2025 saw the 80th anniversary of the first use of atomic weapons in war, alongside a plethora of expressions of nuclear anxiety, and of creative responses to past and current atomic threats. Both research and media commentary indicate that nuclear anxiety—a term first coined by Margaret Mead as the ‘fear of a nuclear war and its consequences’—is permeating creative, academic and popular literature and the arts. Like a phoenix, it continually re-emerges into popular, literary and artistic consciousness, rising with new threats from geopolitical tensions and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

A number of key reports, such as the World Humanities Report, as well as testimonies from hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors), point to the need for humanities and creative arts insights and responses to help address the problems of both nuclear proliferation, and poor information and understanding about the extent of atomic risk. This demonstrates the need for ongoing conversations in the Arts and Humanities about nuclear disarmament and the emotional scars left by past conflicts.

In this context, Axon: Creative Explorations invites contributions that:

• explore the ‘unfinished business’ of the atomic bomb
• connect the earlier creative work of hibakusha to contemporary issues and literatures
• rethink/reframe nuclear war and nuclear proliferation
• examine what, or how, creative interpretations of the atomic legacy may contribute to broader social understandings
• contribute new understandings of the role of creative work in responding to social anxieties about nuclear escalation and atomic warfare
• address the tension that exists in both the spoken and the unspoken, the silences and the noise, about atomic power
• utilise artistic mediums to convey personal and collective responses to the atomic bomb and its legacy
• inspire innovative storytelling that challenges conventional narratives about nuclear war and promotes dialogue through creative forms

Submit:

• essays (standard or lyric) of up to 7000 words
• photo essays of up to 12 images, plus a commentary of 500–1000 words
• poems: maximum of 6, plus a commentary of 500–1000 words

(Please do not submit poems or photos without a commentary or other framing document)