A Personal Anthology call for contributions: special Christmas edition and European project for 2019
Hi there. This is a special letter to all Personal Anthology subscribers, firstly to thank you for subscribing. I hope you have been enjoying your weekly insights into the guest editors' favourite short stories. Please do share the project with anyone who think would like it, and I hope you have been visiting the archive website apersonalanthology.com, where all the anthologies are archived, and you can search and browse both by guest editor and by author.
Secondly, I'm always on the look-out for contributors, so please do get in touch if you would like to take part. These can be general personal anthologies, but there are two particular requests that I'd like to broadcast as far and wide as possible.
The first of these is that I'll be running a seasonal Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter anthology as the last of the year, on Friday 21st December, so I'm looking out for individual stories that suit that time of year. Previous contributors, never-before-contributors and maybe-hopefully-future-contributors are all welcome! Just let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to take part.
Secondly, (my second secondly), I'm painfully aware, as I'm sure many of you are, that 2019 is the year the UK is set to leave the European Union, unless there is a last-minute outbreak of rational thinking. This fills me with shame and despair, and to shore myself up against it I would like to run a series of special Personal Anthology editions celebrating the writers of the 27 remaining EU countries throughout 2019. SO, if you feel able to put together a list of stories by writers of one of those 27 countries, or know someone who might be, then please, please let me know.
My plan is that these 27 editions would be spread over the whole year, among the ordinary editions, and in any order. Not all stories need to be translated. Perhaps in some cases the short story requisite can be sidestepped. Perhaps countries can be shared among two or more guest editors. You don't have to be an expert, or a native of that country to contribute - just someone who knows and loves its literature.
The idea is simply to kick back against the insularity of Brexit by sharing and growing our knowledge, love and understanding of our fellow Europeans at a time when the opposite risks happening.
So thanks again for subscribing, and please do get in touch if you can help in any way on either of these projects.
All the best
Jonathan Gibbs