ISSUE 1: BLACK POWER

Graphic by Halima Jibril

Hi there!

My name is Halima Jibril and I’m the Founding Editor of Ashamed. I can’t believe I’ve never written an editors letter on here before, I guess I was a little scared to. I don’t have much to say honestly and I think our content speaks volumes anyway. But I’m here today to announce that we are making our very first physical magazine in collaboration with Wessex Scene for Black History Month. The issue will be titled Black Power because that’s what Black people are. Powerful. The magazine will be completely and utterly BLACK. We are looking for Black women/ non binary people to submit art/ creative writing/ photography/ political essays/ opinion pieces/ lifestyle etc. We are primarily looking for contributions from black people born/living in Europe as BHM is celebrated in two different months in North America and in Europe.

The money raised from this issue will be going to @freeblackuni. They aim to decolonise education and deliver open access online lectures exploring radical and transformation topics, build an online library of radical readings and much more. We deserve education that is anti-colonial, understanding, free and accessible. Free Black University is working to provide that. We also hope to be able to pay contributors through crowdfunding.

If you’re interested in contributing:

• opinion pieces

• personal essays

• political writing

• lifestyle essays

• creative writing

• art

• photography

Send us an email, specifying interest - ashamedmagazine@gmail.com. We have a list of prompts ready if you are struggling to think of things to write about. If you have your own ideas for an article you can pitch it to us! please email it to us by the 4TH OF SEPTEMBER, after that we are closing submissions. You can see our pitching guidelines here. If your pitch is accepted the deadline is for completed first drafts are the 14TH OF SEPTEMBER.

Also very keen to work with new black artists to create imagery/ cover work so if you’re interested please send us an email with your work!

We are crowdfunding for this issue, so if you’d like to provide us with any financial support the link is in our bio. Again all the money we make will be going to printing/ @freeblackuni & hopefully to pay contributors. White people who can afford it! For realzies! Open your piece! Support black creatives now!

Any questions, you can DM us or email us! So excited to start this project with you all!

Ashamed love x🌈x🌈x

H x