PUB: Submission Guidelines > W.E.B. Du Bois Institute

Submission Guidelines

Transition aims to speak to the broader intelligentsia and the educated lay public through jargon-free, readable prose that provides both insight and pleasure.”
—Tommie Shelby, Glenda Carpio, and Vincent Brown

View Style Guide

Prose:
Transition is a unique forum for fresh perspectives on global issues, literature and art, cultures and people, with an emphasis on Africa and the diaspora. Unlike academic journals, we believe that the mode of expression is just as important as the content. We expect the nonfiction pieces published in Transition to display the virtues of high-quality literary fiction, especially narrative prose, which leads the reader naturally from one sentence to the next. Rich description and attention to voice, tone, imagery, and word choice are all appreciated. We also welcome provocative points of view that stimulate debate.

Please note:
As a nonacademic journal, we do not run footnotes or give strict bibliographic documentation for the ideas expressed in our essays. Academic clichés, locutions, and jargon, in addition to authorial intrusions such as “I am going to argue...,” “In the second section of this paper I will...,” etc., are best avoided, since they tend to disrupt the narrative flow.

Poetry:
We publish poetry from and about Africa and the diaspora. For non-English-language poetry, we prefer to run the original language version along with its literary translation into English.

Review Essays:
Transition publishes thoughtful and thought-provoking reviews of books worth reading, films worth seeing, and art exhibits worth visiting. Although constructive criticism of the works recommended is also appreciated, we usually feature review essays that point our readers toward works that deserve their attention, though the recommendation may of course be tempered by criticism.

Artwork and Photography :
We continuously seek new, unpublished work from photographers and artists and look for images that inform, innovate, startle, and speak.

To submit your work and be considered for publication in future issues of Transition, email the following to transition@fas.harvard.edu with “Image Submission” in the subject line:

  • Five to fifteen high-resolution (300 dpi) images for which you would grant Transition permission to publish
  • A short bio in a MSWord document
  • Contact info, including name, address, email and phone

Should your image(s) be selected to appear in Transition, a member of the staff will contact you to make further arrangements for publication.

Although Transition is unable to pay contributors, we provide the opportunity to reach a broad, international audience by including a brief profile on each artist whose work is used to complement our text pieces.

Please note that all artwork and photography in Transition appears in black and white, and we can use only high-resolution images (300 dpi). Others will be discarded.


To submit work to Transition:

E-mail transition@fas.harvard.edu to submit or to request the Transition Style Guide. Email submissions are preferred. If submitting by mail, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope to receive a response from Transition.

Manuscripts will not be returned. You will receive confirmation of receipt and notification of editorial decision after review of your work. Please note that due to the high volume of submissions we receive, we are not able to respond to requests for status updates.

If your piece is longer than 20 pages, please also send a hard copy (in Times New Roman, font size 12, double spaced) to:

The Editors
Transition
104 Mt. Auburn Street, 3R
Cambridge, MA 02138

For all submissions, please include the following information in your email or cover letter and in the top left corner of the first page of all documents:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Email address
  • Word count
  • Date of submission

Please also include a title with each work.

Transition staff reserves the right to disregard any submissions which do not conform to these guidelines. Your compliance with these requests will help to streamline our submission process and will ensure timely review of and response to your work.

 

EVENT: SAN FRANCISCO—Romare Bearden > Museum of the African Diaspora

MoAD Current Exhibitions

From Process to Print:

Graphic Works by

Romare Bearden

May 6, 2011 – July 3, 2011

Museum of the African Diaspora
685 Mission Street (at Third)
San Francisco, California 94105
phone: 415.358.7200
fax: 415.358.7252

The Family, 1975 Etching and Aquatint, Edition 25; Courtesy of Alex Rosenberg, New York, New York

 

From Process to Print: Graphic Works by Romare Bearden is a traveling exhibition that is part of a national centennial celebration of Bearden, an American artist of African American heritage who is widely acknowledged as one of the most talented and original visual artists of the twentieth century. The exhibition, organized by the Romare Bearden Foundation, includes 84 lithographs, etchings, collagraphs, collagraph plates, screenprints, drypoints, monotypes, and engravings produced over three decades by Bearden.

The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to examine Bearden’s print-making process and to understand how key themes and motifs like trains, family life, rituals, rural and urban scenes, jazz, and mythology extended his artistic imagination beyond collages, of which he is an acknowledged master, into the graphic medium.

