Nature Held Me Close

a zine about gender dysphoria and the great outdoors. read volumes 1, 2, and 3 here.

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Volume 3 of Nature Held Me Close is now available.

Read and download it here.

Thank you again to everyone who shared their work!

[zinjanthropusboisei]

Frontier Poetry Poetry Awards

The 2022 Nature & Place Prize Closes September 15th, 2022 (Midnight PST) | Add to your calendar Dear Poets, In her urgent poem “Trilliums”,

"In her urgent poem “Trilliums”, the late Mary Oliver wanders through the natural world “listened to the earth-talk, the root-wrangle, the arguments of energy, the dreams lying just under the surface” as she observes the trilliums in full bloom before eventually becoming the very flower of the poem’s name. In our pursuit of gentleness, nostalgia, and a reimagining of ‘home’, Frontier Poetry is launching a new contest called “Nature and Place”.

We’re looking for poems rich and robust in language, technique, and form that pay homage to the natural world and all of the small marvels that occur in nature. We’re also interested in poems that observe geography and the landscape of home. Frontier Poetry warmly encourages poets of all backgrounds, identities and ethnicities to submit. You're welcome here."

.

Mentally I am bonking myself on the head with a cardboard tube as a reminder that I haven't written poetry regularly in years and don't have time to put together a submission in three days because I have a whole dissertation on nature place and landscape to finish writing 😑

...it is tempting though.

.

@starfoozle - of interest for the @natureheldmeclosezine crowd?

[starfoozle]

This is very cool, thank you for sharing!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Will there be another volume of Nature Held Me Close in the works someday?

Perhaps some day, but not for a while! In the meantime, I very much encourage anyone inspired by this project to keep making art and illustrations about nature and gender if you feel so inclined! This project just happened to bring together a collection of narratives based on this theme, and I hope that it serves as a jumping-off point for future creative work.

[whenbacklitbylovezine]

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

When Backlit by Love is a zine about trans people loving and being loved. Our hope is that this collection of art, poetry, and creative nonfiction can begin to encompass the breadth and depth of love so many people, cis and trans alike, have for the trans folks in their lives.

We are seeking stories and artwork that centers a love for a trans person or people in the creator’s life, including yourself! We especially want to highlight work by trans and nonbinary creators, but cis people are also encouraged to submit. A great part of the purpose of this zine is that love for trans people comes not just from the trans (and queer) community, but across many identities and in many ways.

How to Participate:

If you’d like to submit your work, follow the submission guidelines under the cut. Send your work to [email protected]. We plan to accept 30-40 original pieces; if there’s a huge response, we may consider future editions. Submissions are now being accepted on a rolling basis, so get yours in before spots fill up!

Please share this call for submissions with any creators you think might be interested!

If you’d like to support the zine, please follow us at whenbacklitbylovezine and share our posts! When Backlit by Love will be completely free when released.

Keep reading

[natureheldmeclosezine]

It’s Trans Awareness Week, and I wanted to boost the call for submissions for this lovely project accordingly!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Volume 3 of Nature Held Me Close is now available.

Read and download it here.

Thank you again to everyone who shared their work!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Hello! I'm very excited about the second edition of Nature Held Me Close. Is the release date still going to be around Halloween?

Yes, thanks for checking in! I’m in the process of formatting the zine and cross-checking it for accessibility: it has 46 separate entries and is currently 85 pages long, so this has been quite a production (in a good way!) This volume will go live the first week of November. It’s got some really beautiful work included and I’m excited to share it soon!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Update: Hi everyone — just checking in on timing for the second edition of Nature Held Me Close! You can expect the zine to be released sometime in late October, around Halloween. Stay tuned for further updates, and thank you again for your interest!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

A couple folks have let me know that my initial replies confirming receipt of submissions must have gotten lost in a spam filter somewhere along the line — apologies! If I haven’t replied to your submission and you already emailed me about it and didn’t hear back, do check your spam folder, and send me a message here if you have any questions or concerns.

[natureheldmeclosezine]

✨Thank you to everyone who submitted work to the 2021 edition of the Nature Held Me Close zine! ✨

Submissions are now closed (though if you already asked for an extension via email, you of course have been granted one — it’s been a weird year). This volume will have nearly 50 individual pieces of art, poetry, prose, and mixed media: fantastic work, everyone! Acceptance emails have gone out to all participants — if you didn’t hear back from me, let me know! I’ll be compiling and editing the zine over the next month or so to prepare it for sharing later this summer. This project has been deeply meaningful for me, and I wanted to thank you all for your support and enthusiasm — it’s a community effort and I couldn’t have done it without you! Stay tuned.

