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hi all! my good friend sun and i are starting up saffron lit, a literary + arts magazine dedicated to amplifying the voices of south / central / west asian + mena writers and creatives. we aim to provide a space for brown asians to share work joyfully & without being boxed into writing solely abt identity and trauma (though such work is also necessary & welcome!)

we are now open for submissions for our very 1st issue, up until september 15th. from poetry, fiction, scripts, visual art, and everything in between, throw us whatever you’ve got… we’re so excited to see your work! you can learn more about our submission guidelines here if you’re interested 💓

our staff applications are also currently open! we’re looking for readers + editors for poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art, as well as a graphic designer or two. if you’re a south / central / west asian + mena creative and would like to work for our fledgling litmag, be sure to apply here!

This is writing. It is subjective. Tastes vary for every writer and reader, and to ask someone to feel the same way about everyone’s writing is ridiculous because they won’t.

Sure, I reblog book and Patreon announcements regardless of taste to spread the word. Actual writing excerpts? It depends on whether I personally enjoyed it. It is not dictated by who I follow now or back in the day, and certainly not how good I need to look to people. It is ridiculous to demand someone reblog more of other people’s writing that they may not like or be interested in just to prove a social point. 

I would much rather be known as someone who leaves genuine, honest comments on things they can praise wholeheartedly than someone who says nice things to everyone (making their praise meaningless.) Who seriously wants this kind of fake comment to keep up appearances? Wouldn’t you rather know, when you get feedback, that it’s from a place of honesty?

So stop pressuring people to reblog more of other people’s content. Stop asking them to ‘prove’ that they care about other writers. Leave people alone, and let them reblog what they like onto their own blog. 

Photo of a mountain range beneath a blue sky. Above the mountain there’s an arc made up of four crescents of light–all representing stages of a solar eclipse–and an actual eclipse in the center. 

24 LGBT+ Books by Black Authors

I’m seeing a lot of the same books on my dash, so I spent a few hours researching some lesser-known books. These books fall across a variety of genres and age group. 

[Image description: A series of infographics by slytherin-bookworm-guy. Each graphic contains two or three book covers and summaries for each book. A rainbow banner at the top reads “LGBT Books by Black Authors.”

french

spanish

german

korean

japanese

chinese

malay

thai

finnish

filipino

indonesian

polish

hungarian

albanian

portuguese

italian

turkish

For the last few weeks, I’ve been going through it. First there was the constant stream of news about the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on Black communities, then came the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade at the hands of police and the wrongful death of Ahmaud Arbery. Meanwhile I’m navigating this pandemic along with everyone else, and trying to figure out how to make a positive impact along the way. It’s been dizzying. And I know I’m not alone.

According to Naj Austin, founder of the social community for people of color Ethel’s Club, all of those complex feelings and mixed emotions are normal in times of crisis and collective trauma. Ethel’s Club, which previously offered free mental health counseling for members in its Brooklyn location, has now transitioned to a digital model. “The great thing about a healing space like Ethel’s Club is that it takes our identity, and everything that comes with that, into account. You can’t talk about these complex feelings without talking about Blackness.” The club’s online community is hosting free, hour-long grieving sessions twice monthly.

For many Black people practicing social distancing, the need for virtual resources has never been more clear. So, I’ve compiled a list of six more mental health resources, in addition to Ethel’s Club, that are providing virtual support to the Black community right now. However you choose to grieve, process, and/or stand in solidarity, remember that you’re not alone, and that your personhood and wellness still matter.

Dive in Well

Maryam Ajayi founded Dive in Well, an organization offering digital classes on various wellness practices, to create a more inclusive wellness industry. Dive in Well hosts donation-based digital events like breathwork classes and therapy sessions aimed at centering self care.

Sista Afya

This Chicago-based, community-driven organization provides women from across the Black diaspora with low-cost group therapy sessions, workshops, and free online conversations known as Online Sista Support Groups, which cover topics like managing the stress sparked by consuming news.

Healhaus

Founders Darian Hall and Elisa Shankle created this space in Brooklyn to provide accessible and inclusive wellness to their community. HealHaus is currently closed, but their ethos has continued virtually through live streamed classes, including a healing cypher for men of color.

Therapy for Black Girls

Dr. Joy Harden Bradford founded this organization to combat the stigma around therapy that might otherwise prevent Black women from seeking care. Now, TBG has become a successful podcast, a directory that aims to connect women with culturally competent therapists, as well as a private community Facebook support group. The organization holds free group support sessions weekly on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. EST.

