CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW's Annual Literary Contests:
The 2011 Richard Peterson Poetry Prize,
Jack Dyer Fiction Prize,
&
John Guyon Literary Nonfiction Prize

$ 1500 prize for Poetry     $ 1500 prize for Fiction      $ 1500 prize for Literary Nonfiction

 

We are pleased to announce the winners and finalists of the 2010 Jack Dyer Fiction Prize, John Guyon Literary Nonfiction Prize, and Richard Peterson Poetry Prize.

Here are the results for the literary prize competitions, as well as all the finalists and the judges:

In fiction, the winning entry is “Migration” by Shannon Sweetnam of Lake Forest, Illinois. In literary nonfiction, the winning entry is “On a Clear Day, Catalina” by Barrie Jean Borich of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In poetry, the winning entry is three poems—“Columbia,” “Passover,” and “The Least of Us”—by Jonathan Rice of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The finalists in fiction are "Canals" by Dionne Irving and “The Meaning of Red” by Kara Weiss. Finalists in literary nonfiction are “Opting Out” by Jacob M. Appel and “Lessons from Vietnam” by Brian M. Biggs. Finalists in poetry are three poems—“Vespers,” “Compline,” and “Vigils”—by Ryan Teitman and three poems—“Watermarks,” “Camino de la Luz,” and “Migrations”—by Mary Van Denend. The final judge for the fiction and literary nonfiction competitions was Carolyn Alessio, CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW’s prose editor. The final judge for the poetry competition was Allison Joseph, CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW’s poetry editor and editor-in-chief.

All three winners will receive $1500 and their winning entries will appear in CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW, Volume 15, Number 1 (Winter/Spring 2010). Also, the finalists will be announced to our readers in this issue and each finalist will be offered publication in the issue with a minimum payment of $150 (all work in CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW receives $25 per published page). Congratulations to the winners and finalists, and thanks to all the entrants for their interest in CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW.

BELOW ARE THE GUIDELINES FOR NEXT YEAR'S LITERARY CONTESTS:

One winner and two finalists will be chosen in each category. The three category winners will be published and the finalists offered publication (with a minimum payment of $150) in the Winter/Spring issue of CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW. The winners and finalists will also be announced in the March/April POETS & WRITERS and on the CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW Website.

Contest Guidelines — The postmark deadlines for this year's prize competitions are March 1, 2010 through April 30, 2010. Please do not send entries via FedEx, UPS, DHL, Express Mail--we don't want you to spend the extra amount when this is a POSTMARK deadline.

Entries must be previously unpublished, original work written in English by a United States citizen or permanent resident (current students and employees at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are not eligible). Name, address, telephone number, email address, and work title (or titles for poetry entries) should appear only on a cover sheet for the entry. The author's name should not appear on any subsequent page. All entries must be postmarked between March 1, 2010 and April 30, 2010. Late entries will be returned unread. Enclose a #10, self-addressed, stamped envelope for notification of winners. Do not include an envelope or postage for return of manuscript since entries will be recycled upon the decision of the final judges and notification of the winners.
Page Restrictions:

Poetry entries should consist of 3 poems; 100 line limit per poem. Prose entry length: up to 6000 words for fiction and up to 6500 words for literary nonfiction. One poetry entry, story, or essay per $10 entry; a writer may send up to three entries in one genre or a total of three entries if entering all competitions.

Entry fee: $10 for each entry. Please make checks payable to CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW. Each fee entitles entrant to one copy of the 2011 Winter/Spring issue of CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW, which will include the winners of these competitions. If you send two entries with $20, we will send you the 2011 Summer/Fall issue as well; if you send three entries with $30, we will send you the 2011 Summer/Fall issue and the 2012 Winter/Spring issue as well.

Address:

Mail entries to: CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW Literary Contests, Dept. of English, Mail Code 4503, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 1000 Faner Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901. Please indicate on the outside of the envelope if an entry is "POETRY," "FICTION," or "LITERARY NONFICTION."

We do not at this time accept electronic submissions, but we hope in the future when we have our own server dedicated to submissions to offer this option. We will let you know when this becomes possible, but it is at least a year or more away given funding issues.

