awards submission instructions

Information and Instructions for All Awards

DEADLINE (for receipt of form): December 6, 2012

* All current individual members of the Publishing Triangle may submit one (1) book for free. Individuals doing so are asked to list a contact person at the publisher whom we may contact for the requisite number of books.

* All current corporate members of the Publishing Triangle may submit up to eight (8) books for free. After that, the fee is $35 per additional title submitted.

* All others must enclose a check for $35 per title submitted.

* Submissions from Canada and from outside the U.S., contact publishingtriangle@gmail.com first for special payment instructions.

* Entrance fees are due with the submission form; however, if fee must follow, we must receive it by January 11, 2013; if payment is not received by then, the book will be removed from the competition.

 

 

 

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To join and then submit: Download a membership form from the membership page on this Web site and mail in together with your check for your annual membership dues. Then use the submissions form and submit title(s) for free. Questions about membership? E-mail  tcd31@netzero.com using “Triangle Membership” as Subject.

* If you are submitting two (2) or more books, download additional copies of the form from our Web site.

* For more information on the eligibility of anthologies, collections of previously published materials, and other special cases, please e-mail the coordinator for the appropriate award at the address listed below. Overall questions: e-mail Trent Duffy at tcd31@netzero.com.

* The decisions regarding eligibility of the coordinators and/or judges are final.

* Mail the completed submission form, and any funds due to: The Publishing Triangle, 332 Bleecker Street, #D36 New York, NY 10014. DO NOT MAIL BOOKS TO THIS ADDRESS.

* After we have received and processed your submissions form, the coordinator of the individual awards will e-mail you with instructions as to where books should be sent.

* NOTE: If you are submitting more than one book for consideration, you do not have to send separate checks (i.e., submit a $70 check for nominating 2 separate titles, in any category).

 

A list of the previous winners is available here. Finalists/nominees will be notified in March 2013; we thank you for your participation.

Note: Submission does not equal "nomination": authors and publishers are requested not to use the latter term on their Web sites or in any promotional material.

GUIDELINES FOR EACH AWARD

 

 

THE FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARDS FOR LESBIAN/GAY FICTION:

Established in 1988, the Ferro-Grumley Awards recognize excellence and experiment in literary fiction. Lesbian and gay fiction is defined as fiction reflecting or affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgendered lives.

All nominated books must be published in the United States or Canada between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012. Anthologies of fiction by a number of writers, and books of short stories by a single writer are eligible. Reissues of previously published works are usually not eligible.

A book may be submitted for one of the Ferro-Grumley Awards as well as for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction (see below); in that case, use one nomination form and the entrance fee is $70.

Questions? E-mail Stephen Greco at steve@trace212.com, using "Awards" as Subject.

 

 

THE EDMUND WHITE AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION:

Established in 2006, the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction recognizes outstanding first novels or story collections by LGBT authors. Authors may have appeared in anthologies or journals before, and they may have published works of nonfiction. But the book submitted for consideration must be their first book-length work of fiction. The award is open to first-time published authors of any age whose work contains queer themes. Books must be published in the United States or Canada between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012. Self-published works are eligible, but subsequent reissues by commercial publishers are not eligible (unless publication date is same year as original self-published year).

A book may be submitted for both the Edmund White Award and one of the Ferro-Grumley Awards: in that case, use one nomination form and the entrance fee is $70.

Questions? E-mail Seth Bookey at sbookey@gmail.com, using “Awards” as Subject.

 

 

THE RANDY SHILTS–JUDY GRAHN AWARDS FOR GAY & LESBIAN NONFICTION:

Established in 1997, the Randy Shilts–Judy Grahn Awards are bestowed annually to one lesbian book and one gay book. To be eligible, books must be published in the United States or Canada between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012.

“Lesbian nonfiction” is defined as nonfiction affecting lesbian lives or reflecting on them; for example, the book may be about a lesbian or about lesbian culture. The same guidelines apply, changing the gender of course, to what the judges deem the best “gay male nonfiction.”

We also welcome the submission of quality nonfiction with transgender or bisexual content. You may submit such a book in Shilts, in Grahn, or in both—or leave it up to the judging committee to decide.

