Indigenous Writers taking #LanguageBack

As Indigenous writers, we live between languages--the heritage language of our tribal nations and the imposed languages of the colonizer(s). By reclaiming our own Indigenous languages and by "Re-inventing the Enemy's Language" (as Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird describe it), we seek Indigenous literary sovereignty and highlight the beauty and power of the language. 

This issue of Yellow Medicine Review invites your creative works in the traditional forms of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and we also invite hybrid, visual, and multi-modal submissions. We are interested in your #LanguageBack work--your writings that incorporate your tribal language and its embedded teachings, your writing about efforts (successes and struggles) with language learning, and your memories of significant language encounters with Indigenous language speakers or teachers in your family, in classrooms, at language tables, or in other settings. We would love to see pieces that play or code-switch. We also welcome pieces that unmask or critique ongoing efforts of linguicide.

Among the questions you might consider: Where do Indigenous languages live today? What roles do they play in tribal communities and beyond? When we live in the shadows of old losses, what remains? When working between languages, what ultimately is untranslatable? Who are your language heroes? What relationship exists between place and language? What is the shape of language? How can we feed language spirits? How will our languages survive? What is our part in carrying language forward?

We welcome work by Indigenous writers of all ages and experience levels. Whether your heritage language has experienced the imposition of English, Spanish, or French, what does #LanguageBack mean to you?

Please limit your submission to: one to four poems; one work of fiction or two flash pieces; one work of creative nonfiction or two flash pieces. Please limit submissions in hybrid or multi-modal genres to ten pages. If you have questions about submissions limits, please email the editorial team.

Editor, Kimberly Blaeser

Associate Editors: Beth Piatote, Annie Wenstrup, Emily Clarke

Deadline for Submissions:     April 01, 2025

Expected Publication Date:    Late May 2025

Submit work as a single email attachment to: editor@yellowmedicinereview.com

In your email/cover letter, please include the following:

• Your name and physical mailing address
• List of all titles and genres (story, creative nonfiction essay, poetry) of included work
• Short bio
• Your tribal affiliation [YMR is a journal of Indigenous writing]
  

 Please adhere to the YMR submission format and guidelines:

• Send work as a Word or RTF attachment. If  there is unusual formatting in your piece, please also include a PDF.

• The subject line of your email should read as follows: YMR Spring 2025 Last Name (ex: YMR Spring 2025 Wilson)

• Simultaneous and/or multiple submissions are acceptable, just please advise the editor if your work is accepted elsewhere.

• Please no previously published work (though we do sometimes make exceptions--so maybe ask before submitting such)