 

 

If you don’t find the information you’re looking for on our website, we can always be reached for information about subscriptions, current guidelines, upcoming themes, or contests by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

CRAB ORCHARD REVIEW
Department of English
Faner Hall 2380 - Mail Code 4503
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
1000 Faner Drive
Carbondale, IL 62901

PHONE: 618-453-6833
FAX: 618-453-8224

A Voice For South Africa's Post-Apartheid Generation

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

August 7, 2009

Go here to listen to the program.

For the final installment of our series Emerging Cultural Voices from Africa, we go to South Africa. Lebo Mashile is a poet, performer and writer. She is a leading voice of the "born-frees" — the young generation of post-apartheid South Africa.

 

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

All this week on MORNING EDITION, we've been showcasing emerging cultural voices from Africa, and today we go to South Africa. Lebo Mashile is a poet, performer and writer there, and she is a leading voice of the born-frees - the young generation of post-apartheid South Africa. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton has this profile.

OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON: At the Horror Cafe in downtown Johannesburg, the emcee introduces the next act.

Unidentified Man: And most of you have seen her grow to become one of the most outstanding poets we have in this country. Ladies and gentlemen, I am very proud to introduce Lebo Mashile. Give it up.

Ms. LEBO MASHILE (Poet): In ancient hands, you'll find the sweat that fuels the light in every home. The tears that bless the heartache in every story and every poem. I hold a pen for every ancient who built her home not out of bricks, but beat her fury into building blocks and made the mortar out of licks.

QUIST-ARCTON: Lebo Mashile, poet and performer, recites "The Ancient Ones," a poem that pays tribute to strong South African women. Thirty-year-old Mashile was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where her parents were living in exile from apartheid. She moved to South Africa 14 years ago.

Ms. MASHILE: This is the country where I discovered my voice as an artist. This is the country where I think I discovered my true identity, where I really discovered my place in the world.

QUIST-ARCTON: Mashile says growing up in the U.S. was good training.

Ms. MASHILE: I feel like America, in many ways, was preparation for living in South Africa. You know, it helped me to understand my identity as a black person globally. And I think for the first time in my life, I felt passion, and for the first time in my life I felt a sense of purpose. I stood on stage the first time, and I knew that I was at home, you know. And I've been standing on stages ever since.

QUIST-ARCTON: She describes what it was like moving from America to South Africa, which had just attained freedom from white minority rule.

Ms. MASHILE: I didn't understand at the time, but the transition that I was making was a transition that millions of children, you know, in this country had to make. I belonged to a generation that has had to encounter, I think, many firsts, you know. My generation in South Africa is one of the first generations to go to white schools, you know - or some of us, you know.

QUIST-ARCTON: Lebo Mashile says she appreciates guidance from those who fought so that the youth could be born free.

Ms. MASHILE: We are the first generation that's really eating, enjoying, you know, and also kind of fighting with - grappling with the fruits of freedom. Being a born-free means that I experience the legacies of apartheid, you know. But it also means that I have access to opportunities. I have access to freedoms and privileges that my parents, that my grandparents, that, you know, generations of my family never, ever, ever experienced, you know.

QUIST-ARCTON: A reality reflected in Lebo Mashile's poetry, published in two volumes to date: the award-winning "In a Rhythm of Ribbon," and last year, "Flying Above the Sky."

Ms. MASHILE: The ancient ones plait their stories into the futures of their children. The ancient ones, they use their hands to heal the backs of broken men, and I hold a pen for every ancient who dared not hold a fist against the tyranny that sucked the life and hope out of her breath.

QUIST-ARCTON: Thelma Machogo is a cultural commentator and patron of the arts. She says Mashile's poetry speaks volumes about the powerful voice of young South Africans.

Ms. THELMA MACHOGO (Cultural Commentator): The power of what she conveys is in the performance. She's an amazing performer and very compelling with the way that she constructs her words, and the message as well. She's an amazing social commentator, and she has an amazing eye into interpreting what happens, and a very brave, intended way of saying it as well, in a way that maybe some people wouldn't even dare say it.

QUIST-ARCTON: Mashile's poems draw from South Africa's past, but she considers herself a modern, young, woman writer.

Ms. MASHILE: We are fortunate because we are living in an era - we're coming of age and we're expressing ourselves professionally, politically, artistically, in an era where there's a political agenda to empower people like us.

QUIST-ARCTON: And that's a view shared by some of her contemporaries.

