The One Humanity Writing Collective
The One Humanity Writing Collective pairs women and non-binary creative writers and visual artists from around the world to write stories inspired by their shared experiences and ideas to imagine solutions to the worlds toughest problems.
The One Humanity Writing Collective, a collaboration between Syllble and The Innovation Station at the U.S. Department of State Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, pairs women and non-binary creative writers from around the world (specifically, 3 – 9 writers and visual artists from U.S. locations and 3-9 writers and visual artists from international locations) to write science fiction stories inspired by their shared experiences and ideas. Locations will come from California, Louisiana, U.S. Caribbean Islands, Brazil, Guatemala and Pacific Islands.
Participating writers and visual artists will create 10 years later in the “One Humanity World.” This will provide the backdrop for their stories. Subsequently, writers within each pair collectively craft short stories in response to monthly writing prompts inspired by global climate challenges as it relates to the locations.
The six-month program culminates in the publication of each pair’s complete story collection.
Writer And Visual Artist Eligibility:
- Must live, work, or study in the country or U.S. state designated as part of the “pair.”
- Must be a emerging or mid-career writer or visual artist
- Must identity as a women or non-binary
- Must be able to commit to and participate in the program’s complete one-year timeline (see responsibilities and frequency in the “Writing Timeline” below)
- Writers and visual artists who have or are pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in creative writing or a related field, or who possess similar work experience, are encouraged to apply.
- Writers and visual artists who self-identify as coming from underrepresented communities are encouraged to apply.
General Writing Timeline:
- Overall Program
- Application opens November 2022
- “World”-building Introduction February 2023 Six-month program ends August 2023
Introduction and “World”-Building (Month 1)
- “World”-building Introduction February 2023 Six-month program ends August 2023
- All writers and visual artists will gather for weekly virtual sessions with Syllble to build upon the One Humanity World, including setting and new characters, on which their stories will be based throughout the program. To aid in “world”-building and discussion, writers will individually draft flash stories that explore the “world” and some of its characters.
Monthly Writing Prompts (Months 2-7)
- o Week 1: A new writing prompt will be introduced in the first week of each month during a virtual salon. All writers and visual artists, as well as subject-matter experts related to the prompt topic, join the salon to discuss, ask questions, and generate ideas. Thereafter, each country-state “pair” pitches one story idea addressing the prompt on Syllble’s Platform to solicit feedback and through internal conversations.
- o Week 2: Each pair selects a lead writer and a lead illustrator who will be the primary drafter of a 1,000-5,000-word story based on the world’s setting, characters, and monthly prompt. The lead writer is responsible for incorporating the ideas of fellow writers within his or her pair. At the end of the second week, the lead writer posts the first draft of the story in Syllble’s Google Docs.
- o Week 3: All writers and visual artists read and provide feedback on the stories submitted by the other pairs. By the end of the week, the lead writer for each pair completes revisions to generate his or her pair’s final draft for the month (which will be included in the pair’s end-of-year story collection).
- o Week 4: All writers will access the final drafts and vote for the month’s top story. The top story will undergo workshopping with Syllble’s editor to explore possibilities for early (i.e., pre-end- of-year) dissemination.
- All writers and visual artists will gather for weekly virtual sessions with Syllble to build upon the One Humanity World, including setting and new characters, on which their stories will be based throughout the program. To aid in “world”-building and discussion, writers will individually draft flash stories that explore the “world” and some of its characters.
The One Humanity Writing Collective will first meet in February 2023. The Application for creative writers and visual artist from the specified locations is now open Apply Here
If you have any questions please contact the Syllble Team at productionhouse@syllble.com
Current Creators Of The Collective
World summary/overview
It is the year 2060 of a version of our planet earth. The three overarching themes that define its internal logic are: extreme climatic changes, evolving economic systems, and discretionary travel borders. Humanity has been deeply shaped and transformed by those three factors around the world.
