Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

If submitting for the Journal, the submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor). If submitting for the Annual Conference, please abide to their rules.
The submission file is in Microsoft Word (.docx) file type. The file name is labelled as either OC_title for open call or SI_title for special issue (ex. conference), or CP_title for conference proposal.
The submission is anonymous and does not contain any identifying information. Please de-identify your .docx file. See: https://ucanr.edu/sites/anrpeerreview/For_Associate_Editors/Instructions_for_online_peer_system/Anonymizing_a_Word_document/
Where available, DOIs and/or URLs for the references have been provided.
The text is double-spaced; uses 11-12-point Calibri, Arial or Times New Roman font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); 1-inch margins.
The text adheres to the APA7 bibliographic style and agrees with the Author Guidelines.
FOR JOURNAL SUBMISSIONS ONLY Title (25 words max), and 3-5 keywords are also listed. Abstract (150-200 words). 1-2 sentence(s) researcher bio is also to be included (if accepted).
All images, graphs, etc. are accompanied by alt-text.
If applicable, any conflicts of interest are declared at the end of the manuscript.

Author Guidelines

If your manuscript is writing-based, please use this template to help structure your submission. Download here: WORD

We accept submissions written in first and third-person perspectives.

All submissions to the journal must list graduate students as the first author.

Alumni from graduate programs who have finished their masters or doctoral studies within the last two years, and who do not currently hold a position in academia, may submit as a second author with a current graduate student.

Papers co-authored by faculty members will not be accepted. We encourage graduate students publishing with faculty members to submit to journals that do not focus on graduate student research.

Plagiarism Policy

YU-WRITE has adopted the definition of plagiarism as defined in York University’s Senate Policy on Academic Honesty section 2.1.

Articles

ONLY FOR OPEN-CALL ISSUES

Article submissions are original academic works that have not been published in another venue. Articles must be 3000-4000 words (not including references) plus adherence to the submission requirements.

Each submission must adhere to the general submission requirements. Creative submissions may also submit images as part of a spread unless stated otherwise.

We accept literature review articles in our journal, as long as we have reviewers available who have sufficient knowledge of the field. Should we not have reviewers available, we will be unable to accept the article.

Inspiring Books/Art/Film Review

ONLY FOR OPEN-CALL ISSUES

Must be 1000-1500 words (references not included) plus adhere to the submission requirements.

We invite reviews that have inspired your thinking, theory, and pedagogical practice. Reviews should focus on books, artworks, or films.

For a general guide to writing book reviews, please visit: https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/book_review_howto.html

Creative Works

ONLY FOR OPEN-CALL ISSUES

We are excited to welcome a variety of academic publications, including creative works. Creative submissions include but are not limited to:

Artworks
Websites (non-commercial)
Poems/short stories/blogs
Multimedia works

Submission must also be accompanied by an artwork statement of 500-1000 words (not including references) plus adhere to the general submission requirements.

For creative submissions that require a different file format than a .docx, please contact the Managing Editor to help facilitate your submissions

Conference Proceedings

ONLY FOR POST-CONFERENCE ISSUES

Conference proceedings are academic articles that emerged from the YGSE’s annual conference. Conference proceedings are 2000-3000 words (not including references). Submissions must include the general submission requirements.

If submitting from Panel or Salon sessions, think about how this paper is a reflection of your discussions and imagined possibilities. Outline that your paper is based on the salon discussion. How has having the conversations impacted you and your thinking? Think about bigger themes that arose from these conversations. IMPORTANT: Due to privacy concerns, no identifying information and no personal stories from the people who attended the Salon or Panel should be included. Do not quote people/conversations from the conference unless you were given permission from that person.

If submitting from Creative (Gall-re/Gallery), Poster, or Workshop sessions, OR if just responding to your conference session (like a structured reflection) authors/creators can choose to submit one of the following:

2000-3000 word (not including references) paper.
250-500 words short feature.

Each submission must adhere to the general submission requirements. Creative submissions may also submit images as part of a spread unless stated otherwise. (Note: any images used must have copyright permissions from the creator sent to the Managing Editor)

Keynote presenters may also submit to the journal, please ensure that your papers have proper citations and references. Headings and subheadings may be used to provide flow. Keynote submissions can also submit their PPT as a visual component to the manuscript.

