Trans-Scripts – a new interdisciplinary online journal in the Humanities and Social Sciences based at the University of California, Irvine – invites graduate students to submit their work. The theme of the inaugural issue will be “Race: Theories, Identities, Intersections, Histories, and the ‘Post-Racial’ Society.” Race has long been constructed differently across place and time. Recent British National Party successes in the UK underlined continuing race and class tensions surrounding immigration. Race informs Anti-Indian attacks in Australia, land ownership in Zimbabwe, discrimination by caste in India, and anti-Chinese laws in Indonesia. Conflicts in Palestine and Darfur, and international media coverage of them, are also in part defined by racial views. Claims that the U.S. is entering a “post-racial” period are belied by debates over healthcare, anti-immigration laws and reparations for slavery that continue both inside and out of academia. Just these few examples suggest that understanding different approaches to race remains crucial.

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Trans-Scripts welcomes all submissions that engage topics related to “race.” They may, but certainly need not, address the examples above. As we believe that scholarship from a variety of approaches can help inform contemporary understandings, submissions need not conform to any disciplinary, methodological, temporal, or other criteria. They need only be original, well researched, and properly cited in MLA style. English language contributions from all universities in all countries will be considered.

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By contributing work, unpublished students can gain experience of the peer-review process and achieve their first publication, while those already published gain further professionalization. Work should be between 3,000 and 12,000 words, including footnotes. The deadline for submission is 19th September, 2010. For the journal’s submission guidelines and review process, see here. Please, see our mission statement as well. For any further inquiries, contact the editors at transscriptsjournal@gmail.com

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In addition to selected student work, renowned academics will contribute editorial pieces, offering students the chance to place their work in conversation with experts in various fields. Provisional agreements have been made with faculty such as Pal Ahluwalia (University of South Australia), Frank Dikötter (University of Hong Kong), Dan Cohn-Sherbok (Emeritus, University of Wales), Joy James (Williams College), Colin Dayan (Vanderbilt), Elizabeth Abel (University of California, Berkeley), William Deverell (University of Southern California), Hortense Spillers (Vanderbilt), and Tiya Miles (University of Michigan).

Visit the website here.

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Q: What is a “full-length, single-author collection of poetry”?
A: Any book of poetry by a single writer exceeding 48 printed pages in extent, published in print or in the form of an e-book available for sale. Self-published collections do count.

Q: Will the poets included be paid?
A: There are no plans to pay contributors at the moment, although they will receive at least one free copy of the anthology. Firmer details will be available at a later date.

Q: When can I expect a response?
A: Submissions, successful or unsuccessful, will be responded to on an ongoing basis. All responses will be sent within a month of the close of open submissions.

Q: [Some other question]
A: Email your query to the same address listed above. Title your email “QUERY”.

The Book Of Hopes And Dreams is a charity, poetry anthology, featuring many award-winning and internationally respected writers, including Simon Armitage, Margaret Atwood, Moniza Alvi, Alan Brownjohn, David Constantine, Cyril Dabydeen, Carol Anne Duffy, Ian Duhig, Ruth Fainlight, Vicki Feaver, Elaine Feinstein, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Ades Fishman, Magi Gibson, Alasdair Gray, Tony Harrison, John Heath-Stubbs, Michael Horovitz, Mimi Khalvati, Tom Leonard, Robert Mezey, Edwin Morgan, Lawrence Sail, Penelope Shuttle, Jon Stallworthy, Anne Stevenson and many others. Money raised from sales of this book will go to Spirit Aid for their aid programme in Afghanistan.

The Book Of Hopes And Dreams has been re-launched as an e-book and is available for a minimum donation of $2 (though larger donations will be gratefully received). Please make your payment via paypal to dee@thunderburst.co.uk and send an email to that address to let me know you’ve paid. As soon as funds are received you will be emailed your e-book. All funds raised (minus paypal admin charges will) go direct to Spirit Aid.

NB: Spirit Aid is one of the best, most-efficient charities in Scotland. It is staffed entirely by volunteers, who donate their time willingly because they wholeheartedly believe in the ethos of Spirit Aid, which is to give practical assistance to war or disaster torn regions of the world and to promote peace in a secular, non-religious way. Because it is staffed entirely by volunteers, 90% of all funds raised go direct to its projects… unlike many other charities, which have to deal with huge staff payroll and other administrative costs.

A Facebook group has been set up to help publicise The Book Of Hopes And Dreams. Members will be informed of what is happening and will be kept posted about sales and money raised.

Please please please, help to spread the word about the re-launch of The Book Of Hopes And Dreams. You can help, just by forwarding this email onto your friends. Alternatively, if you have a Facebook, please post the link to The Book Of Hopes And Dreams Facebook page on your Facebook page. Or you can post it on your blog or on your personal website. This will take just a minute or two of your time, and may help to generate more sales, which means that more children in Afghanistan will get the medical attention that you and I take for granted.

To find out more about what Spirit Aid are doing in Afghanistan, click on this link:

Thank you.

I wish you all the best

Dee Sunshine

If you would like to attend the event and join others for a glass of wine and a performance by exceptional young poet Caroline Bird, do please kindly RSVP to eleanor@carcanet.co.uk.

Caroline Bird’s poetry will be appearing in issue #9 of Cha.