Uva:

Rocking the Afra-Latina

Poetry Beat

Posted on February 19, 2010 by prof susurro

Uva is an Afra-Latina/Latinegra spoken word performer who combines the  various elements of the black diaspora, African American political consciousness, Spanish verse, and West Indian beats, into a tapestry of words about blackness primarily in the Americas. She is deeply committed to Latin@ leadership and women’s rights and works to encourage these through teaching and the arts. She is the Founder and Director of Creative Bulla!—a nonprofit organization, that provides workshops and events for organizations interested in promoting cultural awareness and personal growth through the arts. Her work focuses on the Afra-Latina experience, ie the intersections of race and gender, and the empowerment that comes from embracing oneself and one’s identity.

In 2005, she created a one woman show entitled “UVA: Observations in Black & Blanco.” The performance highlighted spoken word from her CD “Labor of Love.”  Through the blend of music and poetry, she described her multiple journeys from a girlhood in Panama to life as an adult in Philadelphia. One of my favorite pieces is “Yo Soy” which honors her grandmother and talks about the African influence in Latin America and Latin@ cultures from a distinct female experience.

She currently teaches at the Philadelphia Arts and Education project empowering other Latinegras to find their voices and speak their truths.

Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr.

Teaching #NOLA:

Mardi Gras Indians

Posted on January 4, 2013

I spent some time at Mardi Gras Indians practice this research trip. I didn’t shoot video while there, but I did find this on YouTube:

Next year, I’ll be teaching another course on New Orleans. I’m working on how to bring Mardi Gras Indian society and Gulf Coast black-Native American history into the course material.

It is one thing, an important thing, to start a conversation with students about the Mardi Gras Indians in a cultural context where HBO’s Tremé is incredibly popular and where black-Native American relations, past or present, are complex.  It is another thing to walk students through Mardi Gras Indians history and culture from an Afro-Atlantic perspective where the practice space becomes a bembé and the battle a possession.

With the first, they need to learn visual literacy alongside historical narrative.  To accomplish the second, I need to introduce my students to historical narrative(s) and present-day cultural institutions beyond the boundaries of the city and teach them to draw responsible connections across time and place.  As a class, we’ll also need to discuss institution-building as a key feature of black life in the Americas across time periods.

The architecture of the lesson might look something like this:

• Skills
  • Visual literacy (skill)
  • Historical thinking (skill)
  • Performance theory (skill)
  • Draw responsible connections across time and place (skill)

• Content
  • Mardi Gras Indians and Gulf Coast black-Native American historical narratives, national (content)
  • Non-national historical narrative(s) (content)
  • Present-day cultural institutions beyond the boundaries of the city (content)

• Argument/Assumption
  • Institution-building as a key feature of black life in the Americas across time periods (argument/assumption)

These reflections are general because I’m also interested in what a template for a course written from an Afro-Atlantic perspective looks like. What is its basic structure? How would it need to be tweaked as lessons and courses change? Is everything I need here? Could this work across each lesson?

If you have suggestions or critique, please pass them along. YR 2013-2014 is right around the corner.

Featured Image Credit: Anthony Posey, “zindianssupersunday2011 217″ via Flickr.

Lockdown:

A play about race, education,

& the American Dream

 

by Junebug Productions

Lockdown is an original play that combines traditional scenes, spoken word and music to explore race, education, & the American Dream

Launched: Mar 14, 2013

Funding ends: Apr 13, 2013

In post-Katrina New Orleans, we are forced to grapple with a rapidly changing education landscape, and the issues of race, class and gender (in)justice it has brought to the forefront of local and national conversation. With the development of three different school systems, an upsurge in charter takeovers and the wholesale firing of a large majority of veteran teachers, students in New Orleans are struggling to receive a solid education amidst intense upheaval.

Set in the context of the privatization of public schools, Lockdown is an original play that explores the impact of education reform in New Orleans post-Katrina.  The play follows five adults whose lives are touched by the education system in different ways.  Through these characters we get a glimpse in to the education system and the challenges that both they and their students face: a veteran union teacher who is fired after Katrina and now finds her grandson suspended from school, an English teacher struggling to teach a progressive curriculum in the face of pressure from the administration, a part-time creative writing teacher struggling to teach gender, sexuality and oppression in a school that does not allow her to be openly gay, a newly transplanted struggling Teach for America teacher questioning his place, and an attorney fighting the school-to-prison pipeline.  In addition to traditional scenes, the piece uses spoken word and original music to explore the intersections between lives, institutions, and the ways we understand ourselves and our history.

