What will People Say: A collective of Tamil LGBTQQ people & allies

You are invited to submit a creative piece to the “What Will People Say” Collective. The Collective aims to provide a platform for LGBTQQ Tamils to share our stories, create a supportive community, organize cultural resistance to oppression. We are creating a bilingual (English/Tamil) zine and a blog as spaces to share the stories, experiences and dreams of LGBTQQ people safely and anonymously. We are looking for submissions from Tamils of all ages who identify as LGBTQQ for the zine and the blog. We are looking to centre the voices of people who self-identify as Tamil  and who also have origins in Tamil Eelam, Sri lanka, Ceylon, and the island who currently live in the global diaspora. Send us your story, comic, poetry, drawing or video! We launch in June 2015.

Some suggested topics/prompts are (but topics are not limited to):

• Family acceptance/rejection of sexuality, gender identity and expression
• Making connections within the larger LGBTQQ communities
• Isolation, racism within and outside our communities
• Stories about allies in Tamil communities
• Dating, sex, love, relationships
• Trauma and collective healing related to the conflict and/or immigration or exile

Here’s how to submit:

For all Media Please include the title, a short artist statement (100 words max) and an artist name you would like associated with the art (can also be a pen name) via e-mail to whatwillpeoplesay@gmail.com. Please put ” What Will People Say zine submission” in the email subject line.

*If you would like to remain anonymous please make sure any identifying information, like names of people in your art is changed.

All Submissions are due by May 1, 2015 11:59 PM

Written Format:

Written pieces should be no more than 250 words, 12 point type, and Arial font; as a word .doc

Audio/Video Format:

Audio/Video format should be no more 3 minutes. Send a link or file as mp3 or wav (24bit/48khz) or mp4 and mov not larger than 1920 x 1080.

Visual Arts:

Please send as a jpg file in no larger than 1920×1080 resolution.

If you find any of these formats confusing please email us!

For more information please contact

What will People Say Collective:

Whatwillpeoplesay15@gmail.com

whatwillpeoplesaycollective.wordpress.com

“What will People Say,” is a diverse collective of Tamil LGBTQQ (Lesbian gay bi trans queer and questioning) people and some non-LGBTQQ identified allies. We meet monthly in person and online. We want to start opening up spaces for queer and trans people in our communities by having conversations, teach-ins and fun gatherings that involve youth, adults and elders.