Mr. MPHO SLENDA LAKAJE:: My name is Mpho Slenda Lakaje. I was born in a black township called Soweto. My thoughts about Lebo are that she is a genius. She is brilliant. I love the way she recites her poetry. She's basically saying, well, as young South Africans, we have to believe in ourselves because at the end of the day, we've got these opportunities that have been brought by democracy. We have arrived. This is our time. And also, she is saying that, you know, we have to live our lives in such a way that it's not apologetic. We are the generation that's going to lead this country, for sure.

QUIST-ARCTON: Yet, Lebo Mashile questions whether all young South Africans appreciate the legacy given to them.

Ms. MASHILE: My generation is incredibly materialistic. And we as black people, you know, as young people, as young women, especially, young black women, we part with our money faster than anybody else. And I think we've got a lot of points to prove. We've been denied so much historically, so everybody wants to show, you know, what they've got. You need the nice house. You need the sexy car. You need the flashy clothes. You need all these things to feel good about yourself - which is a lot of bullocks, really, you know. I think in many ways, we use materialism to fill the void in our heart.

QUIST-ARCTON: Back at the Horror Cafe, Mashile performs again.

Ms. MASHILE: This poem is about the relationship between the artist and the audience. (Singing) You and I…

(Soundbite of cheers)

Ms. MASHILE: (Singing) …are the keepers of dreams, mold them into light beams, weave them into life's seams. You and I know life isn't what it really seems. We strip the fat from the lean and find the facts in between.

QUIST ARCTON: Lebo Mashile has experimented with her poetry, setting it to dance and to music. She says she's always trying out new creative forms.

Ms. MASHILE: And that makes it a wonderful environment to be a writer. I think the beautiful thing about being a poet in this country and on this continent is that poetry is a living force in Africa, you know, and in South Africa, which makes it possible for me to occupy space in the mainstream media, you know. I think that's only possible because I exist at this particular moment on this particular continent, right now in South Africa.

(Soundbite of music)

Ms. MASHILE: This morning rolls in with rain shadows and a cool voice crispy, shaking the last of winter's world winds to a standstill. There will be no pain his morning.

QUIST-ARCTON: Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Johannesburg.

Ms. MASHILE: It has been sucked into the sky from the other side of forever, where the ghosts of our former selves will bind their dreams from its sinew. Their cares keep our dreams…

INSKEEP: This is NPR News.

