Annual Poetry Contest

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Guidelines:   The annual Slipstream poetry contest offers a $1,000 prize plus 50 professionally-printed copies of your book. Send up to 40 pages of poetry: any style, format, or theme (or no theme), and a $20 check, bank draft, or money order for reading fee. Due to recent increases in the cost of mail, manuscripts will no longer be returned. Send only copies of your poems, not originals. Send to: Slipstream Poetry Contest Dept. W-1 PO Box 2071 Niagara Falls, New York 14301
SUBMIT ONLINE: Online submission is now available for those who wish to enter the Slipstream Chapbook contest via the web.  This is for contest submissions only. For details, click here: ONLINE SUBMISSION FOR CHAPBOOK CONTEST Simultaneous submissions are okay as long as you keep us informed of status. Previously published poems with acknowledgements are also acceptable. If you are sending us copies of your poems via mail, please provide legible typewritten or computer-printed copy only. Photocopies that are easy on the eyes are fine. Everyone who enters the poetry contest receives a copy of the winning chapbook plus one complimentary issue of Slipstream magazine. The winner of the contest is announced in late spring/early summer. The winner is featured prominently on the Slipstream website for one year, as well as in all Slipstream catalogs, press releases, and promotional materials. Winning chapbooks are submitted by Slipstream for review by various national and international poetry/writing publications and may also be featured in the Grants and Awards section of Poets & Writers magazine.   Deadline for the poetry contest is . . . Dec. 1 every year Past Winners of the Slipstream Poetry Contest:   2010—"The Real Politics of Lipstick" Mary Carroll-Hackett (Greenville, NC) 2009—"From the Age of Miracles" David Chorlton (Phoenix, AZ) 2008—"Rescue Conditions" Carrie Shipers (Lincoln, NE) 2007—"Your Whole Life" Douglas Goetsch (New York, NY) 2006—"Behind Every Door" Terry Godbey (Maitland, FL) 2005—"Some Days it's a Love Story" Jason Irwin (Astoria, NY) 2004—"Radio Dreams" Beth Anne Royer (Providence, RI) 2003—"Trading Futures" Nikki Roszko (Philadelphia, PA) 2002—"What Language" J. P. Dancing Bear (San Jose, CA) 2001—"The Eyes of a Vertical Cut" Ronald Wardall (Brooklyn, NY) 2000—"Breaking the Captives' Fetters" Laurie Mazzaferro (Pittsburgh, PA) 1999—"Dancing with the One-Armed Man" Alison Pelegrin (Fayetteville, AR) 1998—"Longing Fervently for Revolution" Renny Christopher (Turlock, CA) 1997—"Gravel" Leslie Anne Mcilroy (Pittsburgh, PA) 1996—"The Nietzsche Itinerary" Matt Buys (Indianapolis, IN) 1995—"Hubba Hubba" Katharine Harer (San Francisco, CA) 1994—"The Insomniacs" David Chorlton (Phoenix, AZ) 1993—"Shock Treatment" Kurt Nimmo (Canton, MI) 1992—"I Would Steal Horses" Sherman Alexie (Wellpinit, WA) 1991—"The Color of Poison" Serena Fusek (Newport News, VA) 1990—"The Trial of Mary McCormick" Robert Cooperman (Pikesville, MD) 1989—"The Fatboy with No Imagination from Down the Block" Richard Amidon (Owosso, MI) 1988—"A Constituency of Dunces" Gerald Locklin (Long Beach, CA) Deadline for the poetry contest is . . . Dec. 1 every year

The Alfred Fagon Award 2012

for British Playwrights

of African Descent

(£5,000 top prize)

Deadline: 1 August 2012

The Alfred Fagon Award is the pre-eminent Award for playwrights of African and Caribbean descent. It was established in 1996 in memory of the late Jamaican playwright and actor, Alfred Fagon.