Voices Organized in Creative Dissent (VOIC'D) is a multi-racial, anti-racist collective of artists, writers, educators, and activists who are interested in examining how the many institutions that have educated us have shaped our perspectives on racism in America.   VOIC'D came together in fall 2009 as part of Junebug Productions‘ Free Southern Theater Institute class, “From Community to Stage,” which culminated in a performance of our original play Voices from the Back of the Class.  For the past two years we have been writing, hosting dialogues and gathering feedback in order to reshape the piece into a thoughtful and relevant exploration of racism and meritocracy in America.   VOIC'D is Hannah Adams, Troi Bechet, Keshia “Peaches” Caldwell, Kiyoko McCrae, Michael "Quess" Moore, Rebecca Mwase, Thena Robinson-Mock,  Derek Rankins, and Derek Roguski.

We are raising money to do a full-scale production of “Lockdown” in New Orleans in April, 2013. To do that, we need YOUR help. Any amount you can give will help us get closer to renting a space for performance, paying performers, designers and technicians, buying props and costumes and advertising the show. We think the questions this show examines affects all Americans, students or not and we invite you to help us explore them for a wider audience.

Peace and Love,

VOIC’D & Junebug Productions

BEN OKRI

THE 13th STEVE BIKO

MEMORIAL LECTURE

The Steve Biko Annual Lecture will be delivered by the celebrated Nigerian writer and poet Ben Okri, who won the 1991 Booker prize for fiction for his book Famished Road. The date marks the 35th death anniversary of Biko - who died at the age of 30 in police custody at the Pretoria Central Prison in 1977.

Digital x Slavery:

The New Orleans

Slave Sample, 1804-1862

(and Instructional Materials)

Posted on September 10, 2012

Slaves Awaiting Sale, New Orleans, 1861

Source
The Illustrated London News (Jan-June, 1861), vol. 38, p. 307. (Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library)

Comments
Caption, "Slaves for Sale: A Scene in New Orleans." Shows formally dressed men, with top hats, and women, presumably house servants, waiting to be sold; sign over doorway reads "T. Hart Slaves." According to the article in the ILN, "The accompanying engraving represents a gang of Negroes exhibited in the city of New Orleans, previous to an auction, from a sketch made on the spot by our artist. The men and women are well clothed, in their Sunday best-- the men in blue cloth . . . with beaver hats; and the women in calico dresses, of more or less brilliancy, with silk bandana handkerchiefs bound round their heads . . . . they stand through a good part of the day, subject to the inspection of the purchasing or non-purchasing passing crowd . . . . An orderly silence is preserved as a general rule at these sales, although conversation does not seem to be altogether prohibited "(The Illustrated London News [p. 307]). The same image appears a few years later in Harper's Weekly (Jan. 24, 1863,p. 61), with the caption "A Slave Pen at New Orleans Before the Auction"; there is no accompanying explanation for this image which appears to have been taken from the Illustrated London News.

 

Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman. New Orleans Slaves Sale Sample, 1804-1862, compiled by Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman, University of Rochester, 2008.

 

James W. Oberly, New Orleans Slave Sample, 1804-1862 [Instructional Materials], Ann Arbor, MI, 2002.

Summary:

“This study includes data on slave sales that occurred on the New Orleans slave market between 1804-1862. For each sale, information was recorded on the date of the sale, the number of slaves on the invoice, the geographical origin of the buyer and seller, the sale price, and characteristics of the slaves sold (age, sex, family relationship, and occupation). The information presented for each transaction was obtained from the notarized bills of sale in the New Orleans Notarial Archival Office. These bills often contained information on several persons who were sold in a group or as a “lot.” Whenever feasible, sale and personal characteristics of individuals appearing in such groups were entered on separate records. This was usually done when separate sale prices were recorded for each member of the group. When separate prices were not recorded for children sold in a group, information describing those children was attached to the record of a principal slave with whom they were associated on the original bill of sale.”

