In Between Spaces:
An Anthology of Disabled Writers

Announcing Stillhouse Press’s first-ever anthology

In Between Spaces centers the experiences of thirty-three disabled poets, short-story writers, and essayists as they navigate the physical and emotional complexities of disability, chronic illness, neurodivergence, and mental illness. This timely collection of often-overlooked voices celebrates joy, freedom, and the power of agency, while at the same time confronting and challenging the stigmas and barriers, visible and invisible, that too often come to define life with a disability.

Edited by Stillhouse Press acquisitions editor and George Mason University MFA alumnus Rebecca Burke, this anthology represents the first page of a new chapter for Stillhouse, with attention to using our space within the literary community to center narratives often overlooked by traditional publishing outlets.

Full press release.

Media inquiries can be directed here.

REQUEST A REVIEW COPY THROUGH BOOKSIRENS.

AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH STILLHOUSE PRESS, the harvard book store, AMAZON, BOOKSHOP.ORG, AND BARNES & NOBLE!

REVIEW ON GOODREADS, STORYGRAPH, AND AMAZON.

CONTRIBUToRS

poetry

Latif Askia Ba, Becca Carson, Kara Dorris, Kimberly Jae, Duane L. Herrmann, C.M. Crockford, Laura Mulqueen, Zackary Medlin, Sarah Allen, Chisom Okafor, Colleen Abel, Elizabeth Meade, Zoe Luh, Jess Skyleson, Kaleigh O’Keefe, Natalie E. Illum, Rob Colgate, and Willy Conley

cross-genre

Alton Melvar M. Dapanas and Jill Rachel Jacobs

fiction

Wendy Elizabeth Wallace, Cynthia Romanowski, Cristina Hartmann, Arria Deepwater, and Teresa Milbrodt

nonfiction

Nathan Viktor Fawaz, Anesce Dremen, Ann Zuccardy, Vanessa R. Garza, Zan Bockes, Tessa Weber, Teresa Milbrodt, Lili Sarayrah, and Rhea Dhanbhoora

Advanced praise

“Stories of disability are too few and too often told by non-disabled writers, but this collection’s value goes far beyond representation. The wise, funny, heartbreaking, and joyful work in these pages can show any reader, disabled or not, how to navigate an unpredictable world.”  
–James Tate Hill, author of Blind Man’s Bluff 

“Nobody is ever out of the woods. Life is all about the woods,” Teresa Milbrodt explains in “Cyclops Notes,” her nonfiction selection in this remarkable anthology of poetry and prose by thirty-three disabled writers. Each author guides the reader through the woods, along widely divergent paths of hope, fear, anger, humor, wisdom, patience, resignation. What they all have in common is the clarity and beauty of their writing. In “pain(t)-by-number,” Lili Sarayrah tells us, “… when you see more than one side, speak more than one language, and know more than one kind of pain, you have trouble filling out forms.” This book won’t help you fill out forms, but it will help you to confront and appreciate the complexities of life. 
–Joanne Durham, poet and author of To Drink from a Wider Bowl 

“In Between Spaces is filled with unbridled vulnerability, searing empathy, and a sense of far-reaching hope. But more than anything, this is an anthology pierced through with beauty. I was left in tears of sadness and hope." 
–Tod Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author of Gangsterland, Gangster Nation, and The Low Desert: Gangster Stories 

“In Between Spaces offers an immersive reading experience that highlights multiple ways of being a disabled person in the world. Through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, the authors reveal and rip through shame and stigma to expose the ‘frontal lobe like feathers of a bird’ (Rob Colgate) and ‘bruises like purple and yellow crocuses’ (Natalie E. Illum). This anthology celebrates the power of difference with all of its messy and blurred edges, brain and pain fogs, and vibrating words that welcome us to move in whatever way available to the rich hum of this collection.” 
–Stephanie Heit, author of Psych Murders 

“This bold and moving anthology represents a wide variety of authors living with disability, offering a marvelous array of voices and using unique forms, styles, and points of view. Rendered with heart, humor, and truth throughout, In Between Spaces is an important and necessary contribution to the conversation around disability.” 
–Elizabeth Crane, author of This Story Will Change 

“Long overdue and awaited, In Between Spaces explores disability and difference with humor, frankness, and hard-fought wisdom.”  
–Julija Šukys, author of Siberian Exile: Blood, War, and a Granddaughter’s Reckoning

“In this urgent collection, writers speak the unspeakable. From the shadows of disability, they reach beyond stigma, shame and silence to voice their lived truth: chronic panic, PTSD, mania, panic disorder, mobility struggles, seizures, cystic fibrosis, tachycardia, autism, bipolar, stuttering, blindness, hearing impairment, psychosis, and suicidal ideation. And they do so with bravery, pluck and honesty. In ‘When My Broken Brain Misfires,’ essayist Vanessa Garza writes, ‘I’m okay; I have to be.’ As this anthology proves, she and her fellow writers are okay. By turns raw and polished, with both deft subtlety and hammer blows, In Between Spaces transforms our notions of ‘other’ into ‘us.’” 
–Ethan Gilsdorf, teacher, poet, critic, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, instructor of the GrubStreet Essay Incubator program 

REVIEWS

“Curb cuts, kneeling buses, closed captions, and audible walk lights were a start. But disability rights activists are now asking for more: representation. This means representation in positions of power as well as representations in the media that they have themselves created. “Growing up, I never read a book with a main character like me written by a disabled author,” Rebecca Burke writes at the start of In Between Spaces, an anthology of work by thirty-three writers who identify as disabled. In solidarity with other underrepresented populations, Burke insists that publishing – long dominated by its “cisgender, heteronormative, ableist, and white supremacist history” – must make room for more diverse voices. In Between Spaces addresses ableism in particular: the assumption that bodies and minds differing from social norms or notions of health are defined solely by that difference, and that they therefore need “fixing.” Look elsewhere, these writers collectively suggest – at infrastructure, attitudes, and institutions – for what needs fixing.” –ruth hoberman for THE SOMERVILLE TIMES

“Ultimately, this collection serves as an important piece of literary history, a recording of a status quo often unseen or ignored. It steps out to encourage disabled writers to share their stories, and, more importantly, shines a spotlight on disabled voices in a raw and honest way.” –Syd Shaw and Andreea Ceplinschi for passengers journal

“Rebecca Burke has presented us with a poignant collection of poems, stories, and essays from authors all along the disability spectrum; from deaf authors, depressed writers, and poets with borderline personality disorder, there’s an amazing amount of representation in this slim volume!

If you enjoyed other popular books by disabled authors like Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong, Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig, or The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang, or if you’re simply looking to diversify your TBR list, then this is the anthology for you.” –Beatrice toothman for the manhattan book review

“Stillhouse Press’s inaugural anthology exploring Disability poetics does not disappoint. With 33 Disabled writers’ works included (among them, poets, short story writers, and essayists), the collection invokes a cross-disabilities perspective in order to address–among other themes– power, reclamation, celebration, and nuances. Editor Rebecca Burke is forthright in their commentary about the “nonprofit, student-run teaching press,” and the importance of why and how it is students who “drive decisions about what we publish.” (1) As Burke notes, the anthology emerged in direct response to the press’s editorial board’s conversations (led by Burke) “about diversity and accessibility in publishing.” (1) Burke states candidly and affirmatively how and why such work must necessarily occur across all axes of difference.” –Diane R. Wiener for wordgathering