Nonfiction anthologies are eligible. If an anthology has a mixture of LGBT content, determination of category is based foremost on the subject matter and secondarily on the sexual orientation of the editor(s) of the volume.

Questions? E-mail Trent Duffy at tcd31@netzero.com, using “Triangle Awards” as Subject.

 

 

THE AUDRE LORDE AWARD FOR LESBIAN POETRY
THE THOM GUNN AWARD FOR GAY POETRY:

Established in 2000, these awards recognize excellence in poetry. The Audre Lorde Award is for a book of poems by a lesbian, and the Thom Gunn Award is for a book of poems by a gay man.

Books must be published in a standard edition (48 or more pages long) in the United States or Canada between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012.

Chapbooks are not eligible. Anthologies are not eligible.

Questions? E-mail Carol Rosenfeld at fool3953@mindspring.com, using “Awards” as Subject.

 

 

 

 

Seeking submissions now

____________________________________________ 

What do we want?

The editors of The Island Review are seeking submissions of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, photography and visual art from islanders everywhere, as well as from those whose work is influenced by islands or which explores ideas of islandness.

We’re looking for work that stands out from the crowd: work that is original, daring, witty, wise, radical, intelligent, illuminating or just plain excellent. If you think you fit into any (or all) of those categories, we want to hear from you.

submissions@theislandreview.com

 

Who can contribute?

Anyone who lives on an island; anyone whose work is about islands, set on an island or inspired by islands; anyone who doesn’t fit quite comfortably into one of these categories but who believes, nevertheless, that their work may be just right for The Island Review.

Please read our ‘coming soon’ page to find out what we mean by the word ‘island’. But bear in mind, also, that we’re always willing to be persuaded.

So, while Australia may be a continental landmass rather than an island proper, if your work seeks somehow to highlight the islandness of that country, we’d probably want to take a look.

On the other hand, the island of Manhattan is probably less likely to interest us than, say, Ellis Island. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be interested.

If you think we should be interested, tell us why. And if you’re not quite sure, just ask.

submissions@theislandreview.com

 

In addition . . .

The Island Review is preparing to launch in early 2013. If you have any ideas and suggestions for the website – who, what or where would you like to see featured, for instance – we’d very much like to know.

And if you would like to offer us help or assistance of any kind . . . please do.

mail@theislandreview.com

Watch Informative, Colorful

Short Doc 'Haute Caribe:

The World of

Trinidad & Tobago Fashion'

by Tambay A. Obenson

November 5, 2012

For you fashionistas (or wannabes), here's a new, fun, colorful, informative short documentary on T&T fashion, titled Haute Caribe: The World of Trinidad & Tobago Fashion.

You get a little history, some of the present, and of course the future - the shifting fashion landscapes that have occurred over time, of course carnival influences, and more. 

It's directed by Trevor Franchise.

Watch below:

Haute Caribe: The World of Trinidad & Tobago Fashion from Wedge15 on Vimeo.

With the Medium of Mauna:

Edward Bowen’s

Paintings from the Monastery

By Marsha Pearce  

November 12th, 2012 

 

The concept of mauna or silence is key to several spiritual practices. Through mauna the ego can be tranquilized. The ego is “a conglomeration of recurring thought forms and conditioned mental-emotional patterns that are invested with a sense of I, a sense of self…. [The ego] contains…identifications, not only with possessions, but also with opinions, external appearance, long-standing resentments, or concepts of yourself as better than or not as good as others, as a success or failure” (Tolle 2005). The ego is that voice in your head that never stops speaking – an entity that takes possession of you. It is, as Tolle explains, how we usually identify ourselves but he insists it is a voice that can be our “own worst enemy” by its very nature of being an “incessant stream of mind.” The ego is “compulsive thinking, most of it repetitive and pointless” (Tolle 2005). However, when we suppress the ego – when we still that voice – a space opens up for other entities to come into being; myriad forms beyond what we understand as “I” become perceptible. In Edward Bowen’s latest exhibition entitled, “Paintings from the Monastery, Sans Souci 2009-2012,” the artist uses the medium of mauna along with acrylic paint, concentration, inks, discipline, oil pastel, patience and other image making media to translate onto canvas and paper his acute consciousness of a breadth and depth of forms that exist both within and beyond himself.

