Do you have a great travel tale from the Middle East or North Africa? If so, editors Nesreen Khashan and Jim Bowman, in partnership with Travelers’ Tales, are looking for stories for two travel anthologies, 30 Days in the Middle East, and 30 Days in North Africa.

Khashan and Bowman are seeking first-person cultural narratives that involve travel to Middle Eastern or North African countries, emphasizing interaction with people of the region. The goal for writers should be to create moving, concise narratives that motivate and inspire readers to travel to the locales described. Narratives that present things to do and places to go — attending a wedding in Egypt, exploring the ruins of Petra, cruising the nightlife in Dubai — are encouraged.

Writers are also encouraged to explore tensions and commonalities that mark relationships between people of East and West. Stories should move beyond those featured in the vast majority of mainstream media, going beneath the surface, evoking a sense of place, and drawing portraits of the people who live in the region. The audience should not be assumed to have any particular knowledge of the area; the collection will be edited to reach travelers, students of the Middle East, and any other curious parties. Topics can be diverse: sports, adventure travel, urban life, arts, entertainment, family life, religion, etc. The spirit of the project is to assemble stories that offer uplifting and compelling views of life in the Middle East and North Africa.

For the purposes of the collection on the Middle East, the editors want material dealing with the following countries: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain. For the North Africa collection, narratives can be from Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, or Egypt. Proposals are preferred in lieu of completed stories for North Africa submissions, since this project has a later projected publication date. Those planning to submit should visit travelerstales.com or pick up copies of Travelers’ Tales books and read them to learn more about their approach and style.

Priority will be given to original material, but previously published work will be given consideration. A $100 honorarium will be provided to writers whose work is selected. Word count should be 3000 or less, and priority will be given to tales from the year 2000 or later. Middle East anthology deadline is March 1, 2006, and submissions should be filed in Rich Text Format (.rtf) or MSWord formats (.doc).

Questions about the collection should be sent to Nesreen Khashan at nesreenk@gmail.com or Jim Bowman at jbowman@email.arizona.edu. Submissions to the collection should be simultaneously sent to the above addresses and to submit@travelerstales.com (please do not send queries to the Travelers Tales address). For further information about submitting stories for Travelers’ Tales books, go to www.travelerstales.com/guidelines/.