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Six Categories ! Easy to Enter ! Cash Prizes 2010 Writers-Editors Network 27th Annual International Writing Competition Guidelines & Rules (fomerly CNW/FFWA Florida State Writing Competition) Click here to download a two-page pdf file for easier printing. (right-click to save to your desktop) Frequently Asked Questions page. Check it out. Who Can Enter The contest is open to all writers. You do not have to be a member of Writers-Editors Network. However, members do save up to 50% on entry fees. (Membership information) Deadline Entries must be postmarked no later than March 15, 2010. Divisions & Categories Nonfiction Division: (A) Previously Published Article/Essay/Column/Nonfiction Book Chapter — (B) Unpublished or self-published Article/Essay/Column/Nonfiction Book Chapter Fiction Division: (C) Unpublished or self-published Short Story — (D) Unpublished or self-published Novel Chapter Children's Literature Division: (E) Unpublished or self-published Short Story/Nonfiction Article/Book Chapter/Poem (judged together as one category) Poetry Division: (F) Unpublished or self-published Free Verse/Traditional (judged together as one category) Awards & Prizes First Place in each Category - $100 plus certificate Second Place in each Category - $75 plus certificate Third Place in each Category - $50 plus certificate Honorable Mention certificates will be awarded in each category as warranted Winner Notification Winners' certificates/awards will be mailed no later than May 31, 2010. Winners List will be posted here on writers-editors.com — around May 31, 2010.   (See Winners for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.) Entry Fees Entry fee of $5 (active or new Writers-Editors Network members) or $10 (non-members) must accompany each fiction/nonfiction entry under 3,000 words Entry fee of $10 (members) or $20 (non-members) must accompany each entry of 3,000 words to 5,000 words. Entry fee of $3 (members) or $5 (non-members) must accompany each poem entered. You can send check, money order, or submit your entry fee(s) via PayPal. General Guidelines Entries must be unpublished (except for Nonfiction/Previously Published Article/Essay/Book Chapter category), with the exception of self-published material, which may be entered in all unpublished categories. Previously Published Article/Column/Nonfiction Book Chapter category entries may be submitted in double-spaced manuscript format or copies of published material – if writer's name is unrecognizable. Only one book chapter per entry and do NOT submit the complete book for adult or children's chapter book categories. You may submit more than one chapter from a book, but each chapter must be a separate entry. Length: Maximum length 5,000 words; plus, children's literature entries must adhere to typical type, age, and length guidelines in order to be judged favorably. Enter as many manuscripts in as many categories as you wish. Entry fee and a separate Official Entry Form must accompany  each entry (and each poem); photocopies of the entry form are acceptable. Send only one copy of each entry. Entries not conforming to contest rules will be disqualified; entry fees will not be returned. Entries beyond the 5,000-word limit will be judged only on the first 5,000 words submitted. Use paper clips only.  Do not staple manuscript pages, entry forms or checks. Author's name must NOT appear on any entry. Indicate Division and Category of each entry on upper right corner of first page of manuscript. Submit text only in a readable font, such as Times Roman or Arial. Other Information Acknowledgment of receipt of manuscripts will be made only if you enclose a self-addressed postcard (with adequate postage). Manuscripts CANNOT be returned; therefore, legible photocopies or computer printouts are suggested for submission. For list of winners, send self-addressed, stamped #10 (business size 4"x9½") envelope marked "winners" on the outside.  Winners list will be mailed by May 31, plus will be posted on www.writers-editors.com. (One envelope only; not one per category.) Neither entries nor winners will be published in an anthology or other publication; authors retain all rights to their works. Specific Division/Category Guidelines Nonfiction Division Previously Published must show name of magazine, newspaper or website in which it was published.   Essay/Column can be opinion, personal experience, nostalgia, think-piece, or humor. Fiction Division For Short Story, indicate whether Literary, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Western on first page.   Indicate book title plus chapter title or # on each Fiction/Novel Chapter entry and entry form (multiple chapter entries require a separate entry form and separate entry fee for each chapter). Children's Literature Division Indicate the age group of your readers and the word count on first page of entry.   Also on the first page, specify the category of children's literature: Poem, Short Story, Novel Chapter, Article, Nonfiction Book Chapter.   Do not include art, illustrations, or bound copies of a book. Entries cannot be returned. Poetry Division Include the poem's line count and whether Free Verse or Traditional on the manuscript page.   For traditional metered and syllabic poems, specify the form, such as Sonnet, Villanelle, Sestina, or Renga.   Each entry must be a single poem, not a book of verse. Judging Criteria Presentation (format, follows rules, neatness, spelling, punctuation, grammar, print quality). Suitability (correct category, correct age group and appropriate length if children's division). Tightness, clarity, structure, strength of lead/beginning, transitions, impact, satisfactory close. A book chapter needs to stand alone with elements of good writing included. Either the first or the last chapter will usually represent the whole book the best.. Nonfiction: Logic; use of quotes, statistics and anecdotes; order; provocative idea; lead and close. Fiction: Characterization, conflict, dialogue, plotting, beginning, ending, figures of speech. Children's Literature: Age-appropriateness is especially important. (Judge's note: Many children's entries are not age-appropriate. They have language, situations, or characters that most children would neither relate to nor understand. Poetry: Fresh concept, cadence or rhythmic beat, sound echoes, any other device (such as figurative language) that appeals to  the imagination or engages the reader's senses; and for traditional verse, adherence to form. (Judge's note: Poems that exceed a page seldom improve with length.) ------------------------------------------------------------ OFFICIAL ENTRY FORM - Year 2010 Writers-Editors International Writing Competition - postmark deadline 3/15/2010 A separate form must accompany each entry (and each poem); click here for a separate, printer-friendly Entry Form (or you can use this one). 1. Author's  name ________________________________________________ Note how you want your name on Winners List/Certificate if different from above: _____________________________________________________________ 2. Author's mailing address ________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ 3. Author's phone number (______) ________________ 4. Author's E-mail: _______________________________________ 5. TITLE of entry _________________________________________________ 6. FIRST LINE of entry ____________________________________________ 7. Circle Division/Category of this entry:  A-Nonfiction/Previously Published     B-Nonfiction/Unpublished or Self-published  C-Fiction/Short Story       D-Fiction/Novel Chapter  E-Children's/ Short Story / Nonfiction Article / Book Chapter / Poem (circle one of these four)  F-Poetry/ Free Verse / Traditional (circle one of these two) 8. ENTRY FEE (check one and enclose): Membership number if entering as a current CNW/FFWA member (see your Press ID card/tag if not sure): ____________ /  /   $3, I am a current Writers-Editors Network member or am joining at this time (dues also enclosed), and entry is one poem /  /   $5, I am not a member and am not joining at this time, and entry is one poem /  /   $5, I am a current Writers-Editors Network member or am joining at this time (dues also enclosed), and entry is under 3,000 words /  /   $10, I am not a member and am not joining at this time and entry is under 3,000 words /  /   $10, I am a current Writers-Editors Network member (or membership dues enclosed) and entry is between 3,000 words and 5,000 words /  /   $20, I am not a member and am not joining at this time and entry is between 3,000 and 5,000 words / /  I have enclosed membership dues of $ ______ (see Membership page for choices here). Make entry fee check or money order payable to: CNW Publshing. One check may be written to cover multiple entries if all are  mailed in same package (but enclose separate entry forms for each entry). (US $ only) If entry fees/dues total $25 or more, you may charge to: VISA,  MasterCard, Amex (but only if all in same package). Charge will appear on your credit card statement as "Cassell Commun/CNW Publish." Send SASE if you want a credit card receipt mailed to you. Card # ___________________________________________ exp. ___________   Total amount charged: _______________ ($25 minimum) credit card signature ________________________________  You can submit your entry fees via PayPal to danakcnw@ncia.net (a verified PayPal user since 2000) - Be sure to note with your payment the title(s) and/or first line of your entry or entries. Then mail your entry or entries via postal mail along with entry form(s) - We will e-mail you confirmation when we have received and matched up your entry fees and entries. 9. SEND entry form(s), with fee(s) attached, to: Writers-Editors Contest, PO Box A, North Stratford NH 03590. Postmark deadline for 2010 competition is March 15, 2010.

