With tens of thousands of American expatriate children living overseas and countless more with multiple passports, an international childhood is becoming ever more common. So-called "Third-Culture Kids" are a significant demographic cohort in international schools and in American colleges. Yet, stories of their upbringing often go untold.
We are pleased to announce that ArborBridge will be supporting The Worlds Within, an important new project aimed at giving voice to the TCK experience.
The Worlds Within will be an anthology of writing from school-age and young adult TCKs. It will be edited by Eva László-Herbert, Cerine Jin, and Jo Parfitt; all are authors and longtime advocates for TCK's and expat writers. It will be published through Parfitt's imprint, Summertime Publishing.
Their goal is to help TCK's celebrate their international experiences while also exploring the challenges they have faced. These challenges can include feelings of displacement and isolation, as children struggle to situate themselves in a particular culture.
"We hope that young global nomads will not only welcome being given a voice for how life overseas affected them but will also find themselves in the words and artwork of others who are just like them," said Parfitt. "We believe this is a unique opportunity for them to share their stories with people who care and want to listen."
As a continued effort to support the TCK community, ArborBridge is pleased to be one of several sponsors lending financial support, in-kind support, and publicity to The Worlds Within.
AborBridge frequently provides SAT and ACT preparation to TCK’s and other global youth who are applying to university in the United States. ArborBridge’s Director of International Development, Josh Stephens will be helping with copy-editing.
"The Worlds Within complements ArborBridge's mission perfectly,” added Stephens. “Test scores are important for college applications, but so are writing skills, creativity, and emotional well-being. This project helps TCK authors and readers in all of those respects."
"To be supported by an organization like ArborBridge is proof that people do want a book like this, knowing they share a similar mission – to teach, support and inspire third culture and cross culture kids," said Parfitt.
Students up to age 27 may submit artwork and essays and stories of any length. Submission guidelines can be found at theworldswithintckanthology.wordpress.com/submissions. The deadline is March 31.
About The Worlds Within
The Worlds Within is an anthology of TCK art and writing: young, global and between cultures. Eva Laszlo-Herbert, Jo Parfitt and Cerine Jin are compiling an anthology of TCK art and writing, as a first volume of a bigger project, which aims to make the lives and stories of worldwide TCKs and TCAs visible and graspable.
Editors will select up to 100 contributions and publish them at Summertime Publishing, a publishing company that specialises in book by and for people living abroad. Submissions are invited of writing and artwork (will be reproduced black and white) from under 27s.
The deadline closes 31 March 2014. Publication is scheduled for late 2014.
