Collaborative Writing Circle: Queer Futures

We are pleased to open applications for the Collaborative Writing Circle on “Queer Futures,” organized by Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research. The online space is meant to help us collaborate for our June 2023 issue on the same theme.

Overview of the Writing Circle

In preparation for the issue Queer Feminisms, we organized our first writing workshop in Beirut, at the time of the revolution in 2019. We learnt then that circles were the methodology we wanted to keep bringing back to life. As a result, we called for a collaborative writing circle for the issue on Counter-Archives and created a conspiracy of queer feminists in/from the South who met virtually almost every Saturday for about three months in 2021. This call is for us to come together again so we might write, think, and dream queer futures against the bleakness of our times.

The writing circle will meet online on a weekly basis over a period of two to three months. The discussions are an open space of solidarity and intellectual/affective exchange that, while moderated by Kohl, is shaped by the collective. While there will be time allocated to work on individual writing projects and provide collective feedback, the circle gives more weight to weaving a community together. Making space for our practice can take many forms: collective writing, musings on methodology and citation, political discussions, inviting and engaging with guests, but also taking the time to rest, chat, listen to music, watch videos, and support each other.

Who can apply?

The authors who are planning to submit their pieces for the Queer Futures issue can apply, and so can those who would like to contribute to the issue but will not be able to meet the submission deadline. We also welcome a small number of applications from authors thinking/writing about queer futures and who are in need of collaborative writing spaces.

The writing circle is open to those who position themselves at the margins of systems of oppression (women, trans, intersex, gender non-conforming individuals, people in/from the Global South, migrants, refugees, people with disabilities, workers, students, independent scholars, former prisoners, sex workers).

We accept applications in English, Arabic, or French.

On “Queer Futures”

We consider queer futures to be both a practice, a method, and a way of doing/being that extend across disciplines and areas of life. This writing circle welcomes articles, texts, collaborative projects, art pieces, and contributions in any form or content that take one side: that of the building of another world. We are hoping to ask the following questions: How to abolish capitalism without reforming capitalism? How to imagine queer futures without compromise or state-sanctioned pragmatism? How to queer and bring home the conversation around world-making and world-building? Read the full call here.

Timeline:

- The deadline for filling an application is Sunday, January 8, 2023.

- We will confirm your participation by Friday, January 13, 2023. 

- We will meet weekly (time, days, and duration to be decided collectively) starting the week of January 16 and until the week of March 13.

- We will finalize the projects until the end of June 2023, in preparation for Kohl’s issue 9.1 on Queer Futures.

In order to apply, please fill the following form. For inquiries and in case of technical issues, please write to workshops@kohljournal.press.