Writers Contests - Houston Writers Guild

Click here for Fall 2009 Contests Winners!

Click here for Spring 2009 Contests Winners!

NDEADLINE ALL CONTESTS - MARCH 3, 2010

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Contest 1: NOVELS  &  SCREENPLAYS  - ANY GENRE

Mainstream, Literary, Romance, Romantic Suspense, Historical, Saga, Mystery, Thriller, Spy, Action, Adventure, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Non-Fiction

First Place Prize: $1,000 - 2nd Place: $500 -  3rd Place: $250

$20 per entry - 2 copies - first 15 pages your Novel, Book, or Screenplay + Synopsis

In case of ties, prize money will be divided among tie holders - General Rules Apply

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Contest 2: Short Story - Any Genre

$100 First Place; $15 per entry: 3500 words limit; 2 copies - 3 Mar 2010 Deadline

In case of ties, prize money will be divided among tie holders - General Rules Apply

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Contest 3: Personal Essay

$100 First Place Prize; $15 per entry; 3500 word limit; 2 copies - 3 Mar 2010 Deadline

In case of ties, prize money will be divided among tie holders - General Rules Apply

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Click here for Entry Blank

You May Send Payment by PayPal

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GENERAL RULES APPLY TO ALL ENTRIES

1. New rule: Even though you won first place in a previous contest, you may enter this contest with a different novel.

2. You do not have to pay/attend the workshop in order to enter the contest. Membership is not required to attend workshop or enter contests.

3. YOU MAY SEND MORE THAN ONE ENTRY. 

4. All entries must be in English. 

5. All entries in the Novel & Screenplay Contest must be from unpublished writers who are not under contract to any publisher anywhere or receive royalties for a published novel or screenplay that they did not pay to have printed. Published short story writers may enter new, unpublished novel or screenplay manuscripts. All entries must not have been published anywhere by anyone (royalty paying publisher or self-published) in whole or in part.

6. Do not send the entire manuscript. Send the first 15 pages only. 

7. SEND TWO (2) COPIES OF EACH ENTRY. Failure to do so may disqualify your entry.

8. Leave your name off the MS. Use the "header" to install like this:

     Title of your novel/Genre    (Insert page # on  right)  

9. Your name should only appear on the cover page. One cover page is sufficient if you detail all your entries on it.

10. Novels require a brief synopsis, no more that one page single-spaced (two copies). Less is better. Give us a two-sentence dramatic statement that explains the direct line of action of your main character. State your genre. The synopsis will be judged. Work on it! Send two copies of the one page single-spaced synopsis.

