Current Call
Fall/Winter 2026 Call for Manuscripts
LAJM Co-Editors: Raven L. Jones, Tanya Upthegrove Gregory, & Alexandra Sánchez
Hidden in Plain Sight: Honoring Unsung Sheroes Who Have Shaped Our Words and Worlds
The year 2026 marks the semiquintennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the United States of America. This milestone signifies a time of celebration for some, and a moment of reckoning for others. In 1776, there were no women among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It was also during the late 1700s that a young Phylis Wheatley published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Though now recognized by some, her contributions are limited to niche literary circles, or minuscule mentions during Black History Month and Women’s History Month. As a result, generations of aspiring writers only have a cursory understanding of her personal journey from freedom to enslavement back to freedom, and her published writing that took form just as the United States was becoming established.
Along with Wheatley, over the past 250 years, women’s voices in particular have long shaped the worlds of literacy, storytelling, and education. Yet many of the women who have profoundly influenced language arts–teachers, editors, librarians, activists, poets, and scholars-remain unrecognized in our classrooms, curricula, and historical narratives. Despite this often-intentional effort, it was fellow literarians who sought to amplify the voices of their ancestors and contemporaries to ensure that such unsung (s)heroes garnered the honor, praise, and recognition rightfully deserved.
Our present time requires all of us to serve as historians, researchers, and storytellers, simultaneously. In 2026, through policy and dissent, literary works of authors within marginalized communities are still banned, further compromising the very ideals expressed within our nation’s founding documents. As our nation celebrates its 250th milestone year, we are scribing this issue to celebrate the women whose labor has helped ‘frame’ the discipline and practice of language arts.
In celebration of women as Unsung Sheroes, the Language Arts Journal of Michigan (LAJM) invites manuscripts that illuminate the lives, work, and legacies of unsung women who have shaped literacy, language, and education. While we celebrate widely recognized writers such as Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and other prominent women thinkers, this issue asks: Who else should we know? Whose stories and lived/loved experiences have been overlooked?
Across communities and classrooms, countless women have advanced literacy education, nurtured young writers, preserved stories, led movements, and created spaces where language and identity flourish. These women may be historical figures whose contributions were overlooked, contemporary educators quietly transforming their classrooms, or community storytellers sustaining oral traditions and cultural knowledge.
This issue of LAJM seeks to honor these unsung sheroes by bringing their stories, pedagogies, and legacies into scholarly classroom conversations and community spaces. We invite submissions that explore how teachers, researchers, and students can recover, teach, and celebrate the contributions of women whose work deserve greater applause, claps, snaps, and recognition. We welcome a range of manuscript types, including:
- Classroom practice articles
- Research or scholarly essays
- Narrative or reflective essays
- Community literacy projects
- Student-centered inquiry projects
- Interviews with educators, writers, or community literacy leaders
Guiding Questions for Manuscript Submissions
Recovering Hidden Histories
- Which women writers, editors, educators, or storytellers have been overlooked in literary and educational histories?
- What contributions have women made to literacy/literary movements, language arts education, or storytelling traditions that remain unrecognized?
- How can archival research, or community narratives help recover the stories of these women?
Teaching Unsung Sheroes in the Classroom
- How can teachers incorporate lesser-known women literacy leaders into Pre-K-16 or university curricula?
- What classroom practices help students discover and analyze the work of overlooked women authors or educators?
- How can students participate in researching and documenting unsung sheroes in their communities?
Student Voice and Youth Inquiry
- How are students discovering and writing about unsung sheroes in literature and literacy?
- What projects invite students to research and celebrate women who have influenced their communities?
Community Storytelling and Literacy Leadership
- Who are the women in your community who have shaped literacy practices-through libraries, community writing groups, affinity spaces, churches, cultural centers, or grassroots movements?
- How have women served as literacy advocates, mentors, or cultural keepers in ways that may not appear in traditional movements?
Cultural and Intersectional Perspectives
- How have Women of Color, Indigenous women, immigrant women, or working-class women shaped literacy and language practices despite systemic barriers?
- What does it mean to center intersectional perspectives when recovering women's literary and educational histories?
Editorial and Publishing Labor
- What roles have women played as editors, publishers, and organizers who have made literary and educational work possible behind the scenes?
- How can we better acknowledge the cultural and intellectual labor of women who have shaped literacy communities through editing, mentoring, and advocacy?
Deadline for manuscript submissions: August, 16, 2026