 

Focusing on the later period of his career, “From Process to Print” explores Bearden’s graphic oeuvre from the 1960s though the early 1980s. Included are prints based on collages like the “Odysseus Series” and “Piano Lesson” that he reworked in several media through changes in technique, scale, and color. Also included are two important photoengraving series, "The Train" and "The Family", and the extraordinary limited edition “12 Trains.”

 

[PRESS ROOM]  •  Opening Reception Photos


Related Programs and Events

• Friday, May 6 - Opening Reception  |  Reception Invitation  |  Reception Photos

• Saturday, May 7  -  LECTURE | Romare Bearden, American Modernist

• Saturday, May 21 - FAMILY DAY | The Art of Romare Bearden

• Saturday, June 4 - PERFORMANCE and LECTURE | Find Your Song: The Blues Arias of August Wilson

• Saturday, June 18 - FAMILY DAY | Screenprinting Your Family History

• Sunday, June 19 - FREE DAY | Celebrate Juneteenth and Father's Day featuring The Marcus Shelby Trio

• Friday, June 24 - FILM SCREENING and DISCUSSION | From the Quarters to Lincoln Heights

 

 

 

View full public programs calendar 

Support for the exhibition, opening reception and accompanying programs was provided by The Ernest Bates Foundation, American Shared Hospital Services, Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, Ph.D. and James Lowell Gibbs, Jr., Ph.D., and the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District. Additional support for the opening reception is provided by eco.love Wines, J&V Catering, Ame Restaurant, and Floral Ornament. MoAD receives ongoing support from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, foundations, corporations and individuals including its Board of Directors, patrons and members.

 


About Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden (1911-1988), an American artist of African-American heritage, was honored during his lifetime and posthumously with numerous prestigious awards, publications, and exhibitions. Along with representation in important public and private collections, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts and honored with a groundbreaking retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. A master collagist, Bearden is celebrated today as a preeminent, highly prolific artist of exceptional and multifaceted talents and interests. He was a jazz aficionado, an author of scholarly books, a song writer/lyricist, as well as an arts activist and humanist. Bearden incorporated a rich montage of influences from American, African, Asian, and European art and culture and took inspiration from memories and experiences of the rural South, the urban North, and the Caribbean. [biography]

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Romare Bearden, 1980 by Marvin E. Newman

 

Related Links/Resources

MoAD Press Room

Romare Bearden Foundation

The Art of Romare Bearden (NPR)

Google Images

Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

CULTURE + VIDEO: Africa: "Dance has Become a Very Personal Narrative > A BOMBASTIC ELEMENT

Monday, February 15, 2010

Africa:

"Dance has Become

A Very Personal Narrative"


Opiyo Okach/ pic: Laurent Philippe/ Yale 2008-2009 season

 

Mwenda Wa Micheni's thoughts on African contemporary dance:

...There is something "unAfrican" about it. Passionate and at the same time looking somewhat crazy and weird, the dancers do seem to be deliberately attempting to put any meaning to their steps. The audiences, lost in the rhythms, are left interpreting if they must... It was quite unusual in the past to dance alone. The whole village danced together. There was a structure; a clear storyline in the lyrics and the opening and closing were always

definite. Africa is changing, and globalising. And in an increasingly individualistic society that many places in Africa are becoming, dance has become a very personal narrative, expressed through personal metaphors and moves with the dancers caring less about the audiences.... Supporters say this new wave is the contemporary dancers' contribution of new memory as they borrow from traditional dance but push the limits a little further, something that has been described by some critics as a cultural subjugation. "This movement is born out of traditional dance but moves onto somewhere else. I try to find a whole truth for myself,"said Opiyo Okach, who has been one of the missionaries of contemporary dance to sometimes reluctant fans.
More contemporary dance efforts in Egypt and Uganda. Below, Opiyo Okach performing "No Man’s Gone Now," created with choreographer Julyen Hamilton for Festival Avignon 2003.

 

 

 

CULTURE: The Art of Revolution - Colleen Gillard & Georgia Wells > The Atlantic

The Art of Revolution

By Colleen Gillard & Georgia Wells
May 9 2011, 7:00 AM ET 1
At an art school in Cairo, students explore the Egyptian uprising through a once-banned medium: protest art

Street Art and the Egyptian Revolution

    Youmna Mustafa says the Egyptian people deserve justice.

    On the sidewalk outside Cairo's Faculty of Fine Arts college on leafy Zamalek Island, just across the Nile from Tahrir Square, hijab-wearing young women are elbow-deep in paint. Absorbed in their work, they climb ladders to study the effect, all the while graciously answering questions from a gathering audience. The students, whose sweet faces are framed by pastel scarves, don't look much like revolutionaries, even if their art tells stories of blood, agony and rage.