11. The title counts as part of the scoring. The title should be exciting.

12. All entries must be double-spaced in Times New Roman or Courier 12-point font. Do not use a smaller font in order to crowd more words on the page as our judges are already half blind. The title page does not count as a page.

13. Margins should be at least 1 inch (22-24 lines per page).

14. Pages must be numbered.

15. Chapter should start 1/3 of the way down the page. Failure to do will cost you points.

16. You may resubmit any novel that has not won first place in a previous contest of ours. If you placed 2^nd, 3^rd, etc., you may re-enter the same novel, but bring it up to snuff.

17. No staples. Paper clips only.

18. We cannot accept  e-mail attachments.  Our poor old computer is already overloaded.

19. We can accept payment through PayPal on our Entry Blank page on this website.

20. Prize money for any category will be divided among tie winners for that category and prize.

HINT! The most ignored rule in contests was failure to send TWO (2) copies. If you send less than two (2) copies, your entry will be discarded, but NOT your check! Look over your entry very carefully before sealing the envelope.

Click here for Entry Blank

You May Send Payment by PayPal

 

Winners of the screenplay-novel contest will be announced at the pre-conference party and all winners will be announced at the workshop and posted to this website.

Scored manuscripts will be returned to Workshop attendees. Other manuscripts will receive score sheets from judges if SASE is provided with entry.

Map to Conference Workshop Location 

 

Welcome    Meetings   Member News   Workshops    Contests    Writing Links    Contact

 

HOUSTON WRITERS GUILD

12523 Folkcrest Way :: Stafford, TX :: USA :: 77477

info@HoustonWritersGuild.org

 

Brownstone Reading Series Celebrates 3 Women Writers

Type:

Music/Arts - Performance

Date:	Sunday, March 7, 2010
Time:	3:00pm - 6:30pm
Location:	Harlem, USA

Description

The Brownstone Reading Series celebrates Women's History Month by featuring writers/poets Brenda Connor-Bey (Thoughts of an Everyday Woman/An Unfinished Urban Folktale); Mariposa (Maria Teresa Fernandez); and Patricia Spears Jones (The Weather That Kills, Coffee House Press). Please come and enjoy the rich and wonderful writings of these dynamic poetic sisters in prose and poetry!

Date: Sunday, March 7, 2010
Time: 3 pm
Place: 316 W. 137th Street (C Train to 135th St./Located off Edgecombe Ave.)
Price: Free & open to the public. Books by authors will be available and for sale.
For information call: 212 865-2982

Brenda Connor-Bey: Poet Laureate for the Town of Greenburgh, NY, award-winning poet, writer and arts-in-education consultant, Brenda Conor-Bey is a co-founder of New Renaissance Writers Guild, founder of MenWem Writers Workshop, a member of the Harlem Writers' Workshop and the Poetry Caravan. In 2002 she was awarded the Outstanding Arts Educator Award from the Westchester Fund for Women and Girls and is a recipient of a CAPS award for poetry, four PEN awards for non-fiction, a NYFA for fiction and is a MacDowell, YADDO and Cave Canem Regional Fellow. Her first book, Thoughts of an Everyday Woman/An Unfinished Urban Folktale, is a collection of prose and poetry. She recently completed a chapbook of poetry, Through the Mists of Remembering, a collection of poetry, Crossroad of the Serpent, and is currently working on a novel, The House on Blackwell Lane.

Mariposa (Maria Teresa Fernandez) is an award winning Nuyorican poet from the Bronx. She is the author of Born Bronxeña: Poems on Identity, Love & Survival and has published articles and poetry in the Centro Journal, Urban Latino Magazine, New York Newsday, El Nuevo Dia, Hunt's Point Alive!, The Vieques Times, NYU's Brownstone Magazine and Conciencia Magazine, AHA! Hispanic Arts News, Resistance in Paradise: 100 Years of U.S. Colonialism, Drum Voices Volume 23, What's Up Magazine and Def Poetry Jam's Bumrush the Page.

A freelance writer, actor, educator, visual artist and human rights activist, Mariposa has performed at over 100 colleges and universities throughout the United States; major NYC venues including the Nuyorican Poets Café and the Joseph Papp Public Theater, as well as the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture and the Nuyorican Café in San Juan, Puerto Rico; the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa; and the 2001 Essence Music Fest in New Orleans where she, in the words of Susan Taylor, "mesmerized an audience of 5,000." Mariposa's poetry has been featured on the acclaimed HBO documentary "Americanos: Latino Life in the US", produced by Edward James Olmos, Nick Athas and Time Warner. In March 2002, Marisposa performed in V-Day Harlem as a member of the Vulva Choir in Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues at the Apollo Theater, which was co-produced by Rosie Perez and featured the likes of Selma Hayek, Lauren Velez, Rosario Dawson, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Eve, Amie Lauriex and others.