Slave Auction, New Orleans, 1839

Source
James Buckingham, The Slave States of America (London, 1842), vol. 1, facing title page (Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library)

Comments
Caption, "Sale of Estates, Pictures and Slaves in the Rotunda, New Orleans." James Buckingham visited New Orleans for about a month in early 1839. During this period he went to one of the city's grander hotels, the St. Louis hotel, sometimes called the French Exchange. Within this hotel was the "Rotunda," a very large and ornate room in which auctions are held "for every description of goods." During his visit several auctioneers were competing with each other and selling various "goods," among them slaves. "These consisted," he wrote, "of an unhappy negro family, who were all exposed to the hammer at the same time. Their good qualities were enumerated in English and in French, and their persons were carefully examined by intending purchasers, among whom they were ultimately disposed of, chiefly to Creole buyers . . . The middle of the Rotunda was filled with casks, boxes, bales, and crates; the negroes exposed for sale were put to stand on these, to be the better seen by persons attending the sale" (pp. 334-335).

 

 

Advertisement for Slave Sale, New Orleans, May 13, 1835

Source
Collection of the New York Historical Society, # 46628; published in E.D.C. Campbell and K.S. Rice, eds., Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South (Univ. Press of Virginia, 1991), fig. 100, p. 116.

Comments
Broadside advertising sale of 10 slaves, giving their names and personal attributes. Slaves are being sold because of owner's departure from New Orleans. (Permission to display on website, courtesy of the New York Historical Society.)

 

 

Emancipated Slaves, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1864

Source
Harper’s Weekly, vol. 8 (Jan. 1864), p. 69. (Copy in Special Collections, University of Virginia Library)

Comments
Captioned, “Emancipated Slaves, White and Colored,” this engraving is derived from a photograph taken in New York City. It shows 3 adults (Wilson Chinn [60 yrs], a former plantation worker, branded on his forehead; Mary Johnson [no age given], a former cook in New Orleans, showing the scars of mistreatment; Robert Whitehead [no age given], a former house and ship painter and ordained preacher), and 5 children (Charles Taylor [8 yrs], Augusta Broujey [ 9 yrs], Isaac White [8 yrs], Rebecca Huger [11 yrs], Rosina Downs [7 yrs]), with the notation that the children “are from the schools established in New Orleans, by order of Major-General Banks.” These persons were liberated by the Union Army and were brought from New Orleans to New York by a Union Army officer and Philip Bacon, the latter had “established the first school in Louisiana for emancipated slaves”; the children were among his pupils. The accompanying article gives details and brief biographical sketches of each person including for the children descriptions of their “racial” characteristics and notes on their family connections.

 

 

Black Nursemaid, New Orleans, 1873-74

Source
Edward King, The Great South (Hartford, Conn., 1875), p. 30 (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library)

Comments
Describing New Orleans, the author reports that "the negro nurses stroll on the sidewalks, chattering in quaint French to the little children of their former masters--now their 'employers' "(p.30). Original sketch made by J. Wells Chamney who accompanied the author during 1873 and the spring and summer of 1874. Although relating to the post-emancipation period, the scene evokes the later ante-bellum years.

 

 

Poultry Vendor, New Orleans, 1873-74

Source
Scribner's Monthly (Nov.1873-Apr.1874), vol. VII, p. 147. (Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library)

Comments
Caption: "The French Market-The Hen Trader"; shows a woman vendor with basket, holding a chicken, a girl by her side, and boy who has apparently purchased two chickens. Also published in Edward King, The Great South (Hartford, Conn., 1875), p. 49 who describes this scene on his visit to the market in New Orleans.

 

 

A Female House Servant, New Orleans, ca. 1840

Source
Published in E.D.C. Campbell and K.S. Rice, eds., Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South (Univ. Press of Virginia, 1991), plate 3, p. 10; painting in the Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans.

Comments
Oil painting showing upper torso and head of female household servant, wearing the mandatory "tignon" or kerchief. The subject of this painting is only identified as a maid of the Douglas family in New Orleans. "A New Orleans city ordinance required all black female residents to wear a kerchief . . . over their heads" (Campbell and Rice, p. x).

 

 

Free Woman of Color, New Orleans, 1844

Source
Published in E.D.C. Campbell and K.S. Rice, eds., Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South (Univ. Press of Virginia, 1991), plate 4, p. xi.

Comments
Oil painting by Adolph Rinck, a German artist of a "femme de couleur libre," wearing an elaborate kerchief or "tignon." "The subject is possibly Marie Laveau, the famous voodoo priestess" (Campbell and Rice, p. xi). The University Art Museum, Lafayette, Louisiana holds the painting.

 

In 2002, James W. Oberly published “instructional materials” to use in conjunction with the data set.

