Seeking submissions for the special 25th anniversary edition of Radix! Our theme for the year is 鈥淕rowth.鈥�
How have you developed from your roots? Where have the branches of your life taken you? What does it take to mature?听听
Most of us have, at one point, experienced a great and sudden upset in our lives. You know the feeling. Just a few months into the semester and now I feel like a totally different person! A stranger to my past self. The tortuous road of life often takes us to unexpected places. Just as we鈥檝e taken root on untreaded ground, we find ourselves straying off someplace else to start over and sprout again. Such adventures can feel intimidating, tearing us away from all that is familiar and leading us to foreign places. But if we gaze far enough ahead into the unknown so that we may spot the fruit of opportunity and seize it. May we not then see our branches reach higher? Our roots provide stability, but often we must leave the safe harbor behind and set sail for new horizons. This raises the question: how do we reconcile our thirst for growth with the wisdom of our roots?听听
Illustrations, short essays, poetry, photography, short stories, finger painting, reflections, and more 鈥� we invite you to reflect on what this theme means to you through any form of creative writing or visual art.听
Some examples and prompts to help you get started and give you an idea of what we鈥檙e seeking:听
- Essays or Personal Stories: Share your journey of growth in faith, resilience, or spiritual understanding. How has your experience of spirituality, faith, and/or the divine blossomed over the years, much like the steady growth of a tree?听
- Poetry: Craft poems that reflect themes of renewal, roots, strength, or branching out into new phases of life and faith.听
- Artwork & Photography: Visual pieces that represent growth through imagery, such as trees, gardens, or nature. Whether it鈥檚 an abstract interpretation or a literal one, we Invite artwork that speaks to the soul鈥檚 growth and transformation.听
- Scripture Reflections: How have sacred texts (or other spiritually oriented texts) inspired or guided your personal growth? We welcome short reflections on verses or passages that connect with the idea of growth in faith.听
Submission Guidelines:听
- Deadline: January 18th, 2026 @11:59pm听听
- Contributor Bio: A short bio听with your submission听
- Artwork: High-resolution images in either JPEG or PNG format. Please include a brief description of your artwork and its relation to the theme.听
- Word Count: Prose submissions should be no more than around 750 words. Poetry should be no more than 40 lines long.听
听