Patricia Spears Jones is a widely published poet, arts writer, playwright and author of the collection, The Weather That Kills from Coffee House Press and the play Mother produced by Mabou Mines. Poems are anthologized in Poetry After 911; bumrush, a defpoetryjam; Best American Poetry 2000; and Blood and Tears: Poems for Matthew Shepard. Poems, arts writing and interviews have appeared in Bomb, Black Issues Book Review, Barrow Street, Callaloo, Kenyon Review, the Village Voice, Poetry Project Newsletter, The World, Essence, and the Boston Globe.

Mass protests greet Sarkozy visit to Haiti

By Alex Lantier
19 February 2010

French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled for a one-day visit to Haiti on February 17, amid rising popular opposition to the Western-backed Préval government and international tensions over how to rebuild the country. The US military occupied Haiti after the devastating January 12 earthquake that killed over 200,000 people, wounded over 250,000, and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.

Sarkozy, the first French head of state ever to visit Haiti, was greeted with street protests by thousands of Haitians demanding the return of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ousted by a US- and French-backed coup in 2004, Aristide was flownto the Central African Republic, a former French colony. Aristide now lives in exile in South Africa. President René Préval, a former prime minister under Aristide in the 1990s, came to power in 2006 in elections supervised by the provisional government of Boniface Alexandre that was installed by the coup.

Préval tried to address the crowd outside the presidential palace. However, crowds shouted him down, and Préval left in a luxury Jeep, surrounded by bodyguards.

Protesters held pictures of Aristide aloft and demanded that Sarkozy repay $21 billion paid to France by Haiti, a former French slave colony. In 1825 warships under the orders of France’s King Charles X—soon to be toppled by the 1830 revolution—forced Haiti to repay 90 million gold francs in exchange for its freedom. The French revolutionary government had freed Haiti’s slaves in 1794. Haiti had then fought off an attempt to restore slavery by armies under Napoleon’s command and subsequently declared its independence in 1804.

The ransom paid to Charles X, the equivalent of $21.7 billion today, devastated Haiti’s economy and took 122 years to repay. In comparison, it is estimated that the post-earthquake reconstruction of Haiti will cost $14 billion—which is also less than the cost of one year of the upper-class tax cut Sarkozy pushed through upon coming to office in 2007.

Sarkozy’s visit came amid steps to transform Haiti into a military dictatorship jointly run with foreign occupation forces and aid agencies. Haiti’s legislative elections, previously scheduled for February 28-March 3, have been indefinitely postponed.

The US in particular is preparing to take over the Haitian government. On February 11 the Miami Herald reported that the US State Department had presented top Haitian officials with plans for an Interim Haiti Recovery Commission in early February. The Herald, which had seen a copy of the plan, noted the commission’s “top priority” is to “create a Haitian Development Authority to plan and coordinate billions in foreign assistance for at least 10 years.”

The Herald wrote that the commission would be co-chaired by the Haitian prime minister and “a distinguished senior international figure engaged in the recovery effort.” The Herald suggested that this figure would probably be former President Bill Clinton, a recent US envoy to Haiti and the husband of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Trinity Washington University professor Robert Maguire, who spoke positively about the plan, told the Herald it sounded “similar to an idea that Hillary Clinton was considering long before the earthquake.”

The US plan has provoked opposition from capitalist powers who do not want such an obvious US role in reconstruction plans. The Canadian government is considering a plan to funnel aid into a trust fund that would be overseen by the World Bank.

US economist Jeffrey Sachs, who has devised a similar plan involving the Inter-American Development Bank, criticized the US State Department plan: “We should not see this as a US political effort but a multilateral one.” Arguing that responsibility for reconstruction plans should fall to the Haitian government alone, Sachs said a reconstruction agency “shouldn’t have a mixed membership of the [Haitian] president and international figures.”