 

Details from Pyramid House with Red Tree by Edward Bowen. Acrylic and collage on paper. All photographs by Marsha Pearce.

 

Edward Bowen has spent the last three years at a relatively remote, old family space in rural Sans Souci, Trinidad – a studio and living space dubbed the monastery – where he has sequestered himself from the noise and incessant stream of conversations in the capital city of Port of Spain. For Bowen, Port of Spain is rife with self-consciousness – a stifling egotism. “I did not want to focus on my career. I became fed up of people’s expectation of how I should live and be. I wanted to see what would happen if I got some quiet…I got in the car and went up to Sans Souci,” shares Bowen. The monastery at Sans Souci is a kind of sacred space where Bowen’s daily devotions involve planting and reaping food, making an infinite connection or endless circle in which human and nature are yoked together. “When you are bending over to touch a plant, you are making a loop. You create a circuit,” says Bowen. The monastery is also where he has read the Bhagavad Gita countless times. “The root word of Krishna means to scrape. When I sit down to read the Gita, it is literally to attempt to scrape the mind clean,” Bowen explains. It is a scraping of a false sense of self and crippling thoughts. This kind of cleansing is echoed in his artistic practice, which is not to be understood as separate from spiritual practice. He also makes efforts to scrape his mind in the making of his art. “When you start putting down a mark on paper, everything gets silent,” says the artist. Thoughts of the dog, of family, of people and things are muted. In that quietude, only the mark on the surface becomes audible. Mauna then, that silence, becomes a critical medium with which “a new equation of form” – as Bowen describes it – can emerge.

 

Detail from Red Abstract Landscape by Edward Bowen. Acrylic and collage on paper.

 

Bowen’s forms, which come out of mauna, are not pretty in the conventional sense. “I don’t like pretty. Pretty bothers me. That order of things. The rectangle [the canvas or paper] is the place to shake things up. I get to subvert what is considered pretty. I get to cancel it,” he says. Edward Bowen’s forms, therefore, do not succumb easily to order and good behavior. In pieces like “Pyramid House with Red Tree” and “Red Abstract Landscape,” hundreds of marks and gestures are used to play with orderliness, to unsettle orthodox, tidy arrangements. Colours are layered in ways that create visual dissonance for the uninitiated. Hues are allowed to rub up against each other in transgressive ways. What does red, plus peach, plus yellow, minus purple, multiplied by blue and divided by green equal? Bowen’s equations create relationships where colours are allowed to speak in ways that sabotage the viewer’s attempt to make quick sense of what the various colours might have to say to each other. His forms, characterised by contrasts and contradictions, offer no straightforward answers.

The density of each piece keeps us riveted – our eyes are forced to keep seeing and reading through areas of transparent applications of paint, looking between scrawls and pen hatching, imagining what is around and behind opaque areas in the work. Bowen aptly describes each of his pieces as a book. Indeed, the multitudinous spatters, gouges, dots, lines and smears can be interpreted as sentences, paragraphs, chapters unfolding to offer a fiercely intense and engaging narrative – each work a complex story with plot and subtexts. Bowen talks about this want to pull the viewer’s eyes in. In his piece entitled “Caribbean Cell,” we are presented with a slice of an organism. Bowen explains that he approached this work “like a doctor in a lab who had just discovered this thing called Caribbean.” He painstakingly produces innumerable marks to create an optical interference pattern where various waves made with ink and acrylic encroach on each other to create regions of construction and destruction. The result is a vibrating hologram, a rich three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional surface. The piece is an exercise in vision. “I kept wondering if I applied more vision to this thing, what would I end up seeing?” says Bowen as he sheds light on his process.

 

 

Caribbean Cell by Edward Bowen. Ink/acrylic on paper.

 

Bowen attunes himself to the endless possibility of forms that can erupt from silence. The “Garden Drawing” is an amalgamation of landscapes, a hybrid form that demands that we twist and refashion our perspective. Made with meditative discipline, it is a schema of interaction, of connection, linking here and there, fusing up with down, joining then and now. It is an alternative architecture of space; a grand view of spatial relationships that is only discernible in mauna, outside the din of superficial, unconscious living where space is made reductive – this is my space and that is your space – and separation reigns.