Each year the winner is awarded £5,000 in recognition of their outstanding achievement in the art of playwriting.

The Alfred Fagon Award is supported by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation and is awarded annually.

ELIGIBILITY AND CONDITIONS

The Award is open to any playwright of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the UK, for the best new stage play in English.

The play need not have been produced. However if so, only plays produced since August 2010 will be considered.

Each submitted play must be accompanied by a CV, confirming the writer's Caribbean and/or Africian heritage and residency in the UK along with a brief synopsis of the entry.

Each entrant can submit only one play. A play may also be nominated by a third party with the writer's consent (eg. via an agent)

Television, radio plays and film scripts will not be considered. New as well as established writers are encouraged to enter.

The Award is given to the best new play in the opinion of the Selection Committee from the eligible entries.

Entrants who require acknowledgement of the safe arrival of their submission should enclose a stamped addressed postcard. No other correspondence will be entered into. No correspondence takes place between the submitting writers and the Selection Committee.

Only shortlisted writers will be contacted, nearer the time of the presentation.

The deadline for receipt of completed applications is 1 August 2012.

HOW TO ENTER

Each entrant can only submit one play. Entrants must submit two correctly paginated hard copies of their play, plus a S.A.E., by post to :

The Alfred Fagon Award 2012
Suite 203
22 Eden Walk
Kingston Upon Thames
KT1 1DN

Entrants must also send an electronic copy of the play by email to info@alfredfagonaward.co.uk

Each submitted play must be accompanied by a CV, confirming the writer's Caribbean and/or African heritage and residency in the UK along with a brief synopsis and history of the entry.
Please note that hard copies will not be returned. If you require proof of receipt please enclose a stamped addressed postcard. No other correspondence will be entered into.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: info@alfredfagonaward.co.uk

Website: http://www.talawa.com/afa/2012

Deadline: 1 August 2012

The Alfred Fagon Award is the pre-eminent Award for playwrights of African and Caribbean descent. It was established in 1996 in memory of the late Jamaican playwright and actor, Alfred Fagon.

Each year the winner is awarded £5,000 in recognition of their outstanding achievement in the art of playwriting.

The Alfred Fagon Award is supported by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation and is awarded annually.

ELIGIBILITY AND CONDITIONS

The Award is open to any playwright of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the UK, for the best new stage play in English.

The play need not have been produced. However if so, only plays produced since August 2010 will be considered.

Each submitted play must be accompanied by a CV, confirming the writer's Caribbean and/or Africian heritage and residency in the UK along with a brief synopsis of the entry.

Each entrant can submit only one play. A play may also be nominated by a third party with the writer's consent (eg. via an agent)

Television, radio plays and film scripts will not be considered. New as well as established writers are encouraged to enter.

The Award is given to the best new play in the opinion of the Selection Committee from the eligible entries.

Entrants who require acknowledgement of the safe arrival of their submission should enclose a stamped addressed postcard. No other correspondence will be entered into. No correspondence takes place between the submitting writers and the Selection Committee.

Only shortlisted writers will be contacted, nearer the time of the presentation.

The deadline for receipt of completed applications is 1 August 2012.

HOW TO ENTER

Each entrant can only submit one play. Entrants must submit two correctly paginated hard copies of their play, plus a S.A.E., by post to :

The Alfred Fagon Award 2012
Suite 203
22 Eden Walk
Kingston Upon Thames
KT1 1DN

Entrants must also send an electronic copy of the play by email to info@alfredfagonaward.co.uk

Each submitted play must be accompanied by a CV, confirming the writer's Caribbean and/or African heritage and residency in the UK along with a brief synopsis and history of the entry.
Please note that hard copies will not be returned. If you require proof of receipt please enclose a stamped addressed postcard. No other correspondence will be entered into.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: info@alfredfagonaward.co.uk

