Call for Submissions from Writers and Illustrators: The New Inferno & Paradisio: Trump’s Tower and Beyond
What would the circles of hell reimagined as floors of the Trump Towers look like? How can we articulate the frightening and disturbing possibilities that are coming into being right now for America and the world? And what are our dreams for the world beyond that tower? What work is being done to constitute hope for America and the world right now? The New Inferno & Paradisio: Trump’s Tower and Beyond gives writers and artists an opportunity to make the stakes for our citizens, our country, and our world vivid in a comprehensive and possibly even entertaining way. Using Dante’s Inferno and Paradisio as our basic models, we imagine the hell that DT’s cabinet picks, supporters, and policies can result in bodily and/or communally, and beyond that into the future we want for ourselves and future generations.
Some specifics:
I am hoping to get submissions of just one to three pages. One submission per floor. There are 58 floors in the Tower but he claims 68 (of course). The extra 10 are actually the atrium, and we’ll be reserving those “floors” for issues/themes dealing with women.
Please note, you may choose your own level of hell, but the numbers might be rearranged a bit in the final version. You are encouraged to form a writer/illustrator team for this project. If you are interested in working with an illustrator or writer (ritamae.reese@gmail.com) and I’ll do my best to help facilitate these collaborations.
Deadline: March 17, 2017
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please contact me as soon as you decide you’d like to participate with your chosen perspective/angle/topic. For instance, this might look something like, “I’d like to write about sexual assault using the atrium floor of the Tower as the location.” This will help me coordinate the floors and topics to make sure we have the minimum amount of gaps and overlap.
Format: For text, please submit a Word doc or PDF. For image files, email me and we’ll arrange file transfer and formatting.
Please note that we do not anticipate being able to pay contributors. We will begin working to secure a publisher as soon as we have a number of contributors lined up and already have several leads.
Additional thoughts/sources:
For Virgils, you might use one of the people who died this year—Daniel Berrigan, Prince, David Bowie, Gwen Iffal, Leonard Cohen, Muhammad Ali, Ron Glass, even Fidel Castro. You can choose from the crowded 2016 graveyard here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2016 (or find another one or invent one or dispense with the guide altogether).
A helpful online guide to the Inferno, in case you need a quick refresher (or an introduction): l