Pariahs: Writing from Outside the Margins

Pariahs is a book full of wild flames, of tigers, of tigers, burning bright, in the forests of the night. The construction of this book may at first glance resemble poetry, prose, nonfiction and art, but if you look and listen more closely you’ll find it is more like flickering flames displaying visions from the past, present and future: tragedy lifted off headlines, lost children of our nation, violence against our queer and trans family, human beings invisible because of disabilities, success built off the backs of slaves and wrung from laborers’ hands.During a brief visit to the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana, there was an area set up for comments from visitors. Someone named Charles James wrote: “I hear the sounds of the dead children/We are the children of those survivors.” Pariahs is also a book comprised of survivors. These experiences force us to collaborate and create our own narratives, and build spaces for the voices whose stories are excluded or silenced. This anthology is our attempt at deconstructing silences and challenging the accepted narratives of U.S. literature. Not everyone will agree with the writings and thoughts found in these, pages but if everyone did, we would not be pariahs.   The pariahs writing from outside the margins anthology shares experiences of exclusion from the writing industry based on gender, race, and stereotypes. By offering counter narratives as part of the theme “pariahs,” the writing collection and linocut prints collaboration poses as an alternative method of exposing biases in literature and exclusionary practices by academics and literae alike. The "pariah" writers redefine the literary margins and stretch past conformity and exclusivity. By including poetry, essays, prose, and diverse languages coupled with printed art, pariahs celebrates writers far beyond the common pages. “At a time of obscene economic inequality, of unspeakable violence against Black and brown and poor people the world over, when fascism and xenophobia have become common in our nation’s public discourse, the Pariah writers are writing resistance. Their poems, stories, and testimonies are the true narrative, stories too long exiled from American literature that nonetheless speak for the majority: people of color, women, LGBT folks, poor and working-class people, leftists and agitators. Too long we’ve been called ‘writers from the margins.’ No more. With this urgent and timely anthology, the Pariahs welcome each other to the center of American literature. And they welcome you, the reader, to join them.” —Sarah Browning, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Split This Rock and Author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden