For its inaugural number (Spring 2025), SALID MAG invites 250-word essays for a curated section called "A Novel Experience." 

Call for Entries: SALIDmag's 'A Novel Experience' collection aims to celebrate South Asian novels that offer unique insights into different cultural, historical, and social contexts. We welcome submissions highlighting novels from various regions, periods, and languages, emphasizing why these works deserve to be widely read and celebrated.

Who Can Submit?

• Undergraduate and graduate students from any discipline.
• Passionate readers who wish to share their recommendations with a broader audience.

Submission Guidelines

1. Requirements:
   • Title of the novel and author info.
   • An essay on the novel (300-500 words), including its cultural and historical significance, AND a short reflection on your unique experience engaging with the novel. (100 –200 words).
   • Language of the novel and whether an English translation is available.
2. Eligibility:
   • Novels can be in any South Asian language, but the essay must be written in English. Submissions should highlight novels that promote cultural understanding or present perspectives that are underrepresented in mainstream literature.
3. Items to be submitted via the LINK:
   • Title, Author, Original language in which it is written, Date of publication
   • Essay on the novel's significance + A personal statement on the novel
   • Links for the book (if available): Wikipedia, Goodread, Google Books, and Other links AND Links for the author: Wikipedia, Goodreads bio, etc.
4. Deadline:
   • Submit your proposals by February 28, 2025.
5. How to Submit:
   • Fill in the form available at this link.

Selected Entries: Selected submissions will be featured in the inaugural issue of SALIDmag (South Asian Languages, Images, and Data Magazine) on March 21, 2025.

Evaluation Criteria: Submissions will be evaluated based on the originality and depth of the recommendation, as well as the relevance of the novel to the theme of global and cross-cultural understanding.

We are looking for reviews of books on and related to South Asia in the broad field(s) of humanities and social sciences on topics ranging from history, culture, and literature to art, anthropology, gender studies, and digital humanities. These books should be works of scholarly criticism or research and should not be creative works such as novels, poems, plays, etc. 

If you have come across a work that should be a part of a course module or should be recommended to scholars, please send us your suggestions through your reviews. Alternatively, if you would like to review a book but cannot decide which one to choose, you can send us your area(s) of interest and ask us for suggestions (email at raginic2@illinois.edu). We would be happy to send you options from our list. We are not currently sending copies to reviewers, so you should send suggestions for books that you have access to.