“These instructional materials were prepared for use with NEW ORLEANS SLAVE SALE SAMPLE, 1804-1862 (ICPSR 7423), compiled by Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman. The data file (an SPSS portable file) and accompanying documentation are provided to assist educators in instructing students about the economics of slavery and the lives of the people recorded in the slave market. An instructor’s handout is also included. This handout contains the following sections, among others: (1) general goals for student analysis of quantitative datasets, (2) specific goals in studying this dataset, (3) suggested appropriate courses for use of the dataset, (4) tips for using the dataset, and (5) related secondary source readings.”

More information on the data set is available here. The instructional materials are available here.  Members of Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research institutions can download the SPSS datasets and use them immediately (for more information click here).

X-Posted at African Diaspora, Ph.D.

Download soul-her-verse.mp3

followingherfootsteps:

International Women’s Day is an important day for many of us. It provides each of us with an opportunity to reflect on all the critical contributions women around the world have made. Acknowledging these contributions, and in the spirit of sisterhood and solidarity DJ Afifa and I have once again come together to co-create a compilation of music that we feel honours the voices of some truly brilliant womyn artists.

We know that if we let it – music has the power to transport us to places far beyond where our feet can physically take us; We can visit these places in our imaginations. As we travel through the SO((U))LHERVERE this time around, we want to bring you along on an adventure moving through time and space. This mixtape takes you on a journey from South Africa to Zimbabwe, Sudan to Cape Verde, Algeria to Palestine, Germany to the USA, the Dominican Republic to Jamaica, Canada to India, Australia to the UK and we’re still moving…

We hope you enjoy the sounds of the SO((U))LHERVERSE and we hope that in travelling with us you learn about some new voices, dance to old ones, laugh, cry, reminisce, remember that first kiss…that first…that last…we hope you will enjoy this music that makes your mind move.

 In Solidarity,

Amina & Afifa 

We’re also on Twitter: @sheroxlox and @djafifa

To Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/bn8367d342dc9vq

p.s. Amina will be exhibiting some art work (including the mixtape cover),  Afifa will be playing the mixtape and we’ll be facilitating a discussion about revolutionary women and about ourselves….at the SO((U))L HQ tonight. We’d love for you to join us! Check HERE for details. 

Tracklist: 

• Asa - M.Anifest f/ Efya 

• Morning Worship - Alice Coltrane

• Crying Dub - Grace Jones

• L.E.S. Artistes - Santigold

• Green Garden - Laura Mvula

• Dirty World - Meshell Ndegeocello 

• Regreso - Aziza Brahim

• Ahel Allel - Amira Kheir

• Sowa - Fatoumata Diawara
   
• Bajito A Selva - Rita Indiana 

• Bam Bam - Sister Nancy

• Hurry on Now (Boub remix) - Alice Russell

• Angels - Wax Poetic f/ Norah Jones

• Feelin’ Good (Joe Claussell Remix) - Nina Simone

• Rebel Woman - Chiwoniso Maraire

• My Island - Paulette Williams

• Black woman - Judy Mowatt

• dbi young w/ manana reggae band

• Nomvula (After The Rain) - Freshlyground
   
• Take Off Your Cool  - Mara Hruby

• Sincerely, Jane.- Janelle Monae
  
  
• Kilimanjaro - The Noisettes
   
• Asa - M.Anifest f/ Efya 

• Quimbara - Celia Cruz
   
• Say It Right - Nelly Furtado

• Dje Dje l’Aye - AngÈlique Kidjo
   
• Adele (Remix) 

• This Time The Dream’s On Me - Nancy Wilson

• Black Gold - Esperanza Spalding

• A Change Is Gonna Come (Live In UK - Unreleased) J.Period w/ Lauryn Hill

__________________________

SO((U))LHERVERSE 2013

USHKA - Foreign Brown

February Mixtape Mondays,

pt. 2

11th February 2013

POSTED BY Chief Boima

 

 

Next up for Dutty Artz February Mixtape Mondays is the one and only Thanu, or DJ Ushka of iBomba fame.

 

Thanu has been part of Dutty Artz for almost a year now, and came on to help bolster our efforts in community organizing and social justice efforts. Along the way we launched the inaugural Beyond The Block festival in Sunset Park last September. However, at our Change The Mood fundraising party at Glasslands in August, we all found out how wicked of a DJ Thanu was. So, with a little coaxing we got her to put together a mix for us. Here’s what she has to say about it:

I sort of see my process as a mix of hard hitting bass for the dancefloor meets good tunes meets some sort of politiking. The songs I start and end with have immigration themes – Lido Pimienta sings of la migra and Copia Doble Sistema remix a Sonido Guay tune of a person leaving their lover to migrate north. with shout outs to women of color (africana/los rakas), #idlenomore (tribe called red’s song in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence), Ana Tijoux’s Shock in support of Chile’s student protest movement,  zuzuka poderosa’s pisicodelia with it’s themes of anti-violence. The mix weaves through latin, hip hop, electric powwow, samba, bhangra, african (kuduro, azonto, nigerian), soca bass.

