Queer Ink, India’s first online bookstore (www.Queer-Ink.com) for everything queer, seeks YOUR stories for an exciting new anthology of diverse, contemporary LGBT/queer stories.

Building on the work of other groundbreaking historical anthologies, we are seeking dynamic stories of people living in India today who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, hijra, kothi, queer, genderqueer, or other gender-non-conforming identities.

Stories may be fiction or nonfiction.  Writers may be of any gender identity as long as the story features a primary character who is queer.  Rural or urban, gritty or sunny, Mills & Boon or Midnight’s Children — all writing styles and experiences are invited.  Diaspora writings are also welcome as long as there is a strong connection to India in the main character’s life. Excerpts from longer works (novels, memoirs) are welcome but must be able to stand alone.

We will be seeking a mix of established and emerging writers. A panel of editors/curators led by Minal Hajratwala (award-winning author of Leaving India: My Family’s Journey From Five Villages to Five Continents) will select the stories.

Please email anthology@queer-ink.com no later than March 15, 2011, with the following:

• 200-word description (synopsis) of your story.  (This description should be in English and state the language of the original story, if other than English.)
• Your name*
• Your pen name, for publication purposes, if different
• Email address
• Phone number
• City, state, and country of current residence
• Brief biographical statement about you (1-2 sentences)
• Our strong editorial preference is for unpublished works, but we will consider stories that have been published in a very small circulation publication or website, or a non-English publication. Please disclose any prior publications in your email.
• (OPTIONAL)  If completed, you may also attach the full story. Please follow these guidelines closely:  Use a standard font, 12 point, double-spaced type.  Include the word count of your story on the first page.  On every page, please include your name (or pen name), story title, and page number.  Submit your story as a .doc or .rtf file — all other other file types will not be opened.

If you prefer to submit by mail, please send to: P.O Box 7623, Malad (W), Mumbai 400.064.

Mailed submissions must be postmarked by March 15, 2011.

We will contact you by April 1 if we are interested in seeing the full story.

Completed stories will be due by April 30, 2011.

We welcome regional language submissions and, for selected stories, will work with authors and translators to create English versions. The anthology will be in English. All accepted stories will go through a professional editing process in which writers will retain ultimate control of story content.

Writers will be paid 1,000 rupees per story plus two copies of the anthology.

We welcome submissions by writers who prefer to use a different name in print.  If your story is selected, we will need your real name for legal purposes, including copyright and payments.  We will keep your name 100% confidential if you prefer.