    Two months after protests forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, these students are communicating their feelings about the revolution in the way they know best: by covering the school's drab gray walls with colorful political art.

    One of the mural's artists, Youmna Mustafa, 20, points to the bound screaming face on her wall and says her piece is about freedom of speech.


    "This is what the square meant to me," the student of mosaic art says. "This is why I went. Not to be able to speak your mind, your wants and desires, share your thoughts out loud, is to feel," she pauses, searching for the word, "dead."

    In another ten-by-ten-foot panel, Anas Muhammed, 21, explores the role that the Internet and social media had in informing the public and publicizing the protests. He has drawn a man whose head, once helmeted and blinded by state media, is now brilliantly lit by Twitter, Facebook, and Al Jazeera.

    Before the Internet, he says, "all we had to unify us was the Egyptian flag--which I show bleeding from the disrespect Mubarak showed us."

    Most of the school's faculty and 2,500-student body attended the demonstrations, according to the genteel Professor of Mural Art Sabry Mansour. Those 18 days of protest and President Mubarak's departure were an emotional earthquake for the country, he says, and he wanted to find a way to capture the energy, optimism, and passion, especially that expressed by the students.

    Gazing around the school's courtyard -- where a fully-clothed male model, dressed in shirt and ironed slacks, leans on draped boxes before a life-drawing class of a half-dozen young women -- Professor Mansour says he finally decided to do something that would have been impossible under President Mubarak: protest art.

    "The school's walls on the street were covered with graffiti, only it was not" Professor Mansour hesitates politely, "very good graffiti." He realized then, of course, the revolution would make better street art.

    Students at the century-old school responded well. After losing one of their peers to the violence -- a well-loved young man majoring in Interior Design and Decor --the students found great meaning in the assignment, Professor Mansour says. All 60 students in the course made a mural design to present. The class held a "democratic vote" to select the seven best.

    A green snake winds through another painting on Ismail Mohammed Street, strangling people and drawing blood. "This is about Mubarak, the corrupt, the unjust. A true snake who deceived his own people," says 21-year-old Rehan Nabil.

    When asked about the many young women who joined the protests and what kind of place they hoped for in a new regime, Nabil shakes her head.

    "This is not about women; this is about everyone. Our country's problems are much bigger than women's rights."

    Not just women's rights, she points out, needed better protection. "Everything women have suffered, all our citizens have suffered. Everything you might want for women -- like opportunity, education, jobs, respect, freedom -- you want for everyone."

    Nabil describes Mubarak's regime as filled with thieves. "They robbed us of a future." More than anything, she says she wants to see her people's potential and talents put to use.

    "We deserve to have a better place in the world. We deserve to join the First World and leave the Third World behind."

    But when asked about her confidence in the current political process to bring her country a better future, her smile fades. "We are all holding our breath, waiting to see what will happen." When asked if she worries a theocracy will rise from the ruins of what was once President Mubarak's private kingdom, the sweet young woman in the hijab raises her chin. "We may be a devout people," she says, "but we don't want to be told what to do. We value freedom as much as anyone."

    Other students, such as Mustafa, say they feel more confident that good things will come from the culture of the protests. Tahrir Square felt like a new country, she says, "a utopia," full of camaraderie. The power and meaning of joining her countrymen, united by a common goal, brought her to tears, her young face shining. "I felt alive! For the first time, I felt hope for my country."

    For now, the murals are a testament to the anger these young people feel about the injustices of the past as well as their hope for the future. They are generating smiles and interest from the neighborhood.

    "Passers-by are curious," says Professor Mansour, calling it appropriate and good that the students take public ownership of their pride in helping to change the country.

    "It is a very good feeling to change a very bad regime," Professor Mansour says, looking over the murals with avuncular satisfaction. "It feels especially good to communicate this by doing something that would have had us arrested not very many weeks ago. Very, very liberating."

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

    COLLEEN GILLARD & GEORGIA WELLS - Colleen Gillard & Georgia Wells are a mother/daughter team covering Egypt after the revolution. They blog at Egypt Unplugged.

