Change of Heart
Personal Stories of Transformation
The Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance at Rice University (www.boniukcenter.org) seeks personal narrative essays in which people tell about a major change of heart regarding a person (or group) whose religion or spiritual path is different from theirs.
Any number of events could prompt such a change of heart: Maybe you had a shift in your thinking after getting to know someone from a different religion. Perhaps someone in your family married someone from a different faith, and that pushed you to reconsider negative impressions you had about people from that faith. Or, maybe something more dramatic happened which caused you to give up prejudice, or even hatred, toward a particular religious group or individual. We are interested in what prompted your change of heart, what the process was like for you, what new insights or perspectives you gained, and how this impacts your life now.
A Boniuk Center committee will choose submissions to be published in an anthology in spring 2009.
Submit your story (1200 words max) as a Word document (.doc file) to the Center’s Executive Director, Dr. Jill Carroll at:
Include your full name and contact information along with your submission.
Authors whose essays are chosen for publication will receive payment of $150 plus a copy of the book.
Deadline is October 1, 2008. You will be notified by email on or around December 15, 2009 of the status of your submission.
By submitting your story via email to the Boniuk Center, you thereby give the Boniuk Center permission to edit (for grammar and style), disseminate and reproduce (in written, electronic, or audio forms) your story. You retain the copyright on your essay, but grant the Boniuk Center unrestricted (but not exclusive) use of your essay.
