Dear artists and writers,

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming issue of our art magazine, where we will delve into the theme of home and its multifaceted manifestations. Home, a concept that intertwines with our identities and experiences, holds a distinct place in our hearts and minds.

In the duration between arrival and departure from our homes, something substantially changes. While our desire to return to innocence and a life of reckless abandon and comfort overpowers us, we have outgrown our past selves. We keep running away from and occasionally colliding with the nothingness of the journey towards home. As it exists in the imagination, the definition of home keeps shifting in shape, expectations, and modes of being. Home is the space where we encounter familiarity as a child and alienation as adults. Sometimes, it is a spatial entity; in other moments, it is an imaginary space of belonging and distancing. In The Odyssey (Book V), Calypso, the goddess of the sea, warns Odysseus (who is homesick) that returning home will lead him to infinite hardships, and if he stays back, she will make him the lord of her house and an immortal. But Odysseus prefers torments that the act of returning brings over immortality. The journey towards home is both trauma and refuge. The sounds, colours, and scenes created by our homes are embedded deep within us. Thus, we return again and again. Often, we do not (want to) return; we create homes within ourselves. We feel tenderness and a sense of belonging with the most vulnerable parts of our being. Among the chaos that pervades the world, we create a quiet shore. In this issue, we wish to explore the idea of home and its myriad manifestations. Whether we long for the smell of home when we are away or are 'bewitched by the journey forward is a choice we make as we crawl stealthily through life. Either we are perpetually creating a home inside or searching for a home on the outside. The search is endless and the journey continues. We make our homes as much as they make us. We invite submissions of poems, short stories, creative essays, flash fiction, visual art and photographs that elaborate on the idea of home and its existence in numerous ways in our minds, our lives and the world in which we attempt to survive.

We welcome submissions of the following creative works:

Poems: Please submit no more than five poems, with a maximum word limit of 1000 words.

Short Stories: Share your compelling narratives within a word limit ranging from 1000 to 5000 words.

Flash Fiction: Craft concise and impactful stories with a word count below 1000 words.

Creative Essays/Non-fiction: Explore the theme of home through thought-provoking essays within a word limit of 3000 words.

Visual Art and Photographs: We invite paintings and photographs that artistically depict the essence of home. Please ensure a resolution of at least 1080x, at 300 dpi, and submit in JPEG or PNG format.

Submission Guidelines: All written submissions should be in the form of Microsoft Office or Google documents. Format your document in Times New Roman font, size 12, and double-spaced.

Please email your submissions to shiuli.magazine@gmail.com with the subject line "Submission: Home and Nostalgia."

Include your name, contact information, and a brief bio in the body of the email.

You may submit multiple pieces across different categories, but please send them as separate attachments.

The deadline for submissions is Oct. 30th, 2023 and we aim to respond to all submissions within two months.