Special Issue

Special Issue on Black Mothers Writing in Canada and Beyond

Black literary theorists chart a history of Black writing in Canada that dates to 1785 (Davis, 2007; Clarke, 1997). This longstanding and expansive body of work comprises a range of textual pieces, such as journal entries about happenings at trading posts, anti-slavery editorials, and narratives on contemporary migration journeys (Vernon, 2020). Black writing in Canada is connected to and transformed by its relation to the Black world, including “the transatlantic slave trade, and resulting cultures and networks of the Black Atlantic” (Vernon, 2020, p. 18). For more than 200 years, the tradition of Black writing in Canada has engaged complex expressions of Blackness, unsettling narratives of nation, identity, and belonging (Davis, 2007). Truly, Black writing in Canada calls on us to think through what it means to be Black across time and space.

Black mothers have long contributed to this literary tradition of Black writing. Writing is a radical act of self-creation for Black mothers living in Canada, a country consumed in the afterlives of slavery. Black mothers write in the face of domination to reassert a Black maternal presence on this land. Through writing, Black mothers interrogate their everyday work, pain, dreams, and concerns. Ultimately, writing is a space where Black mothers express “the weft and weaves of ordinary life” (Campt, 2021, p. 41) and imagine futures yet unfolded.

Public and academic discourses on Black experiences with literacy often overlook Black mothers’ ongoing leadership in and relationship with writing. A paucity of educational research investigates how Black mothers in Canada and beyond write to affirm themselves as educational leaders, pass on knowledge to their children, and form kinship networks. Instead, educational scholarship on Black writing largely focuses on Black students’ underachievement in and disconnection to writing.

The special issue Black Mothers Writing in Canada and Beyond invites those from the academic community, most notably graduate students, and members of the wider public to amplify Black mothers’ experiences of and relationships with writing in varied educational settings. We welcome submissions that amplify Black mothers’ narratives of writing in Canada and across the world.

References

Campt, T. (2021). A black gaze: Artists changing how we see. The MIT Press.

Clarke, G. E. (1997). Eyeing the north star: Directions in African-Canadian literature. McClelland and Stewart.

Davis, A. (2007). Black Canadian literature as diaspora transgression: The second life of Samuel Tyne. Topia, 17(17), 31–49. https://doi.org/10.3138/topia.17.31

Vernon, K. (Ed.). (2020). The Black Prairie archives: An anthology. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/york/detail.action?docID=6190789

Clarification of terms & topics for the special issue:

For this issue, we situate Black mothers within Black traditions of kinship networks. As such, we understand Black mothers to include community mothers, othermothers, aunties, and grandmothers (amongst others) who work and care for children who may or may not be biologically or legally theirs.

Topics of key interest include, but are not limited to:

Black mothers writing for healing, self-recovery, and dreaming.
Black mothers writing as spiritual practice.
Black mothers writing for community organizing, resistance, and education.
Black mothers writing to transmit cultural memory and knowledge across generations.
Black mothers writing to assert their educational leadership and challenge violent educational practices.
Multilingual Black mothers’ use of writing to negotiate language, identity, and belonging within educational settings.

Key submission information

We invite submissions from the academic community, especially current graduate students, and members of the wider public. We also encourage submissions from adult learners, post-secondary students, independent scholars, educators, and others.

We welcome 1) traditional academic, scholarly contributions and 2) creative pieces, such as poetry, photography (and other visual arts), audio essays, and so forth. We recognize that these are not mutually exclusive categories. All pieces in this Special Issue will undergo peer review in line with the journal's standard student-led peer review practices.

Guest editor information:

Dr. Stephanie Fearon joins York University’s Faculty of Education as the inaugural assistant professor of Black thriving and education. Her research draws on Black storytelling traditions to explore the ways that Black mothers and educational institutions partner to support Black student well-being. Fearon uses literary and visual arts to communicate – in a structured, creative and accessible form – insights gleaned from stories shared by Black mothers and their families. Fearon has worked in public education systems for nearly 15 years, assuming teaching and leadership positions in France, Guadeloupe and Canada.

For more information or if you would like to discuss ideas, please contact the guest editor: Dr. Stephanie Fearon (sfearon1@edu.yorku.ca).