What I like most about this mix is that Thanu helps us refocus on what’s really important in all the genre blending and transnational identification happening in music scenes around the world. Just as people are experiencing new ways to participate in global culture via the Internet, they are having to face similar struggles in the wake of neoliberalist policies and free market global capitalism. The Internet may allow us to blur boundaries between genres, but borders both physical and social continue effect people in very concrete ways. It seems that in the Internet mediated musical landscape, whenever someone uses signifiers like Global, Ghetto, Transnational, or Tropical, they rarely acknowledge these issues, let alone attempt to address them. Working with Thanu over the past year on various projects, I’ve come to know that she is able to bring such issues to the fore so effortlessly in her music, because her life experience is reflected in her mixing. And as I listen to Foreign Brown, I am reminded somewhere between Ottawa and Santiago that there’s definitely more going on than just Bass.

You can catch Ushka with iBomba partner DJ Beto,  at Bembe tonight at 10pm and every second Monday of the month. Tonight’s iBomba guests are Rizzla and D’Hana

Ushka  / Foreign Brown tracklist:

Yuh Dun Know – Diana King ft. GunJan (Rude Gyal mix) intro

Fire Eyes ft. Lido Pimienta & Javier Alerta – Acido Azteca

Mami Moh (Chief Boima Dub)

Bayalibuza – Thornato remix

Africana – Los Rakas

Moner Alo – Brooklyn Shanti ft. Anoura

Jatt Pagal Karte ft. Jeeti – Lehmber Hussainpuri

Siempre Mas Pesa’o feat. Boogat & Madhi – Poirier

É da Nossa Cor feat. Mestre Camaleão (Sabo Remix) – Maga Bo

Let Me Love You (DJ Gregory Remix) – Bunny Mack

Oliver- D’Banj

Bum Bum -Timaya

Puto Prata Feat Bodytalk – Daniel Santos bootleg

Move to da Gyal Dem – Donae O Ft. Sarkodie

Sokode – Keche

Work – Lil Rick

Funketa (Douster remix) – Isa GT

Percolater – Cajmere

Ca Ca Ye (2melo & Thornato remix)

The Road- Tribe Called Red

Pisicodelia (Nego Mozambique Remix) – Zuzuka Poderosa & Kush Arora

Shock (Captain Planet remix) – Ana Tijoux

Galope feat. Robertinho Barreto- Maga Bo

Cape Verdeans in Paris – Chief Boima

Bad Girls (Milangeles remix) – M.I.A.

Fisketorvet Riddim (Milangeles remix) – Copia Doble Sistema

Oye Mi Negra (Copia Doble Sistema remix) – Sonido Guay

 

 

Applications for the 2013-2014 residencies are due by Sunday, March 31, 2013 and results will be announced in May. You can apply anytime throughout the year but applications will not be read until after the March 31st deadline. Also multiple submissions are not allowed.

About the Residencies:

The Kerouac Project provides four residencies a year to writers of any stripe or age, living anywhere in the world. Each residency consists of approximately a three month stay in the cottage where Jack Kerouac wrote his novel Dharma Bums. Utilities and a food stipend of $800 are included. All you are required to do is work on your writing project and give a reading in the house at the end of your residency. The Project also offers opportunities to you for readings, leading workshops and interacting with the Central Florida Community in various ways. From time to time during your stay you will be asked to participate when the house is used for events such as readings and workshops for local students or book groups. We strive to be a central part of the literary community by bringing writers to Central Florida. The Kerouac House is much loved by all that have come to write here.

Residency Slots

Fall: September, October, and November

Winter: December, January, and February

Spring: March, April, and May

Summer: June, July, and August

The Application Process:

Thank you for your interest in applying to the Jack Kerouac Writer in Residence Project. The selection committee has made some changes intended to streamline the application process.

The first change is that we are now receiving applications electronically. The intention is to cut down on paper usage, get a little greener and ease distribution logistics to the selection committee.