Extreme climatic changes
Rising animal extinction: There has been a rise in the disappearance of endangered species who have now become extinct
Habitat loss: Fast destruction of ecology everywhere – forests, oceans, plains and more. Animal migration patterns disturbed
Commodification: whole industries have been born trying to protect and hold on to the past that has slipped away because of these extreme climatic challenges and mass migration. The cultural and emotional connections people associate with animals, plants and food have mostly disappeared
This rise of corporations that fill the need of disappearing and animals with virtual experiences, AI, synthetic foods that become patented and the life of the past has become commodified.
Rise of climate refugees and displacement: Similar to the indigenous groups who now are displaced and hold myths and legends of their ancestral lands. Now many of the climate refugees leave and no longer inhabit locations where generations have lived for ages now climate change has taken hold of it.
Some locations will be more multiculturally diverse as other locations will be more homogenous as they reject refugees.
Reconstruction of identity: A lot of identities are being reconstruction from displaced people on a large scale.
Evolving economic systems:
Many countries are faced with the brunt of global challenges. They have begun to place in the forefront of their infrastructures many series of experimentations and implementation projects in the pursuit of deep innovations to advance their societies especially innovating the social safety net such as:
Universal basic income (UBI): a government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly. The goals of a basic income system are to alleviate poverty and replace other need-based social programs that potentially require greater bureaucratic involvement.
Universal basic healthcare: it means that all people have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It includes the full range of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.
Universal access to education: is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnic background or physical and mental disabilities.
Path towards a non-resource based sector or 100 percent renewable: Resources not coming from the earth and a slow transitional and push for renewable energies Renewable resources include biomass energy (such as ethanol), hydropower, geothermal power, wind energy, and solar energy
Discretionary Travel Borders:
Neutrality of borders: many borders of countries are holding neutral spaces where nationalities are disintegrating. The Nation-state model of a society is being challenged and is transforming in many informal ways. Centers of power are shifting.
Evolution of the ‘citizen’: There’s a grand transformation of citizenship in this world and how people see humanity
The realignment of citizenship is built on three areas: territorial, cultural and economic. There are new latitudes for the few and new restrictions for the many. Economic wealth is now a passport to citizenship
Borders as a place of fear: When people are at the borders there’s a lot of threat and apprehension too, it’s some kind of mystery. Most cannot control what happens in the border. Borders are both very open and very closed.
EARTH 2060 World 1 by Kristen Ritter, Natalie Schack and Hester J Brook
When the scarlet tern of the flatlands at the base of the Halcyon Mountain Range, thought to be extinct for half a century (historically known to be a harbinger of good harvests and originally used by forager humans to hunt out edible roots) is spotted again near the now-abandoned, former agricultural village now-designated Grid 2501 and legally unclaimed.
It ignites a scientific and economic gold rush in the area with interested stakeholders such as the philanthropic Shirokuma Institute and the profiteering Ubi Brand Commodities corporation competing for control over any scientific discoveries and the rights to the area.
EARTH 2060 World 2 by Rosa Martelletti, Pat Matsueda, Caylee Tierney, Lianda Burrows
There exists a sentient ship that is a character in its own right – it has a version of consciousness, which may not be apparent from the outset.
The ship is a community of its own functioning within broader community of multiple ships which links to themes of shifting borders, housing climate refugees, neurotechnology (job selection and health checks link to neuro-technology, as well as more extreme experimentation).
There are different classes of ships – for rich and poor (universal basic income doesn’t necessarily equalize people’s lives).
Themes of truth and identity relate to missing loved ones (climate refugees), as well as the mystery of how the ships group people for work as they come aboard etc.
EARTH 2060 World 3 by Paulinette Quirindongo, Laura E. Goodin and Nina Gibson
The Island of Esperanza
The island used to be attached to either the mainland or a larger island, but rising sea levels cut it off. Climate is temperate rain forest (Pacific coast). Rising sea levels continue to encroach on the island’s land area, but rising temperatures improve agriculture on the island.
The human inhabitants created a small society on the island as a demonstration of sustainable societies, but have gradually become more isolated from the mainland in pretty much every way. The sea has now flooded some caves near the coast, driving forth the non-human Forest People, who have up to now lived in hiding.
But now they have no option: they must come out and into the awareness of the human inhabitants, or die.
World News