Collaboration–The Cassidy Experiment

I’ve always been fascinated with literary and artistic groups and movements, individual writers and artists who come together to make art, united by their vision.

Magic can happen when creative people join their energy and intention. Groups such as the Bloomsbury Group, the "Beat Generation" poets, the writers of the Harlem Renaissance, the Dadaists and Surrealists challenged expectations and made ripples felt to this day. Like them or not, they created something new, made possible only by their collaboration.

No longer limited by the constraints of physical space, writers and artists are coming together via the internet to exchange ideas, to write and create. I experienced this with my involvement in the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The online community that was forged in the forum maintains contact to this day. It was that ABNA community that made Conclave: A Journal of Character possible, most of the editors were writers I met through the contest. We continue to work on the journal primarily via email, evaluating submission through our online submission manager. It allows writers, photographers, and editors from around the world to work together to produce our international literary magazine.

I’m also a part of other groups virtually connected: some made up of  friends and family, others creative or literary. During the years I’ve spent in Germany, I was nourished and inspired by them.

When I read about the collaboration proposed by photographer , I was immediately interested. Yes, it’s a chaotic time in my life, with the move back to the States, my own writing projects, and Conclave submissions. However I agree with Nietzsche that "you need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star." 

Sothis morning  posted the list of partnered creatives. Our only guideline is to make something together. I’ve been partnered with  . I’ll keep you posted. 

Published by Valya

Valya Dudycz Lupescu is the author of Mother Christmas, The Silence of Trees, Forking Good, and Geek Parenting. She is also the editor of Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora, published in 2023 by Atthis Arts. Valya earned her MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been published in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Ukrainian American Poets Respond, Kenyon Review, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, and others. Valya has been making magic with words and food for 25 years, incorporating traditions from her Ukrainian heritage with practices that honor the Earth.

2 thoughts on “Collaboration–The Cassidy Experiment”

  1. Anonymous says:

    I like the new look- the page and the photo you added recently. Cool hat and you look about 15 years old!

  2. charyvna says:

    Thank you.

    Trust me, the photo doesn’t show all the wrinkles by my eyes and the dusting of gray hairs.

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