 

 

Detail from the Garden Drawing by Edward Bowen. Black ink on paper.

 

 

Electric Tree and a detail of the Goddess Meditating by Edward Bowen. Acrylic ink on paper.

 

Bowen’s body of work is a demonstration of and a call to a heightened awareness. He awakens us to states of being that shimmer and pulsate under our limited radars. The artist draws from the dark matter around him – matter that remains unseen in the everyday shadow of the ego; matter that is made palpable only when decibel levels are reduced and the volume of the ego has been turned down. In mauna, a large world teeming with incredible, mind-bending configurations is unlocked. It is not a silence in which everything is hushed. Rather, it is a silence, which is best perceived as a powerful energy field, a whirlwind of presences where shapes whisper and colours hum. That energy is particularly evident in such artworks as “Electric Tree,” “Goddess Meditating,” “Carnival Babe” and “Structure Beneath Great Jumbie Tree.” Edward Bowen becomes an obeah man with ink, paint and anything else he can put his hands on. He becomes a sorcerer, a wizard who skillfully manipulates that whirlwind or vortex – so much so that he seems to paint himself in the piece entitled, “Wizard Juggling Vortices.” What he has produced in his time over the last few years at his monastery constitutes an outstretched hand from which images have been masterfully conjured out of the material of mauna.

 

Wizard Juggling Vortices by Edward Bowen. Acrylic inks on paper.

 

“Paintings from the Monastery, Sans Souci 2009-2012” opened on October 18, 2012 at Medulla Art Gallery, 37 Fitt Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad. The exhibition runs through November 13.

References

- Bowen, Edward. Personal interview. October 6, 2012.
- Bowen, Edward. Artist’s Talk at Medulla Art Gallery, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad. November 7, 2012.
- Tolle, Eckhart. A New Earth. New York: Plume, 2005. pp. 30, 54 & 60.
- Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Vancouver: Namaste Publishing, 1999. p. 18.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Marsha Pearce

Marsha Pearce is a Cultural Studies PhD candidate at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine campus, Trinidad. She lectures in the Department of Creative and Festival Arts at UWI. Pearce is the 2006 Rhodes Trust Rex Nettleford Cultural Studies Fellow and she is the Managing Editor of Caribbean InTransit Arts Journal.

Franchesca Ramsey:

A YouTube Sensation

Black Girls Can Believe In

Posted by For Harriet  

Now is the time for Black women creatives to start work on their own projects. If Issa Rae's journey from YouTube star to network television showrunner hasn't inspired you already, there are plenty of other Black women to look for motivation. Take for example, Franchesca Ramsey bka Chescaleigh. After years of working diligently on building a social media following, her "Shit White Girls Say...to Black Girls" video earned her multiple television appearances and major media features. Her dedication to doing the work paid off in a major way. We salute her for being truthful to her experience as a Woman of Color. Franchesca graciously answered a few of our questions about her rising career and her future.

FH: What do you call yourself? What's your job description? 

 

I'm a graphic designer, actress/comedian, blogger

 

FH: Why did you start making YouTube videos? 

 

I've kept a diary since elementary school and started blogging in middle school, which I continued through high school and college. I've just always enjoyed writing about my life and what I think about the world. So when I got an iMac with a built in camera for graduation, my inner theater kid took over and jumped at the chance to turn my written blog into videos. 

 

FH: Did you ever consider giving up making videos?

 

Certainly! Up until this year I've always had a day job, working as a graphic designer. So at times it was hard to juggle YouTube with my long work hours. Some days I would literally spend all day at work on the computer and then go home and spend all night editing. It was really tiring and especially frustrating because for years my videos weren't getting many views. Combine that with the sometimes nasty emails and comments, at times it was hard to convince myself to post anything because some days I wasn't sure it was worth it. 

 

FH: When did you know Shit White Girls Say went viral?

 

It was pretty fast. I uploaded it at 8 am before leaving for work and by lunch time it had 1.5 million views and I had emails from MTV, NBC, NPR and Anderson Cooper among others. It was insane.