Website: http://www.talawa.com/afa/2012

CONTESTS

The Green Fuse First Chapbook Contest is open to all poets who have not yet published a chapbook in any form.  Send 14-24 pages of poetry.  Winners will receive $200, publication, and one year of Green Fuse membership.  Finalists will receive a copy of the winning chapbook.  All mss. will be considered for future publication.   Deadline: December 31st 2011.  Publication: April, 2012.  Submit via email: greenfusepress@yahoo.com  with First Chapbook Contest in the subject box.  A $25 reading fee ($15 for GF members) is required.  Make check payable to: Green Fuse Poetic Arts.  Mail to: GFPAA, 1000 W. Eisenhower #11, Loveland, Colorado 80537. 
Judge: TBA

The Grandmother Editions First Chapbook Contest is open to all grand writers who have not yet published a book in any form.  Send 14-30 pages of poetry, fiction, memoir, creative non-fiction or prose-poetry.  Winners will receive $200, publication, and one year of Green Fuse membership.  Finalists will receive a copy of the winning chapbook.   All mss. will be considered for publication.  Deadline: December 31st 2011.  Publication: April, 2012.  Submit via email: greenfusepress@yahoo.com  with Grandmother Contest in the subject box.  A $25 reading fee ($15 for GF members) is required.  Make checks payable to: Green Fuse Poetic Arts.  Mail to: GFPAA, 1000 W. Eisenhower #11, Loveland, Colorado 80537.  CU/Boulder Women’s Studies Professor Claudia Van Gerven to judge.

Introducing:

The African Poetry Book

Fund / Series

Kwame Dawes, Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, is excited to announce the establishment of the African Poetry Book Series. Beginning in January 2014, the imprint will publish four new titles by African poets each year. In addition the Series will publish every few years an anthology representing African regions, themes and ideas. Of the four books published annually, one will be a winner of the Sillerman African First Book Prize for African Poets, and another will be a new and selected volume by a major African poet. The winner of the prize will also receive a $1000 cash prize and publication with the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Publishing in Senegal.

Ghanaian poet, Kofi Awoonor, has signed up to be the first major African poet to be part of the Series. His new and selected poems with an introduction by fellow poet and scholar, Kofi Anyidoho, will be published in 2014 by the African Poetry Book Series along with three other titles.

The Series has been made possible through seed funding from philanthropists, Laura and Robert F. X. Sillerman, whose generous contributions have facilitated the establishment of the African Poetry Book Fund. Mr. and Mrs. Sillerman have also welcomed the use of their name for the First Book Prize for African poets, the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, which will be part of the Series.

The African Poetry Book Series will be the major feature of the work of the African Poetry Book Fund, established this year under Dawes' leadership through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. An Advisory Board has been established to support and guide the work of the African Poetry Book Fund.Confirmed members of the Fund's Advisory Board include Laura Sillerman, Elizabeth Alexander, Sulaiman Adebowale, Russell Goings, Peter Rorvik, Ellah Allfrey and Glenna Luschei.

Under the auspices of the Fund, one of its key facets will be the establishment of an additional prize for poetry, the Brunel University African Poetry Prize, awarded for a portfolio of poems by an African poet. Spearheaded by poet and novelist Bernardine Evaristo, the Brunel University African Poetry Prize will offer a cash award for the winning entries and publication in key international literary journals. Evaristo will also serve on the Editorial Board of the Series.

A collaborative venture, the African Poetry Book Fund will oversee the publication of the Series which will be co-published by the University of Nebraska Press in the US and Amalion Publishing in Senegal, led by publisher Sulaiman Adebowale. The literary journal Prairie Schooner will be a key partner in this project offering administrative support and the management of the annual First Book Prize. Open Road Media, a dynamic digital publisher and multimedia company led by publishing powerhouse Jane Friedman, will be handling the digital and e-book side of the African Poetry Book Series. Finally, Blue Flower Arts, a leading arts booking agency for some of the best contemporary writers, has offered to represent the Series and its authors.