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Call for Submissions: Nature Held Me Close, Edition Two

“Nature Held Me Close” is a zine about gender dysphoria and the great outdoors. Sometimes it’s hard to exist in a physical body, but spending time in nature can be one of the best ways to feel more comfortable in your own skin.

This is the second edition of this project, initially started in 2020. You can read volumes 1 and 2 here.

This zine is a place to feature art and writing from trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people about how spending time outdoors  – hiking, camping, gardening, birdwatching, landscaping, doing outdoor education or research, or just sitting quietly in nature – has influenced how you feel about your body and your gender. Submissions are open to dysphoric people of any and all gender identities!

You are welcome to share:

Essays and other nonfiction writing

Poetry

Digital and/or traditional art

Photography

Mixed media

How to participate:

Email [email protected] with your submission. Please include 1) your name or a nickname you’d like to be known by, 2) social media handle if you’d like it to be published with your piece (optional), and 3) any author’s or artist’s notes you’d like included as well. Once submissions are collected, this zine will be published as a free PDF. Submissions are due by June 20, 2021: this year’s summer solstice.

Submission guidelines are included under the cut!

Keep reading

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Happy Solstice, everyone! Submissions close tonight, so if you’ve got one, send it in! Thanks to everyone who’s participated so far!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Call for Submissions: Nature Held Me Close, Edition Two

“Nature Held Me Close” is a zine about gender dysphoria and the great outdoors. Sometimes it’s hard to exist in a physical body, but spending time in nature can be one of the best ways to feel more comfortable in your own skin.

This is the second edition of this project, initially started in 2020. You can read volumes 1 and 2 here.

This zine is a place to feature art and writing from trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people about how spending time outdoors  – hiking, camping, gardening, birdwatching, landscaping, doing outdoor education or research, or just sitting quietly in nature – has influenced how you feel about your body and your gender. Submissions are open to dysphoric people of any and all gender identities!

You are welcome to share:

Essays and other nonfiction writing

Poetry

Digital and/or traditional art

Photography

Mixed media

How to participate:

Email [email protected] with your submission. Please include 1) your name or a nickname you’d like to be known by, 2) social media handle if you’d like it to be published with your piece (optional), and 3) any author’s or artist’s notes you’d like included as well. Once submissions are collected, this zine will be published as a free PDF. Submissions are due by June 20, 2021: this year’s summer solstice.

Submission guidelines are included under the cut!

Keep reading

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Two more days to submit your pieces for Nature Held Me Close! Thank you to everyone who’s sent in work so far: this edition is shaping up to be fantastic!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Call for Submissions: Nature Held Me Close, Edition Two

“Nature Held Me Close” is a zine about gender dysphoria and the great outdoors. Sometimes it’s hard to exist in a physical body, but spending time in nature can be one of the best ways to feel more comfortable in your own skin.

This is the second edition of this project, initially started in 2020. You can read volumes 1 and 2 here.

This zine is a place to feature art and writing from trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people about how spending time outdoors  – hiking, camping, gardening, birdwatching, landscaping, doing outdoor education or research, or just sitting quietly in nature – has influenced how you feel about your body and your gender. Submissions are open to dysphoric people of any and all gender identities!

You are welcome to share:

Essays and other nonfiction writing

Poetry

Digital and/or traditional art

Photography

Mixed media

How to participate:

Email [email protected] with your submission. Please include 1) your name or a nickname you’d like to be known by, 2) social media handle if you’d like it to be published with your piece (optional), and 3) any author’s or artist’s notes you’d like included as well. Once submissions are collected, this zine will be published as a free PDF. Submissions are due by June 20, 2021: this year’s summer solstice.

Submission guidelines are included under the cut!

Keep reading

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Two weeks to go, everyone! We’ve got some wonderful submissions so far — I’m really looking forward to assembling this edition!

[starfoozle]

If you don't mind me asking--out of curiosity, how are the zine Nature Held Me Close submissions going? Are there more then last year?

