The Deep End: Call for Submissions
What draws humans to the water? We’re land mammals, yet we build pools so we can swim year-round in all climates and we swim outside in lakes and oceans, submerging our bodies and temporarily sharing space with fish, sharks, whales, jellyfish, and sea urchins. Some of us even learn to plunge our bodies in colder and colder water, conditioning ourselves to withstand temperatures that would make most people hypothermic. So why do we swim?
Co-edited by andrea bennett (Like a Boy But Not a Boy, Arsenal Pulp Press) and Lindsay Zier-Vogel (Letters to Amelia, Book*hug Press), The Deep End: Reflections on Swimming will offer thoughtful answers to this question.
We’re looking for pitches and essays from swimmers of all kinds, at all stages of life, and who are interested in exploring swimming and water in all its many incarnations and entry points.
Themes and questions we’re hoping to explore include:
- pool swimming and wild swimming
- body size, fatness, and swimming
- the solitary nature of swimming
- navigating fear and wild swimming
- what is the draw of competitive swimming?
- what is the draw of marathon swimming?
- swimming and disability
- learning to love swimming on a tether
- solitary nature of swimming
- meditative/creative space of swimming
- Olympic and Paralympic swimming/coaching
You can send us a finished essay draft (between 2,000-5,000 words), or a pitch with a writing sample. Pitches should be ~250 words. They should describe your topic, and how you’d plan to write through it in an essay, with a few scenic or descriptive moments to show us what kind of tone and style you’ll be writing in.
Send essay drafts and pitches, along with your bio and mailing address to TheDeepEndBook@gmail.com by August 30, 2024.
Note: Contributors must be Canadian citizens / permanent residents with a Canadian address.
We will notify contributors whose essays are selected for the book in early November. Contributors will receive CDN$150 + two (2) copies of the finished book.