The African Poetry Fund will, through the Series and other projects, promote the writing and publication of African poetry through an international complex of additional collaborations and partnerships. The Fund and its partners will offer support for seminars, workshops and other publishing opportunities for African poets.

Six gifted and internationally regarded poets will serve as the Editorial Board for the Series. Ghanaian-born poet Kwame Dawes is the founding Series Editor. Also serving on the editorial board are:the South African poet Gabeba Baderoon, the American novelist John Keene, the Nigerian poet and novelistChris Abani, the Egyptian-American poet Matthew Shenoda and Bernardine Evaristo, award-winning novelist and poet from the UK.

Make sure to stay tuned to Prairie Schooner's website, blog, Facebook and Twitter for further projects of this enterprising Series.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Website: http://prairieschooner.unl.edu/

Deadline: 17 September 2012 (The Affair), 10 December 2012 (Memoir)

New Writing is a substantial section of new poetry and/or prose in the magazine, written by published and unpublished authors, selected and introduced by our New Writing Guest Editor or Competition Judge. Previous Mystery Guests and Judges include Fay Weldon, Carol Ann Duffy, Michèle Roberts, Helen Simpson, Wendy Cope, Jackie Kay, Fleur Adcock and Val McDermid. We publish two magazines a year of themed new writing, and two containing the winners of our annual poetry and short story competitions. The themes/competitions and deadlines for the upcoming issues are:

ISSUE 56: THE AFFAIR

Please send poems (up to 40 lines each) or short stories (up to 2,200 words each) on the bliss, buffetting or sheer banality of a love affair.

Deadline: 17 September 2012

ISSUE 57: MEMOIR

By popular request, a narrative nonfiction theme. Cast you rmind years back to your childhood, or just a few hours back to last night, or to any destination in between – and send us a slice of your life. Up to two submissions of up to 2,200 words each.

Deadline: 10 December 2012

NEW WRITING SUBMISSION:

If you are living in the UK, you MUST send your Themed New Writing submission by post. If you would like a response, please ensure you include your email address. You need only include an SAE if you would like an acknowledgement. For the affair, send up to four poems of 40 lines each or up to two stories of up to 2,200 wds each – for Memoir send up to two submissions of narrative nonfiction of up to 2,200 words each – by post to:

'The affair' or 'Memoir'
Mslexia Publications
PO Box 656
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE99 1PZ.

Sorry, but we only accept email submissions for Themed New Writing from overseas writers.

PAYMENT: We pay for published submissions. The basic rates for New Writing are £25 per poem, and £15 per thousand words of prose.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: submissions@mslexia.co.uk

For submissions: submissions@mslexia.co.uk (non-UK writers), 'The affair' or 'Memoir', Mslexia Publications, PO Box 656, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE99 1PZ (UK-based writers)

Website: http://www.mslexia.co.uk

8 Ways to

Eat Watermelon

Melissa Breyer
Living / Easy Vegetarian Recipes
July 19, 2012

timsackton/CC BY 2.0

Watermelon, it's not just for picnics anymore. The big watery lugs are showing up everywhere in a variety of surprising guises, from sweet delicate soups to assertive sorbets. And not that we needed more reasons to love them, but the recent news that watermelon contains higher levels of the important antioxidant, lycopene, than any other fresh fruit or vegetable, certainly hasn't hurt. They are also notably abundant in potassium, vitamin C, and beta-carotene. And delicious.

Since there's no better time to indulge in their versatile loveliness than the dog days of summer, here are some new ways to put your watermelon to good use.

 

1. Agua Fresca

Aside from simply slurping up a slice of the fruit, this is one of the easiest ways to enjoy watermelon, the Mexican preparation of agua fresca, which is basically watermelonade.

