The Backpack Press

Greetings!

The Late Orphan Project is reopening for submissions starting November 2, 2016. Essays, journal entries, poetry, theater – all will be considered as long as the theme supports the Project.

The Project – to encourage writers to discuss the death of your parents. The easy story is to write about what happened. My mother’s long history with depression, my father’s heart ailments – easy to write because they tell a story that happened. This happened, that happened, and then they died. What the Project tries to do is not to discuss the details of the death or what led up to the death but rather what happened next?

How did this loss impact you?

When your mother or father dies, the impact is considerably stronger than other deaths in the family and the impact is frequently  unpredictable.

How are you changed? What did you learn? When you picked up your life again, how was it different, or better, or worse? How did you chart your life without your parents?

What the Late Orphan Project was able to do in the first volume of stories was to show that the most personal story displays the most universal truths. The reader understands and feels empathy with the writer and the writers can sometimes find closure or healing or a deeper understanding of the events that followed the deaths.

This is not a sad project even though the stories will likely make you cry. Rather it is a celebration of real life through the telling of these very difficult stories.

Submission deadlines – November 2 to December 2, 2016.

Guidelines – All entries should be approximately 1000-1500 words.Shorter pieces will be considered but longer ones may not. One entry per person please. Stories should be accompanied by the following:

1) A 6-line author bio, written in 3rd person.

2) The name of the mother or father in the story, including birth and death dates and geographic location.

3) The word SUBMISSION in the subject line of the email.

4) All submissions to lateorphanproject@gmail.com

5) Identify please if your story has been published previously with a note that you have secured permission for The Backpack Press to republish if you story is selected.

If you have questions about submissions or the Project in general, please contact us at lateorphanproject@gmail.com.