     

    GRAPHICS + AUDIO: Osunlade “Pyrography” (Preview Mix) > WELL AND GOOD

    Osunlade “Pyrography”

    (Preview Mix)

    _▒▒___(▒)(█)(░) ____________ ██____▒▒_____(░)(▒) _____________██__▓

     


     "Pyrography" is the self proclaimed 'last house album' from Yoruba head  Osunlade. Incorporating the signature Yoruba style, Pyrography effortlessly bridges the gap between electronic and organic. Braced with more vocal tracks than previous house albums, it showcases the musical diversity of label, taking in the recent underground monster 'Idiocyncracy', the infectious 'Envision' and the unmistakable Yoruba chant of 'Ser Al Santisimo'. Along with the stunning cover art, each track is accompanied by an artwork piece from renowned Pyrography artist Scott Marr making this a must for followers of the Yoruba label.

    ▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼

    Pyrography by Osunlade
    Osunlade "Pyrography"
    01 A Day Without You
    02 Envision
    03 Im Happy
    04 Idiosyncracy
    05 Solemait?
    06 ManOvWirz
    07 No Way
    08 Pheramones
    09 Ser Al Santisima
    10 The Distance
    11 Walkin' In Paris
    12 Yeku Yeku

    ant

    As a bonus...here is the album art designer for the cover

     

     

     

    VIDEO + AUDIO: Common—A Song For Assata/A Song For Us

    New Jersey Police Join Protest

    Over Common’s

    White House Invite,

    Union Takes Issue With

    “A Song For Assata”

    Wednesday May 11, 2011 – by Leslie Pitterson

    The uproar over Common’s invite to perform at the White House’s poetry celebration continues. But this time the rapper isn’t just hearing it from the right-wing folks at Fox News.

    Common’s latest critics are from the union representing the New Jersey State Police. The police union is taking issue with the socially conscious rapper known for his pursuits in acting and philanthropy as well. Unlike Fox’s broad brush condemnation of Common as “vile”, union representatives are criticizing First Lady Michelle extending Common an invite because of one song in particular: “A Song For Assata.”

    The song appeared on Common’s album, “Like Water for Chocolate” and featured singer Cee-Lo Green. It is an ode to former Black Panther Assata Shakur, who in 1973 was sent to prison after being convicted of killing a New Jersey State trooper.  Common’s White House invites comes the same week as thousands of police officers from across the country make their way to the National Law Enforcement Memorial to honor their fallen comrades.

    Shakur, who is the step-aunt of the late Tupac Shakur, has always claimed she is not a criminal nor has ever been, saying only that she was “was pulled over by the New Jersey State Police, shot twice and then charged with murder of a police officer.” Assata’s supporters cite the fact that she was acquitted three times before her conviction as evidence of that the justice system put an innocent woman behind bars.

    In “A Song For Assata,” Common raps:

    Assata had been convicted of a murder she couldna done
    Medical evidence shown she couldna shot the gun
    It’s time for her to see the sun from the other side
    Time for her daughter to be by her mother’s side
    Time for this Beautiful Woman to become soft again
    Time for her to breathe, and not be told how or when
    She untangled the chains and escaped the pain

     

    Shakur (born Joanne Chesimard) escaped from the maximum security wing of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in 1979 and fled to Cuba, where she is now lives in asylum.

    David Jones, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association union told NBC New York of Common’s “A Song For Assata”:

    “The young people who read this stuff, hear this stuff, are getting a very dangerous and deadly message.”

    What’s your take on the New Jersey Police Union’s opposition to Common’s White House invite? Share your thoughts!

     

    __________________________

     

    Common Kings Barack,

    Performs At White House Poetry Night

    Amidst Controversy

    THURSDAY MAY 12, 2011 – BY CLUTCH

    Common has performed in front of audiences around the world for years, but last night when the rapper entered the “People’s House” it felt like every eye in the country was on him. And after days of controversy surrounding his invite to the White House celebration of poetry and prose, the Chicago rapper responded to the critics by doing what he does best: speaking through his flow.

    Taking the stage in a beige suit, Common respectfully started simply with, “Thank you and God bless. I appreciate being here,” and then began his poem.

