Call for Submissions: Fatherless Daughters Project
An upcoming anthology, "Daddy's Girls", is seeking women and girls of color who grew up little, no, or strained relationships with their father. Participants are encouraged to send in prose, poems and artwork about how growing up without a father shaped their lives. There are no age restrictions. The deadline for submissions is Father's Day, June 18, 2017.
- (1888PressRelease) October 17, 2016 - Tayo Oredein, author of "His PhD is in Hypocrisy…And Other Poems about My Crappy Ex-Boyfriend", is collecting submissions for a new book, tentatively titled "Daddy's Girls". The project will feature essays, poetry, letters, and artwork, from women and girls of color who had limited, strained, or nonexistent relationships with their father during their formative years.
"I want this project to give an actual voice to fatherless girls and women of color," Oredein says. "When we hear about the impact of fatherlessness, the precedence for discourse and even for interventions goes to the boys. It's understandable because the effects are often immediate, obvious and outwardly destructive as they're more likely to take out their anger and frustration on society. However the damage to girls and women is just as extensive. It's just that it's much quieter, and more internalized."
The project spawned from one of Oredein's own dating experiences. "I was on a third or fourth date with this guy when told me 'I used to look for what I call "Daddy's Girls", which are women who grew up without a father, because they're easier to take advantage of'. It really stuck in my craw. It's so frustrating because I've heard so many disparaging comments and jokes about women and girls with 'daddy issues'." Oredein said it made her want to further explore the role that fatherlessness has on women and girls, and its various implications.
To that end, Oredein is inviting other self-identified women and girls of color to contribute short stories, essays, letters, poems, drawings, photographs, memoirs, and other expressions about their relationship or lack thereof with their fathers. The circumstances for being "fatherless" include but are not limited to abandonment, death, mental illness, substance abuse, incarceration, and fathers who were physically present but who were emotionally, mentally or otherwise unavailable. Participants are encouraged to explore and express how it influences relationships, love, expectations, careers, plans, family, self-esteem, successes, mindset, and other facets of their life. Transwomen and non-binary individuals are welcome to submit as well. There is no age minimum or cap. "If there is a four year old who wants to tell her story and there is someone to write it down for her, or if she's able to capture her sentiments in a drawing, we want it," Oredein says.
Essay contributions may be up to 5 pages (single-spaced) or 5000 words. Poems may be any length. Photography and other artwork may be submitted as JPEG or PNG files. Multiple entries are permissible. Contributions can be published anonymously or using a moniker by request. There is no monetary compensation at this point. Direct any questions, submissions, and requests for entry forms to tytaytai ( @ ) gmail dot com dot Befittingly, the deadline for submissions is Sunday June 18, 2017, Father's Day dot
Tayo Oredein is a writer from Jamaica, Queens NY. She is a Wellesley College alumna and holds graduate degrees from Hunter College (CUNY) and Rutgers University. She models and acts as well.
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