Disorder Press is excited to announce a new partnership with Exchange for Change for the publication of The COVID Collection: an anthology of literature and art by incarcerated writers nationwide.

Exchange for Change is a Miami-based non-profit dedicated to providing opportunities for creative and intellectual engagement for incarcerated individuals. Like Disorder Press, Exchange for Change believes in the value of every voice and the power of seeing those voices come to life on the page.

With The COVID Collection, we hope to shed light on the unique experience of carceral life during a global pandemic. Below is our call for submissions*:

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 going on inside your carceral setting and/or what is happening in the world outside your walls.

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 story. 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. Submissions do not have to be typed but must be legible. Please do not use pencil. Include your full name, and DOC number so we can contact you. Please indicate if you would like to be identified anonymously, with a pen name, just your first name only, or your full name. Please include a few lines about yourself as your bio.

Deadline September 15, 2020.

Send to:

Attn: COVID Collection, c/o Exchange for Change

2103 Coral Way 2nd Floor

Miami, FL. 33145

*an adapted version of this call for submissions has been distributed to family members of incarcerated writers to share their thoughts as well.