The second change is that there will now be a $25 application fee. This fee is applied directly to the program services we offer, primarily the room and board of four, writer residencies, each year. The Kerouac Project is a non-profit organization and relies on fund raising and donations for survival. We are 100% volunteer run. That includes the selection committee that will be taking the time to read, discuss and choose the writers for the upcoming year.

Click Here for Submissions

Thanks for your time and good luck.

Mike Robinson
Selection Committee Chair

Call for Entries:

Global Brief's

Global Geo-Blogger Competition

Post date: 28 February 2013

Deadline: 20 April 2013

Consistent with its mandate of providing a platform for some of the world’s leading and most eclectic analysts and thinkers on world affairs, Global Brief magazine is conducting a global search to find one or two of the world’s most talented young international affairs analysts or commentators – female or male – to join its elite roster of Geo-Bloggers.

To be eligible for the competition, one must be between 20 and 35 years of age; submit a single analytical blog post of 500 words or less, in email format, on a matter of pressing international interest – in international politics, economics, business, culture, ideas or movements and trends – in one of English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Persian or Portuguese; submit a biographical note of 200 words, as well as web-links to any past online publications (if relevant).

The winner or winners of the competition will be announced in the Spring 2013 issue of GB – in print and online. The winner or winners will become Geo-Bloggers with GB, in their language of submission, for a global readership, for a period of at least one year from the Spring of 2013.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: gbgeoblogger.globalcontest@globalbrief.ca

Website: http://globalbrief.ca

 

Write a Mystery. Win $1000.

Get Published.

Deadline: March 30th, 2013

 

 

2012 Contest Winner

 

 

Dear Mystery Writers,

Poisoned Pen Press is always looking to discover something new. That’s why we launched the Discover Mystery Award last year. This contest for unpublished writers trying to break into the mystery genre demonstrated to us just how much there was to discover. The competition was stiff, but we were thrilled to publish Ronald Sharp’s No Regret, No Remorse. And we’re looking for the next winner. This spring, join us by entering your mystery manuscript of 60,000-90,000 words in an effort to win a $1000 prize, the Discover Mystery title, and a publishing contract from Poisoned Pen Press.

At Poisoned Pen Press, we take our mission to “Discover Mystery” very seriously. We’ve always prided ourselves on the discovery of new writers, and now we’re on the  hunt for fresh voices and new stories. We’re not afraid of something different, either, so if you’ve got a mystery, we want to see it! Poisoned Pen Press is waiting to discover you!

Here’s how to play:

Visit www.poisonedpenpress.com/contest

Read the guidelines carefully and fill out the form on our website, pay the $20 entry fee, and attach your manuscript. All entries are due by 11:59 pm (Pacific), March 30th, 2013. A winner will be announced by May 31st, 2013. Entries will be judged based on their synopses and manuscript text, with the assistance of a surprise celebrity judge. Watch here for more updates.

Entry Requirements and Guidelines:

• Unfortunately, we will not be able to help you decide if your book is a good fit for our contest. If you have questions about the kinds of books we publish, please visit www.poisonedpenpress.com.

• Due to the number of entries, Poisoned Pen Press will not be able to answer questions regarding your contest entry.

• This is a first-book award. It is open to writers who have not published a full-length book in the mystery genre.

• Manuscripts previously submitted to Poisoned Pen Press are eligible for entry in Discover Mystery, provided that those manuscripts have undergone major revisions.

• Manuscripts previously published in print or digitally, including self-published, are not eligible.

• Manuscripts must be between 60,000 words and 90,000 words in length.

• The Poisoned Pen Press Discover Mystery Award is open to all authors writing original works in English for adult readers who reside in the United States and Canada.

• Nonfiction of any kind, including autobiography is not appropriate for this contest.

• To avoid conflict of interest and to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, friends and former students of a judge or a Poisoned Pen Press employee are ineligible to enter the competition for that year.

• Poisoned Pen Press makes every effort to vary the judges by region and aesthetics, so that writers, if ineligible one year, will certainly be eligible in future years.

• You may not submit your manuscript to other publishers while it is under consideration by Poisoned Pen Press.

• Poisoned Pen Press cannot consider manuscript revisions during the course of the contest. Winning authors will have an opportunity to revise their works in collaboration with our editorial staff before publication.

• Should no entry meet editorial approval, Poisoned Pen Press reserves the right NOT to declare a winner

• Failure to pay the entry fee will exclude you from the contest.

• Authors whose manuscripts are not selected as the winner are still
  eligible to submit during standard submissions periods.

Ready to Enter? Click Here!