Blanket Sea is a magazine and small press dedicated to showcasing work by chronically ill, mentally ill, and disabled creators. They are currently open for microchapbooks (10-13 pages) of poetry, creative nonfiction, or hybrid of both for their Awareness & Advocacy Series.

“Our press has a focus and a mission. Like our magazine, we showcase work by chronically ill, mentally ill, and disabled creators. Our goal is to help raise awareness, empathy, and understanding as well as promote disability advocacy, policies, and rights. We believe that writing and sharing lived experience is a powerful form of activism, and we plan to promote these works as well as reach out to advocacy organizations to suggest offering our books as a resource to patients, providers, politicians, and researchers.”

For more information, see my interview with Founder and Editor-in-Chief Alana Saltz with a link to submission guidelines below.

HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about Blanket Sea.

SALTZ: Blanket Sea was founded in January 2018. We’re a magazine and small press dedicated to showcasing work by chronically ill, mentally ill, and disabled creators. We will be accepting submissions for our Awareness & Advocacy microchapbook series starting February 15.

HOPKINSON: How/why was Blanket Sea originally started?

SALTZ: As someone who has lived with chronic illness, mental illness, and disability for most of my life, I’ve found it challenging to find the right outlets for my work. There aren’t many spaces, especially focused and dedicated ones, where disabled writers and artists can feel safe and welcome. I wanted to create a space and community like that.

HOPKINSON: Who is your target reader audience?

SALTZ: The work is by disabled creators. We aim for the content to be experienced by anyone with an interest in reading, creativity, and the arts. Our goal is for the work we publish to bring new awareness around important and marginalized disability rights and issues to the general public.

HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for?

SALTZ: We want work that is compelling, immersive, and evocative. We’re looking for honesty, truth, and openness. For this microchapbook submission call, we’re only looking for writing that addresses personal, lived experience of illness and disability.

HOPKINSON: What is your favorite part of being editor-in-chief of Blanket Sea?

SALTZ: There’s so much I enjoy about running Blanket Sea. I love reading the magazine submissions that come in and sharing them with our wonderful and dedicated team of section editors. Ultimately, giving a home to important work by underrepresented creators in my community is why I do this. Any steps we can take to bring new awareness to disability rights is invaluable, and I’m honored to do my small part in that. I’m excited to start this new chapter of expanding more earnestly into small press publishing.

HOPKINSON: Where can folks send submissions?

SALTZ: Our microchapbook submission information can be found at http://blanketsea.com/microchapbook-submissions/

HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you?

SALTZ: Our email is blanketsealit@gmail.com. We can also be followed on and contacted via social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

If you like this post, please share with your writerly friends and/or  follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You can see all the FREE resources my site offers poets/writers on my Start Here page.