 

• 6 to 8 pounds watermelon, cut into 2-inch pieces

• 2 cups cold water

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

• 1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey

• Lime and mint for garnish (if you like)

Blend half the watermelon pieces with 1 cup of water in a blender until smooth. Strain into a pitcher. Repeat with the rest of the melon and water. Mix in lime juice and agave. Pour over ice and garnish with lime and mint.

 

2. Watermelon and Cilantro Sorbet

© Jaymi Heimbuch

Jerry's recipe for Watermelon and Cilantro Sorbet is remarkably simple, doesn't require any special ice-cream making equipment, and makes just-right ending for a summer dinner.

 

3. Smoothies

There are as many ways to make a watermelon smoothie as there are Eskimo words for snow. (Although I understand that is a linguistic misconception, it's so poetic that I'm going to stick with it.) Here is the very most basic recipe, but to this you can add just about anything sweet and fruity. Try bananas, yogurt, peaches, strawberries, mango, you get the picture. A particularly good mix is half watermelon, half cantaloupe, vanilla yogurt and a bunch of lime juice.

• 4 cups seeded cold watermelon

• 1 tablespoon agave

• squeeze of lime juice

• a small handful of ice cubes

Mix in a blender and serve.

 

4. Grilled Watermelon and Tomato Salad

Grilled watermelon, what?! It's true. Just like other non-conventional grilling fruits take so beautifully to the barbecue (avocados! strawberries!), so does watermelon -- as you will see if you make Kelly's Grilled Watermelon and Tomato Salad.

 

5. Sangria

This is like putting agua fresca in a sassy print dress for a summer cocktail party. You can play around with the ingredients and add any other fruit you may have lazing in the fridge.

• 2 pounds watermelon, cubed

• 750 ml bottle of white wine

• 6 ounces vodka

• 4 ounces Cointreau

• 4 ounces mixed lemon and lime juice

• Honey or agave to sweeten to taste

• Extra fruit for soaking, like strawberries, peaches, cantaloupe, raspberries, etc. Basil and mint are a nice garnish too.

Mix together and let sit in the refrigerator for an hour to let flavors meld. Serve over ice garnished with fruit.

 

6. Watermelon and Tomato Gazpacho

© Jaymi Heimbuch

This recipe for Watermelon and Tomato Gazpacho combines the sweetness of watermelon with tomato, cucumber, serrano chili to great effect. Bright and refreshing and kind of perfect.

 

7. Watermelon Gimlets

Watermelon and booze are a match made in cocktail heaven. Watermelon is heavenly sweet without being cloying and plays well with all types: Vodka, rum, tequila, and cachaca, to name a few. Here's how to make a very basic sweet and tangy vodka gimlet, but it's hard to go wrong with other concoctions. Add mint, use chili-infused alcohol, splash some orange juice in there, let your inner mixologist run wild.

• 4 ounces watermelon juice (pureed and strained)

• 1 ounce vodka

• 1 ounce fresh lime juice

• splash of Cointreau (or more if you prefer sweeter)

Add ingredients to ice in a shaker, shake until very cold, strain into chilled cocktail glass, garnish with

 

8. Pickled Rinds

It doesn't get more southern granny than this, and that's a grand thing. Any recipe that uses kitchen bits that otherwise end up in the trash gets my whole-hearted endorsement. The Bitten Word played around with pickling recipes and came up with an adaptation for Pickled Watermelon Rinds that, although time-intensive, is easy to follow and avoids some of the obscure canning vocabulary that has novice canners running for the hills. And best of all, pickled rinds will extend your watermelon eating into the cooler months, making the wait until next watermelon season a little more bearable...

Friday, July 20, 2012

To Albert, Mukhtar and

African Bus Drivers

Everywhere...

 

That story of Albert from South Africa's First National Bank TV ad (above) feels inspired by the birthday story of a real African bus driver in Copenhagen called Mukhtar,  who was the very surprised subject of a flash mob back in 2009.

   

 Mukhtar's flash mobbed birthday was also an ad - more here.