For Black writers and writers of colour based in Scotland

Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) and We Are Here Scotland (WAHS) are thrilled to announce our Creative Balance partnership with an open call on the theme Defining Our Space: Literary Explorations of BPOC Creative Environments.

We are seeking pitches from our communities exploring what constitutes nurturing, safe, and generative creative spaces for BPOC individuals, interrogating the physical, psychological, and/or cultural dimensions of space. Three writers will be chosen by a panel of team members from WAHS and SBWN and their work exhibited in a digital showcase.

The commissioned pieces will be integrated with WAHS’s Creative Balance research findings. Creative Balance is a mental health research project – the first research strand is exploring how can/do BPOC-led creative spaces function as protective factors for mental health within Scotland’s creative sector?

Brief

Defining Our Space: Literary Explorations of BPOC Creative Environments.

The notion of “space” is multifaceted for BPOC creatives—encompassing physical environments, psychological safety, cultural recognition, and creative freedom. This project invites writers to critically examine and reimagine what space means through their creative practice:

• What constitutes a safer space for BPOC writers?
• How do BPOC-led spaces differ from mainstream creative environments?
• What spatial elements (physical, emotional, cultural) are essential for creative wellbeing?
• How do BPOC writers claim, create, nurture, and/or transform spaces through their work?
• What new possibilities can be imagined for BPOC-led creative spaces?

Your work can explore physical spaces, digital spaces, cultural spaces, imagined or future spaces.

Your piece should combine personal reflection with creative expression.

Works could take various forms: essays, poetry, short fiction, hybrid forms.

Please only apply if you identify as a Black writer or writer of colour based in Scotland, and can complete your final piece by the end of September.