Open Call for SUSPECT Journal’s Themed Portfolio: Crip Time
CRIP TIME
“Good shit takes time.” Alice Wong says in her disability memoir Year of the Tiger. In both senses of “crip time” — both the non-normative, flexible timelines of disability culture and an appropriate moment for disabled folks to take center stage — SUSPECT seeks writing that draws on and centers disabled lived experience and disability theory.
Rejecting the mind/body binary, we invite writing on all stripes of disability: physical, cognitive, and psychological, invisible and visible. Bring us your writing from beyond fearmongering pity and supercrip inspiration porn. Bring us your writing from (un)expected places of becoming — from the daybed to the highway, from mountains to menus of braille. Give us stim and sensory overload, ramp and rattling pills. Give us obstinance and gloss, access intimacy and mess. Come as you are, in joy or with steel. Let's see what good shit we can make with crip time.
Submissions might address (but not be limited to):
Crip time and futures
Ableism and accessibility
Mad studies and neurodiversity
Disability culture and materiality
Interdependence and independence
The double edges of diagnosis and cure
Intersecting struggles
Suggested reading includes:
Uncanny Magazine #24: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. Eds. Dominik Parisen and Elsa Sjunneson-Henry.
The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked. Eds. Sheila Black, Michael Northen, Annabelle Hayse.
Beauty is a Verb. Eds. Sheila Black, Jennifer Bartlett, Michael Northen.
We are Not Your Metaphor. Eds. Zoeglossia Fellows.
Year of the Tiger. Alice Wong.
Brilliant Imperfection. Eli Clare.
Blind Rage. Georgia Kleege.
Portfolio Timeline
Submission period: 1 June – 15 July 2026
Announcement of decisions: 1 November 2026
The portfolio will run throughout November 2026
Submission Guidelines
SUSPECT invites submissions exploring the theme of “Crip Time” for our Themed Portfolio. Authors may submit to one or multiple of the following categories —
Short fiction: Please submit either a single short story ranging from 1,500 to 6,500 words or a suite of flash fiction ranging from 2-4 pieces with a minimum word count of 1,500
Poetry: Please submit a suite of 3-5 poems of not more than 10 pages
Essays: Please submit either a single essay ranging from 1,500 to 6,500 words or a suite of flash non-fiction ranging from 2-4 pieces with a minimum word count of 1,500
Although we accept simultaneous submissions, we ask that you inform us if your work has been accepted elsewhere. We do not accept previously published work. As our mission is to publish Asian authors, submitters (or translated authors) must identify as Asian. Please include a short cover letter in your submission detailing your connection to your Asian and/or disabled identity.
We look forward to reading your submissions. Please direct submissions and any questions to Sharmini at suspect@singaporeunbound.org.
Payment
SUSPECT pays USD100 for each accepted work/suite of work. For translations or collaborative works, payment is made to the translator or submitter only.
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