Overturning: Writers respond.

Before and after the pivotal Dobbs decision on June 24, 2022, Christine Maul Rice, founder and editor of Hypertext Magazine, saw an influx of submissions expressing literary outrage. Fiction and nonfiction writers, and poets, were clamoring to be heard above the din of attempts to overturn progressive movements in US America and return us to a time of normalized hate, misogyny, and injustice. Chris realized the time was ripe for a collective literary response in the form of an anthology: The Overturning. Chris then invited Ignatius Valentine Aloysius, host of Sunday Salon Chicago, and Virginia Bell, Editor of RHINO Poetry, to help recruit submissions from disparate communities and across genres. All of our organizations are based in the greater Chicago area.

We were excited and charged by the possibility of this ambitious and unique collection, and began to move forward with our combined energies, talents, and connections. Bringing this idea to fruition-what you now hold in your hands-means that we refuse the alarming U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe vs Wade, but also so much more.

The Dobbs decision has returned us to the past, and lines of decency, tolerance, and understanding have been broken-no, erased! Womxn are fighting for bodily autonomy again, when much more is also being (or has been) overturned in recent years, from the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and DEIB initiatives to the abandoning of ecological care. The Overturning 7

is a direct literary response to this intersectional crisis. As writers and editors, we cannot sit back and do nothing while the spirit of America bleeds out.

Our hope is that, as you read this anthology, you'll find yourself stimulated by the moral currency of truth, heartache, and courage visible in this creative endeavor, but also one of understanding. Determination propels these authors' words and experiences, awakening us to the spirit of 8

agency-that womxn have a right to decide what's right for their bodies and that any governmental intervention for such a primary human concern is a lit matchstick which sets the house of fire. Through these narratives, we hope you'll be transported along with us to a place of wellness. We are all inspired!