The Nap Ministry

Performance artist and poet Tricia Hersey founded The Nap Ministry to champion Black rest as a form of reparations and resistance against burnout culture and capitalism. While she normally hosts free pop-ups where visitors can take brief naps and workshops in the Atlanta area, Hersey has been using Instagram to provide mini sermons about the importance of slowing down and getting more sleep when you’re a Black person fighting oppression day-in and day-out.

Inclusive Therapists

SCAM ALERT!! Told Magazine Inc / New Media International are scams targeting vulnerable creatives. 

They lure you in with a very professionally worded email promising an interview with their magazine, saying you were nominated for it by one of your followers. Their website is also very professional on the surface, but if you look closely you’ll notice weird things about it. Lots of photoshopped stock photos of models wearing their logo, no real content or articles, blurry images of text where articles might be.

If you say yes, they send you a link to a questionnaire where they get your personal information, along with some questions about your art peppered in. Then they’ll ask you for money so they can mail you a copy of the magazine with your interview when it’s out, and that’s where the biggest part of the scam is. Once you send them money, they disappear.

I made it to the interview phase before going NAH, (I asked them a ton of questions about where the heck their articles were and why their magazine didn’t appear in any Google searches - they ignored me and just sent their next copy/paste email in the scam - a real editor would’ve addressed my questions). Then I found more artists talking about this scam on Twitter, but I haven’t seen anything about it on Tumblr. So, here you go.

There’s a lot of scams aimed at creatives right now because many us are more vulnerable than ever. Of course I’d love a sweet interview to boost my online shop sales while my entire convention schedule is canceled. But we can outsmart them by doing research, asking questions, and warning others.

If the money is not flowing toward the author, be very, very suspicious. Do research. Avoid anything that looks sketchy.

Legit examples where money doesn’t flow toward the author:

Pay to register copyright (DO THIS.)

Self-publishing and need to hire an editor

Paying for cover art

Registering for a writer’s conference

Buying software or templates used for writing/publishing

Website hosting fees for your author page

Buying advertising space on someone else’s website

And so on. Note that all of these could be shitty quality, so it’s worth checking it out to decide if it’s worth the money they’re asking. 

Scam examples where money doesn’t flow toward the author:

Pay-to-publish fees, especially ones that don’t have fixed up-front costs (If they expect you to pay for ongoing “promotion” costs, RUN)

Pay for entry in a contest

Pay for copies of a magazine where you’ve been interviewed (For a legit publication, “free issue to main contributors” is usually included in payment. There’s often other payments as well.)

Pay to be a guest speaker at a conference

WLW (and NBLW!) Graphic Novel Recs

Hey guys! I read a lot of graphic novels in 2019 with queer themes, and I wanted to share them with you. Included are the genre, type of representation (as well as I could remember it), and some warnings. My favorites are in bold. Enjoy! ♡

On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden: Sci-fi; main character (MC) is wlw. Everything by Tillie Walden is great, but especially this story!

Motor Crush by Babs Tarr, Brenden Fletcher, and Cameron Stewart: Sci-fi; MC is wlw.

Low by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini: Sci-fi; one of the MCs in the second volume is WLW; warning for gore, and the love interest dies. The rep isn’t ideal, but I think the series is worth checking out for the interesting worldbuilding.

The Legend of Korra comics: Fantasy; MC is bisexual.

Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: Fantasy; MC is wlw; warning for gore.

Spera by Josh Tierney: Fantasy; MCs can be easily interpreted as wlw. They’re butch and femme princesses traveling together, guys.

Meal by Blue Delliquanti & Soleil Ho: Slice-of-life, MC is wlw. Also check out Delliquanti’s webcomic O Human Star, which has a trans wlw protagonist!

Pumpkin Heads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks: Slice-of-life; female MC is bi/pan.

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo: Slice-of-life; MC is lesbian. It’s a modern retelling of Little Women.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell: Slice-of-life; MC is lesbian.

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw: Slice-of-life; MC is bi/pan; warning for transphobia.

Moonstruck by Grace Ellis and Shae Beagle: Fantasy; MC is wlw.

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang: Historical fiction; amab MC is non-binary (nblw); warning for transphobia.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe: Memoir; the author is nblw.