We invite submissions for a forthcoming collection of flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, and poetry centered on a complex and often underrepresented experience: female-identifying adult children & youth who have chosen to go no-contact with a parent that displays overt or covert narcissism.

This project seeks to hold space for deeply personal expressions of separation, survival, identity, and transformation. 

We view estrangement not as a static event, but as a vast spectrum—ranging from quiet distance to full severance, and everything in between. We want to interrogate the word "estrangement" itself: who defines it, whose experience gets left out, and how do we dismantle the rigid cultural, religious, and familial scripts (such as the persistent weight of "but they're your parent") that police our boundaries?

There is no single narrative of estrangement. We welcome work that is experimental, intimate, humorous, aspirational, unresolved, or defiant. We are looking for multiplicity, contradiction, and truth in all its forms.

We are especially interested in voices that reflect a wide range of generations, cultures, geographies, works in translation, and lived experiences.

Submissions may explore, but are not limited to:

• The moment or process of going no-contact
• Cultural or familial expectations and tensions
• Silence, grief, relief, or reclamation
• Intergenerational patterns and rupture
• Identity formation beyond estrangement
• Memory—fragmented, unreliable, or persistent
• Cultural or familial expectations and tensions — the weight of "but he's your father" or "she's your mother," and the religious, cultural, or community scripts that reinforce them
• The spectrum of estrangement: from quiet distance to full severance, and everything in between
• Interrogating the word itself — who defines estrangement, and whose experience gets left out of that definition

We welcome work that is experimental, intimate, aspirational, unresolved, or defiant. 

Who should submit:  Female-identifying writers of all backgrounds, including cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary individuals who feel connected to this experience. We strongly encourage submissions from historically underrepresented communities.

Submission guidelines:

• Format: Please submit your work as a single Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF.
• Genre: Clearly indicate the genre of your submission (e.g., Fiction, Memoir, Poetry, Essay) at the top of your document.
• Limits: Writers may submit up to one prose piece (max 1000 words) OR up to three poems.
• Bio: Include a brief contributor bio (50–150 words) with your submission.
• Originality: Previously unpublished work is preferred. If your piece has been published elsewhere, please explicitly note the original publication details so we can verify rights.
• Content Warnings: Please include content warnings at the top of your submission where relevant, to help us care for our editorial team.

Tone & care:  We recognize that this topic can be deeply personal and, at times, painful. Submit only what you feel ready to share. There is no expectation to disclose more than you wish.

Please note that this publication is currently in the developmental phase and not yet under contract. However, we are actively curating a strong roster of voices to advance the project, and we highly encourage you to submit your work.

If your work is accepted by us for publication, you consent to giving us first publication rights, after which all rights revert back to you. If you do republish your work somewhere else, we ask that you give a mention to our anthology.

Editors:

Britta Stromeyer is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her writing appears in World Literature Today, The Common, Tupelo Quarterly, Beyond Words Magazine, Necessary Fiction, On the Seawall, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bending Genres Journal, Marin Independent Journal, and other publications. Britta has authored award-winning children's books and holds an MFA from Dominican University, CA, an M.A. from American University, and a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford University.

Kim Culbertson is the award-winning author of five YA novels with Sourcebooks and Scholastic. Her first novel for adultsOther People’s Kids (Sibylline 2025) was named a finalist for the California Independent Booksellers Alliance (CALIBA) 2025 Golden Poppy Award in Fiction. Kim is a founder of the Flash Fiction Institute, sits on the Writers Council for National Writing Project, and works as a fiction mentor with Dominican University of California’s MFA in Creative Writing. Her book 100-Word Stories: A Short Form for Expansive Writing (Heinemann 2023) blends her two professional loves: teaching and writing.