PRISM international stands in solidarity with Black communities across the United States, Canada, and beyond, in asserting that Black Lives Matter. We join them in demanding justice for the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Regis Korchinksi-Paquet, and countless others who have lost their lives to police brutality. We acknowledge the urgency with which we need to dismantle white supremacy and anti-Black racism, and that we, alongside the rest of the literary community, have a role to play in that.
PRISM acknowledges that Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) writers have been underrepresented in CanLit, and in our own publication history. We have a long-standing commitment to providing a platform to those marginalized by the literary community, but we understand that simply stating a commitment is not enough. Our current editors (on staff until April 2021) are looking carefully and critically at ways to ensure that we publish more work by BIPOC in 2020-21, particularly centering the voices of Black and Indigenous people, continue to diversify our editorial boards, and support those on the frontlines working to end white supremacy.
While we consider long-term strategies, here are a few of the actions we are currently taking:
From now until the end of June
PRISM will offer a free copy of our latest issue, SPRAWL, to anyone who provides a receipt dated between June 8th-31st with a donation of over $75 to a bail fund, a chapter of Black Lives Matter, or another organization working to support Black communities.
Between now and April 2021
In addition to our established practice of waiving submission fees for Indigenous writers, PRISM will extend this to include Black writers for both contests and regular submissions.
If you are Black writer who would like to access our free submissions, please email your submission and cover letter to:
FOR PROSE: Tanvi at prose@prismmagazine.ca
FOR POETRY: Emily at poetry@prismmagazine.ca
FOR CONTESTS: Shristi at promotions@prismmagazine.ca
The current editorial team at PRISM commits to publishing more interviews with and reviews of BIPOC authors on our website, prismmagazine.ca.
We especially encourage book review and interview pitches from Black and Indigenous writers. This is a paid opportunity. If you’re interested in pitching an interview or review, please reach out to our Reviews Editor, Jaz, at reviews@prismmagazine.ca.
Silence is unacceptable: to be silent is to be complicit in upholding systems of oppression. As a literary organization we have a unique responsibility to use language and story to amplify BIPOC voices, to de-centre white narratives, and to continually move towards justice.
We will strive to ingrain this commitment into our institutional memory so that future editorial teams can continue and broaden the work. We understand that anti-racism is a lifelong commitment, and we will continue to educate ourselves, hold ourselves and each other accountable, and learn from Black and Indigenous voices leading the movement.
#BlackLivesMatter.
Image from BlackLivesMatter.com