We are looking for young and emerging Mormon women writers to take part in a historic series of literary readings to take place along the Mormon corridor in Spring 2010.

We invite submissions of poetry or prose from any woman who identifies herself as a Mormon, including members or former members of the Community of Christ or fundamentalist Mormon groups.

We seek writers who speak powerfully to Mormon audiences by broadening our sense of Mormon belonging and offering compelling new visions for what it might mean to be Mormon in the 21st century.

If you would like to be considered for inclusion, please send

1. a one-page cover letter explaining how your work offers a compelling new vision for what it means to be Mormon in the 21st century. Given that we are interested in inclusion rather than orthodoxy, this letter should not be considered a request to bear your testimony. Rather than affirming your beliefs in the core tenets of the church, consider discussing intersections, tensions and confluences between Mormon culture and the world at large, or the ways that a Mormon heritage helps and hinders women in responding to the challenges of the world we live in today. Feel free to define and redefine your Mormon identity in idiosyncratic and personal ways as part of this account.

2. a two-page writing sample of poetry or prose

Address all correspondence and questions electronically to mowolito@live.com or by snail mail to Professor Joanna Brooks, Department of English, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanille Drive, San Diego, CA 92182. Submissions due March 31, 2009.

Sometimes, when I’m a little down, I feel like the work we’re all doing exists in an echo chamber. It’s the same small (oh, so very very small) group of people participating in the LDS literary community. The broad swath of LDS culture has very little interest in any of our magazines–that’s the truth. Mine, in particular, is barely a blip on the radar screen of Mormonism.

BUT! But . . . I know that if we’re not moving forward, we’re falling behind. One reason I came on board Irreantum is because even though our subscription base is very small (300 and something right now), every issue of Irreantum that’s published *exists* in the world, and is there for the future to build on.

It’s good to remember that Langston Hughes wrote that poem on a napkin, you know?