Initial details of what such “reconstruction” plans entail emerged after a January 25 conference in Montreal. They involve using a sub-minimum wage passed by Préval for the garment industry ($2.98 per day) to turn Haiti into a super-exploited export-processing zone. In a UN report, Paul Collier of Britain’s Oxford University wrote: “Due to its poverty and relatively unregulated labor market, Haiti has labor costs that are fully competitive with China, which is the global benchmark.”

Sarkozy arrived in Haiti amidst speculation that his visit reflected growing divisions between Paris and Washington on how to proceed. Sarkozy arrived at Port-au-Prince airport, took a brief helicopter tour of the worst damaged areas of the city, and gave a press conference with Préval.

Sarkozy’s performance was a mixture of cynicism and imperialist arrogance. Speaking to the puppet government of a US-occupied country, he said: “The people of Haiti are standing up! ... Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ministers, you must set the conditions for a national consensus on which to base a national project that will belong to you. Haiti for the Haitians.”

He announced an aid package of €326 million ($447 million), including €56 million for repaying Haiti’s currently outstanding debts to France. Even though this sum is all out of proportion to the vast cost of rebuilding Haiti, Sarkozy lectured: “If I may say so, Mr. President, please do not rebuild the way it was before.”

After admonishing the Préval regime that “Wealth must profit for everyone,” Sarkozy made a remarkable admission: “In my country as in yours, the question of the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of small number of people is a problem.”

As he pushes for a new round of pension cuts in France and maintains the tax cut for the wealthy, this problem is one that his own policies play a major role in exacerbating.

Sarkozy also implicitly criticized the US State Department’s plans, saying: “France does not want international tutelage for Haiti—especially when you are one of the world’s poorest countries, that you have just undergone one of the world’s most violent catastrophes.”

Asked about rivalries between the countries active in rebuilding Haiti, Sarkozy pointed to fears of growing political opposition in Haiti: “First of all there should be no rivalries inside Haiti.” He said, “I’m aware of your political realities—30 or so constitutions, a large number of assassinated heads of state ... one of the most abominable dictatorships the world has ever known.”

Sarkozy failed to mention that after his ouster in 1986, dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier fled to France, where he lived a life of luxury despite never formally receiving political asylum. In 1998 the French government refused to act on a lawsuit demanding that France expel Duvalier as an illegal immigrant.

Sarkozy continued, “As for rivalries between the countries that are friends of Haiti ... there will be none. The Americans have done good work. They have a million Haitian [immigrants] and they are 900 km away, and I will not reproach anyone for not doing enough. Afterwards, in any emergency situation one can do things more or less well, provoke small tensions. It’s not serious compared to the essential—which is that Americans, Englishmen, Brazilians, Canadians, and everyone else, we continue to work hand-in-hand to help you.”

This statement repudiates widespread criticism from aid officials of the US military occupation’s callous indifference towards Haitian lives. The US military seized the Port-au-Prince airport and blocked the arrival of humanitarian flights, costing the lives of thousands of Haitians dying from infected wounds and lack of antibiotics and other basic supplies. It also refused to admit wounded Haitians to the large sick bay of the USS Carl Vinson, a US aircraft carrier steaming off Haiti, and temporarily blocked rescue flights to Florida.

Sarkozy bluntly refused to consider reimbursing the $21 billion France extorted from Haiti in 1825, responding: “I’ve decided to reimburse Haiti’s debts towards France. ... I presume that this creates the conditions for greater cooperation between our countries.”

Asked if France might give more assistance in light of the $14 billion cost of rebuilding Haiti, Sarkozy said: “We cannot condemn Haiti to a life on social assistance and kill the emergence of a private sector.”

After Sarkozy had spoken, Préval took questions on the holding of future elections. He said the government faced difficulties in “purging” voter lists to “avoid fraud arising from dead voters.” Ghoulishly, he explained that the earthquake made this virtually impossible: “Today, there are far more dead, there are far more displaced, there are far more potential voters who have lost their voting cards.”

Préval also implied that he did not want to hold elections, given the popular mood: “And there is the question of the population’s disposition—in this difficult situation, can one decently tell them, we’re going to the elections right away?”

Asked whether December’s scheduled presidential elections would take place on time, Préval implied that they were put on hold indefinitely, pending discussions with the occupying powers: “We will have to find an adequate, exceptional mechanism to allow these elections to take place.”

He continued: “By consensus among the political class, civil society, and the international community that largely finances these elections, we should be able to find a formula that would allow there to be parliamentary, local and presidential elections. That is all I can say.”