 

FH: How has mainstream media acknowledgement changed the way you perform?

 

I don't think mainstream media has changed my work at all. I'm the same person I was before "Shit White Girls Say...to Black Girls", just with more people watching. I just try to make content that I'm interested in and I think is worth talking about. If people love it, awesome. If not, that's cool too. 

 

FH: How do you handle negative feedback?

 

I handle it on a case by case basis. Some messages are completely ridiculous and aren't worth paying attention to, but sometimes there's a small grain of truth in there that's worth acknowledging. I remember years ago someone called me a disgusting pig because my bed wasn't made in a few videos. It hurt my feelings at the time, but then I realized they were right. So I sucked it up and made my bed! Other times I can't help but laugh because the comments are so hilariously bad. I even started a photo album on Facebook devoted to the best of the worst comments. At the end of the day I just try to remember that trolls aren't important enough to have an effect on my offline life. 

 

FH: You offer cultural commentary in a way we aren't used to seeing. What inspired your unique take? 

 

To be honest, my videos didn't start out that way. In the beginning, I was like most new YouTubers, dabbling in a little of everything, trying to find my voice. Growing up really I loved "The Magic School Bus" and old episodes of "School House Rock". I just thought it was so cool that they were able to combine educational info in creative and entertaining ways that left you thinking long after the show was over. And now, the Daily Show is one of my favorites for those exact same reasons. So after a few years of trying different types of videos I decided to challenge myself and try writing more topical material because it was something I struggled with as a comedian. Eventually that topical content evolved into the more socially conscious comedy that I'm kinda known for. I like to think of myself as Tracey Ullman meets School House Rock for millennials.

 

 

FH: You got into a spat with Perez Hilton over improper usage of your video. How important is it for artists to be business savvy? 

 

To be fair, it wasn't really a "spat". He attempted to make a profit off of my stolen content, which has pretty much been his business model from day one. A few years ago he was actually sued for using photos without proper rights or credit, but he apparently still hasn't learned his lesson. Unfortunately there are lots of people that don't take creatives seriously and think what we do is "easy" or doesn't have any real value. There are lots of sketchy people out there looking to take advantage of artists that don't know any better.  So I think it's really important for artists to be smart about protecting their work both online and off. Watermark your photos, make sure you have something in writing before you work with someone and don't do work for free! 

 

 

FH: What's next in your career? 

 

Your guess is as good as mine! My goal is just to keep using my creative talents and making people laugh and think. I've been working on two original show pitches, going on auditions, performing, making videos, doing freelance work and kinda sorta trying to plan a wedding. So I'm not sure where my career is headed just yet, but I'm optimistic that the right opportunity will present itself at the right time and I'll move forward from there. 

 To watch more of Francheca's videos, subscribe to her YouTube channel!

---

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Rudresh Mahanthappa

& Samdhi

– Newport Jazz Festival,

August 2012

Posted on November 16, 2012 by livejazzlounge

 

Rudresh Mahanthappa: alto saxophone/laptop

David Gilmore: guitar

Rich Brown: electric bass

Rudy Royston: drums

 

Live at Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, RI, August 5, 2012

 

1. Killer

2. Enhanced Performance

3. Playing With Stones

4. Breakfastlunchanddinner

5. For All The Ladies

 

Duration 1:00:52

Poetry Chapbook Competition

The Center for Book Arts invites submissions to its annual Poetry Chapbook Competition. The deadline for the 2013 competition is December 15, 2012. The winning manuscript will be chosen in the spring of 2013 and will be awarded with the publication of a beautifully designed, letterpress-printed, limited-edition chapbook printed and bound by artists at the Center for Book Arts. The edition is limited to 100 signed and numbered copies, ten of which are reserved for the author and the remainder of which will be offered for sale through the Center. The winning poet will also receive a cash award of $500, and a $500 honorarium for a reading, to be held at the Center in the fall of 2013, as well as an exclusive opportunity to stay at the Millay Colony for the Arts in Austerlitz, New York as one of their Winter Shakers. This year's judges will be Harryette Mullen & Sharon Dolin. guidelines and entry form (PDF file)