Going strong, though there are fewer than last year — there are about 20 pieces that have been submitted for this edition so far, whereas last year I got 60+ and had to split the zine into two volumes accordingly! I suspect lots of folks will be sending stuff in within the next month before submissions close, so we shall see. (Friendly reminder to send in your work before June 20 if you’d like it to be included!)

[natureheldmeclosezine]

hi !! same person from the previous anon, it just occured to me to ask if you guys know any other zines / projects / collections with the same feeling as the nature held me close zine ??? it's truly an unique project but i'd rlly love to look into any published books or zines talking about gender and nature !!! it's fine if you don't know any, (and honestly it can be only abt one of those two themes as well,, anything abt nature and/or gender) but i thought i'd try out asking for some recs !! is there any writing piece that inspired the creation of the zine ???

Hi there! That’s a great question. I can’t think of any books or publications off the top of my head that directly address this same theme, which was part of my impetus for the creation of the zine. The title of this project comes from an excerpt from an early section of Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues, though it does not necessarily reflect the primary topics of the novel. The work of Mary Oliver, a lesbian poet who is best known for her writing on nature, is another major influence — her poem Wild Geese in particular is meaningful to a lot of queer people and naturalists alike. Eli Clare, a genderqueer trans man and disability activist, has also written about his relationship with nature from a queer + disability studies lens in Exile and Pride and essay collections (content warning for discussion of CSA in a number of these pieces). Some of the Canadian writer Ivan Coyote’s short stories also discuss their relationship with the great outdoors as a nonbinary butch growing up in the Yukon, which I highly recommend.

If anyone has additional recommendations, please share them in the comments or reblogs!

[starfoozle]

hey !! i just wanted to drop in here & thank you deeply for producing the nature held me close zine some time ago. the project is so amazing & wonderful !! it really means so much for me, and i just wanted to express me gratitude -- i came across it by the end of last year when i was first struggling with being trans and what that meant for me. i read the first volume in one afternoon and i think that was when something clicked for me (some of the pieces there i saved on my phone & some i even memorized it's just. oh god it truly did change me). i just finished reading the second volume yesterday after a few rough months with my identity and once again i had the same feeling - there's so many people out there who feel just like me and it's just so !! wonderful !! it feels like belonging & it made me realize how being trans is actually something that is natural (excuse the pun) & full of joy. and this wouldn't have happened were it not for you to have compiled all of these pieces i think, so. from the bottom of my little trans youth heart. i just need to thank you. this zine changed these past few months & possibly my life for a lot lot lot better !! (i don't know if this is the right place to leave this so. feel free not to answer !! i just wanted to make sure you knew how much of an impact this project had on me & i'm sure a lot of others, it's. truly amazing !!)

I am so, so glad and humbled to hear that this project was so meaningful for you, friend — thank you so much for sharing. Being trans is just another neat facet of nature’s infinite diversity, and I’m so happy that the art and stories in the zine spoke to you like this and were able to provide comfort and reassurance that you are not alone! Wishing you all the best. 💞💕💓

[whenbacklitbylovezine]

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

When Backlit by Love is a zine about trans people loving and being loved. Our hope is that this collection of art, poetry, and creative nonfiction can begin to encompass the breadth and depth of love so many people, cis and trans alike, have for the trans folks in their lives.

We are seeking stories and artwork that centers a love for a trans person or people in the creator’s life, including yourself! We especially want to highlight work by trans and nonbinary creators, but cis people are also encouraged to submit. A great part of the purpose of this zine is that love for trans people comes not just from the trans (and queer) community, but across many identities and in many ways.

How to Participate:

If you’d like to submit your work, follow the submission guidelines under the cut. Send your work to [email protected]. We plan to accept 30-40 original pieces; if there’s a huge response, we may consider future editions. Submissions are due by June 30th, 2021.

Please share this call for submissions with any creators you think might be interested!

If you’d like to support the zine, please follow us at whenbacklitbylovezine and share our posts! When Backlit by Love will be completely free when released.

Keep reading

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Boosting this wonderful project for anyone who might be interested in contributing!

[natureheldmeclosezine]

Volume 1 of Nature Held Me Close is now available. 

Read and download it here.

Volume 2 coming soon: thank you to everyone who participated!

[starfoozle]

Bringing this back to add that Volume 2 is also available at the link above, and a new call for submissions is live for the 2021 edition of Nature Held Me Close! If you enjoyed this zine, please consider sharing your own work in the next volume!