Being Abroad is a project aiming to publish a collection of personal stories about relocating to a foreign country. It aspires to sidestep the traditional styles of travel writing and instead focus on the emotional aspects and consequences of living abroad.
The submission deadline of 31st of January 2007 has now passed. We are currently reading through everyone's work in order to compile and release a limited set of handmade books.
The project exists to produce an alternative and intimate collection of material about the experience of foreign travel and relocation. We want to explore peoples' circumstances, motivations for and expectations of emigration, along with the resulting experiences of life abroad; from the feelings of isolation an alien culture and environment can create to the exploration it inspires, introspective or otherwise.
We are therefore seeking submissions of original essays, memoirs, stories, comics, drawings and diagrams. Details of locations, activities and long-term plans are unimportant. Our focus is on how you felt when you realised there was no return plane home, that the way you drink tea is now horribly uncouth, or that your childhood dreams were lost to a routine you no longer relate to.
The primary output of this project is hoped to be a limited set of hand produced books that will be sold via the Internet and selected independent book outlets. Depending on the range and type of material received we may pursue further presentation methods, such as larger book runs, fanzines, websites or exhibitions. Contributors will of course be notified in such a situation and asked for their consent.
All reproductions of the work will be released under a Creative Commons licence (more details below), but the ultimate copyright of each piece will remain with the author who is free to use it elsewhere.
This project exists because of our own interest in the topic and a desire to collate and share with others. It is not seeking to make a profit, but should such a margin occur then it will be shared amongst the contributors.
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSING
It is our intention to let the final body of work be reproduced and distributed freely. To allow this while still retaining control over its subsequent use, it will be released under a restrictive Creative Commons license stating:
- Reproductions must be attributed to the author (both the Being Abroad project and individual contributors),
- Work can not be used for commercial purposes,
- The collection must remain as a whole and cannot be altered, built upon or transformed.
Full details of this license are available here:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5.
For more information about copyright and licensing issues, please contact us at mail@beingabroad.co.uk.
The project was conceived when, within weeks of moving abroad, Lucy and Russell met and discovered a mutual desire to discuss their respective experiences.
Lucy spent two very different summers working in Europe with other foreign students. Her first experience of living abroad sparked an interest in peoples' varying responses to moving away from familiarity and using distance to assess one's life from a new perspective, and also how inclusion in another culture can highlight one's own cultural identity or lack thereof.
Russell decided on a whim to quit his job, sell his belongings and leave the UK for Copenhagen, a place he had never visited before, where he started the creative design partnership Spoiled Milk and bought a second-hand bicycle. The first year was a joyous period of discovery and adventure, but also highlighted a lack of roots and belonging, along with an unwanted sadness at how easy it was to let
go of his homeland.
Please feel free to copy any text from this website in order to publicise the project. For more details, answers to questions or simply to let us know that you're highlighting our work please e-mail mail@beingabroad.co.uk.
A selection of Being Abroad web banners can be downloaded here:
BeingAbroadWebLogos.zip (38KB)
If you'd like to register your interest in contributing, or simply keep up to date with the project's development, then please send an email to mail@beingabroad.co.uk with the subject 'subscribe beingabroad'.