Press Seeks Non-fiction on Coming Home from War

Publishers at Hudson Whitman, the small press of the distance-learning institution Excelsior College, Albany, N.Y., are seeking non-fiction stories from military service members, veterans, family members, and friends on a theme of "Coming Home: The Personal Aftermath of Iraq and Afghanistan." Word count is 1,000 to 6,000. Deadline is May 1, 2015.

Writers whose works appear in the anthology, to be published in spring 2016, will each receive $200, publication, and two contributors' copies.

The anthology project is headed by Dario DiBattista, a U.S. Marine veteran of the Iraq War, and non-fiction editor of the Veterans Writing Project's "O-Dark-Thirty" journal.

The call for submissions reads, in part:

As part of a Memorial Day speech in 1884, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Jr.], veteran of the Civil War, famously orated:

"The generation that carried on the war has been set apart by its experience. In our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn that life is a profound and passionate thing. While we are permitted to scorn nothing but indifference, we have seen with our own eyes, and it is for us to bear the report to those who come after us."

In the 21st century, as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars—some of our nation’s longest conflicts—have risen and taken shape, men and women will turn to writing, as they have for centuries, to explain, to communicate, to heal, and to try to understand. Their stories—powerful, new, and necessary—will reveal the circumstances of those who served, as well as those who loved them, those who helped them, and those who stayed behind.

In the spirit of acknowledging this range of voices, Hudson Whitman/Excelsior College Press is opening a call for stories of coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the personal aftermath created by these wars. The call is open to those who have served, as well as their families, spouses, relatives, and friends.

Many popular books focus on combat—war made visible, from the outside. We are seeking stories that help us comprehend the inside, the powerful yet often invisible events that shape the hours, days, nights, weeks, months, and years after coming home.

Submit in Microsoft Word (.doc) format via Submittable here. While not required, please include mention of any affiliations with Excelsior College programs. Authors will be notified by June 15, 2015.

Questions regarding the anthology project may be directed via e-mail to: dariodibattista AT yahoo.com