state or federal facility. Submissions should include work that has been created since the beginning of the quarantine period. It does not have to relate directly to Covid-19 but the submission should reflect the unique experience concerning you and your family member, and how the restrictions have impacted both of you.If relevant, include the impact of recent events around George Floyd, the continuance of structural racism and the ongoing struggles for justice and equality.

There will likely be a lot of focus on lockdowns, isolation, masks, quarantines, loss. Why is your story different? What’s unique that will make the reader want to know more about you and your family member? Your submission should leave the reader needing to take a deep breath.

Fiction, non-fiction, personal essays, poems, drawings encouraged. One submission per person. For poetry, three poems, or less with a maximum of 1500 words. Prose, 1500-word limit. Shorter pieces encouraged. Please indicate if you would like to be identified anonymously, with a pen name, just your first name, or your full name. Please include a few lines about yourself and your incarcerated family member as your bio. Deadline is September 15. Send to Attn: COVID Collection, c/o Exchange for Change 2103 Coral Way 2nd Floor Miami, FL. 33145