A former Burnaby NOW reporter is at the helm of a book project that’s seeking women’s stories about living life as plus-size.
Caitlin Press is currently seeking non-fiction submissions by women for BIG: Thoughts on a Plus-Size Life. The publishing company is looking for submissions by women of all ages, orientations, colours and backgrounds (including trans women) for the upcoming anthology of non-fiction prose.
The anthology is being edited by Christina Myers, who worked as a Burnaby NOW/New Westminster Record reporter from 2001 to 2013. Myers completed Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio program, and her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and magazines. Most recently, she’s been a longlisted finalist for the Writer’s Union of Canada’s short prose competition.
“When I first started thinking about this project, it was all about me – what did I think, what were my experiences?” Myers said. “I have a ton to say, but I can only say it from one perspective and I came up against a huge wall realizing it wasn’t sufficient. How does size, how does being deemed ‘big,’ intersect with our cultural backgrounds, our sexual orientation, our age or our skin colour? What do those experiences look like, sound like, feel like? And that can run the gamut from celebration to grief, from mundane to dramatic. I have no preconceived box of ideas about what kinds of stories we might get – I hope that it’s as diverse as possible.”
Myers noted that, although size is a topic that’s discussed frequently, it’s often done in a limited way.
“We talk about self-image relative to the media landscape, about the obsession with thinness, but what we don’t really get into very often is how size interacts with the various pieces of our lives, how women navigate that, how it influences our decisions and actions across almost every aspect, from our private thoughts to our sexual relationships to our careers.”
The call for submissions is open to all writers, both established and emerging.
“I hope new writers, unpublished writers, know the door is open,” Myers said. “If the topic speaks to you, if you have things to say, please send your stories in. It’s impossible to promise which stories will be in the final project, but I promise to read every story with care, and to treat the work the way I would want mine treated.”
See www.tinyurl.com/CaitlinPressPlusSize for the full submission details. Submissions are ongoing now and open until April 1, 2019.
