(2024/4) Open Call
LOOKING FOR UNPUBLISHED WRITING BODIES submit here until April 1st, 2024
This year, we’re looking to enter into collaborations with 4 artists/writers and release 4 individual petit journals throughout 2024.
There is no theme. The only requirements are that 1. you must be engaged in a writing practice that excites you; 2. your writing has not been previously published (self-publishing doesn’t count). Previous braids’s contributors are more than welcome to submit.
What to expect?
braids is interested in fostering relations rather than end results. We’re hoping to engage in a slow dialogue with each person and approach both writing and publishing as crafts that require love, labour and time. You should be open to editing suggestions, both experimental and practical as well as be interested in delivering visual critique towards the design and format of your publication.
If you’re interested, please head to the link above to fill out a google form - you’ll be asked to provide your contact info and a sample of your writing. If you prefer, you can also send your submission via email at hello@braidsjournal.com Writing sample - it’s best if you submit something you’d want to work on further through this collaboration or that constitutes an impulse for new writing that can happen in the following months. Drafts are preferred over finished pieces.
There is a possibility to meet in person if you’re based in Brussels or Warsaw/Cracow.
Languages: we’re open to work in English, Polish, French, and Dutch.

(2024/1-2) Working through ideas for the continuation of readclub together with Marcin, Emma, Maddie, Benji, and Szy.

(2023/11) sixth readclub: the dawn of the year heard Ire read Can the Monster Speak? by Paul B. Preciado for a full hour. Accompanied by kindred souls, Paul's heart-shaking wisdom was distributed through vains, wires and feelings. It was an intimate conclusion of the first series of readclub gatherings hosted on Discord by braids.

(2023/11) fifth readclub: in an impulse to align with the atmosphere of autumnal lethargy, we decide to leave out conversation and focus on reading; Ire spends an hour reading various excerpts from The Long Form by Kate Briggs.

(2023/10) fourth readclub: Maddie reads paragraphs from Maggie Nelson'sThe Argonauts. we fixate on the heteronormative mug, and attempt to imagine queer family making.

third readclub: Ire and Maddie read two chapters from McKenzie Wark's polybiography Reverse Cowgirl. we consider the relation between the book and the body, trace McKenzie's coming to terms with being human and finish off realising that perhaps the only way we're born into this world is through storytelling.

(2023/09) second readclub on Discord; Maddie and Ire read the first chapter of Freshwater, an autobiographical novel by Akwaeke Emezi. the figure of the python catches our attention as we reflect upon the rhythm of the written word, and the shapes of African spirits.

Maddie joins readclub as a co-host alongside Ire; we decide to organize meetings every two weeks on Discord and live-read chosen texts during the sessions. we pick BIRTH as a theme to work with for some time.

(2023/07) first readclub on Discord; we look into the conversation between Toshi Reagon, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Ethel-Ruth Tawe Tawe and J. Bob Alotta that took place during MozFest in Amsterdam this year.

(2023/05)Unbraiding - a research group gathers at a private address in the Hague to discuss braids journal and share desires for future gatherings; the idea for readclub is born.

(2023/04) beuys bois collective disbands.

(2023/03) first edition of braids available to buy in good press (Glasgow), Stroom (The Hague), Page Not Found (The Hague), rile* (Brussels) and ziemniaki i (Warsaw).

(2023/02) first edition of braids available to pick up in The Hague from Maddie.

(2023/01) first edition of braids available to order online.

(2023/01) braids journal is printed by Argraf, Warsaw, Poland.

(2022/07) Open Call for contributors to braids journal launches.

(2022/04) Stroom Den Haag grants an amount of 4 847 euros to beuys bois collective for the realisation of braids.

(2022/03) beuys bois collective submits of funding proposal for a queer archiving publication entitled braids to Stroom Den Haag.