In each print issue, aAh! Magazine interrogates one word which runs as a theme throughout our published submissions. The theme of our next issue is CHANGE.
Change is inevitable… so why not explore it? It’s something that is happening constantly around us: whether it be minor like a new haircut – a fringe on someone’s head, or major; like a new law that infringes on someone’s civil rights. It could be individual; a person transitioning to finally become who they want to be, or universal; like climate change that affects everyone. It could be a regular occurrence like a heavy rainstorm after a freezing day in Manchester, or a rare occasion like diamond rain on the frozen surface of Neptune. Change is both beautiful and terrifying, somehow being the worst thing imaginable yet also the thing you dream about.
The concept of change has many different meanings, the potential to interrogate the word is boundless. Someone changed their clothes today to sit on a bus, they paid £2 in exchange for a ticket, picked up a newspaper that had been changed over this morning and read something that “changes everything.” They wait for the lights to change so they can quickly change directions. But as the bus changes gears, they have a change of heart. They dig in their old coat pocket, which needs to be changed anyway as they found it in a changing room years ago, and what do they find… some loose change. Even the idea of change is ever-changing.
Are you sick of the word “change” yet? Well, we need to change that as we are inviting you to explore this theme for our sixth print issue of aAh! Magazine. What does ‘change’ mean to you? Have you ever experienced a significant change? How can you apply this theme to modern life? Is there an underrepresented idea of change yet to be explored? How are race, technology, politics, gender, art, music, fashion, sex, entertainment, Manchester, you, me, the world intertwined with change? We want to know how you would create something, anything, from just one simple word.
Creative writing
We are accepting works of prose, poetry, flash fiction and art on the theme of CHANGE. All work will be considered for publication, but only work under 300 words in length will have the opportunity to be featured in our print magazine. Longer pieces of poetry and prose will still have the opportunity to be published on our online magazine.
To send us your submission, please email a word document or PDF to aAh.Editor@gmail.com with the subject line ‘CHANGE Creative Submission’. Draft deadline: Friday 11th February, 2022.
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