    “I woke up with the sunshine. A sunshine I had never seen.
    There was light at the end of it. Reminded me to forever dream.
    I was dreaming I walked into the White House. With love on my sleeve.
    And love for each and every one of you. Reminding you to believe. These are the words of a believer achiever.
    Leader of the globe, feed the souls of those in need.
    I bleed the blood of the struggle. Walking over troubled puddles.
    The hustle is in my chest. No hustle no progress.
    Extremities of life in this process. The birth of a son.
    The death of another. With love I caress both mothers.
    And told ‘em whose in control is the one that’s above is.
    I walk where money talks and love stutters.
    The body language of a nation. Going though changes. The young become dangerous.
    Spent into anger. Anger gets sent through the chamber.
    It’s tough when your own look like strangers. We are the sons of gangsters and stone rangers. If he could how would Ernie Barnes paint us?
    Look at the picture. It’s hard not to blame us.
    But time forgives in the shy where the young die often. Do they end up in a coffin because we haven’t taught them?
    Is it what we talkin’, we really ain’t walking. Dudes, hustlers, paid. How much did it cost them?
    I find myself on the same corner that we lost them. Real talkin’ in their ear like a walkman.
    My thoughts been around the corner to the world. So when I see them I see my baby girl.
    The Lord lives among us. The youngest hunger, recover.
    Means to get it by anyways necessary under pressure. Children feeling lesser with the spill upon the dresser.
    Killer, willer aggressors. Destiny’s children, survivors, soldiers.
    In front of buildings their eyes look older. It’s hard to see blessings in a violent culture.
    Face against rappings. Sirens holsters – that ‘aint the way that Langston Hughes wrote us.
    So controllers on the shoulders of Moses. And Noah. We go from being precious to Oprah.
    Cultivated to overcome. Ever since we came over.
    Seize the day in the way that you can see the determined. The soul that keeps burning. Shorty’s know to keep learning. Lessons in my life are like stripes that we earning.
    I took Grant’s advice that Christ is returning. Like a thief in the night. I write for beacons of light.
    For those of us in dark alleys and park valleys. Street hits spark valleys of the conscience. Conquerors of a contest . Even the unseen know that God watches.
    For one King’s dream he was able to Barack us.
    One King’s dream he was able to Barack us.
    One King’s dream he was able to Barack us.”

    Well done, Common. Well Done.

     

     

    __________________________

     

     

     

     

    President Obama & Poets

    at the White House

     

    May 11, 2011 | 44:55 | Public Domain

     

    President Obama speaks and is joined by renowned poets reciting their work for a celebration of poetry at the White House.
    Musical performances may be excluded from on-demand video due to licensing and intellectual property limitations.

     

    Download mp4 (429MB) | mp3 (41MB)

    Read the Transcript

     

     

     

     

     

     

    VIDEO: Living Legend Pharoah Sanders Live in Paris on 29th April 2011 (HD Video) > Elements of Jazz

    Living Legend

    Pharoah Sanders Live in Paris

    on 29th April 2011 (HD Video)

    Pharoah SandersOne of my Twitter friends, Romain aka @restrictedzone, shared his personal video of tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders' show on April 29th at New Morning in Paris. Romain wrote on his website (restricted-zone.com) that "I will remember this April 29, 2011 as one of the great musical events of the year."

     I wanted to see more of the show after watching his video. To find out if there were any other videos of that special evening available, I went straight to Youtube. 

    Yes - Mission accomplished! There's amost 35 minutes of the Pharoah Sanders Quartet in the following HD videos from the April 29th show in Paris. Enjoy! 

    Thank you again, Romain, for letting me know about that great evening of music. :)

     

    VIDEO: Playing For Change - Redemption Song

    Bob Marley

    http://playingforchange.com/episodes/40/ - Hello everyone, today we are honored to share with you all the first video from our new CD/DVD titled, "PFC2: Songs Around the World". This video is a version of "Redemption Song" performed around the world in honor of Bob Marley's birthday. We have reunited Bob with his son Stephen and the support of the entire planet. In this song there is a felling of rising above the past and moving forward with love in our hearts and hope in our eyes. 

     

    PUB: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | Dirty Sensibilities: A 21st Century Exploration of the New American Black South

    CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | Dirty Sensibilities: A 21st Century Exploration of the New American Black South

    by Shantrelle Bumaye on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 5:15pm

     

    Dirty Sensibilities: A 21st Century Exploration of the New American Black South

    Presented by: Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute

    Curated By: Shantrelle P. Lewis

    (Please distribute to your networks.)

    Dirty Sensibilities will explore contemporary realities of life in the South from a cultural, political, cosmological and sociological perspective. Although the show is open to people currently living in the South, preference will be given to work by artists who were born and raised in the South, particularly those with generational roots.

     

    Much of what is known about the Black experience in the South focuses on a historical period often directly related to the oppression of enslaved Africans, their struggle for liberation and their struggles for Civil Rights after the brief period of progress experienced during Reconstruction. The Southern narrative includes a history rich in culture, spirituality and Africanisms that have thrived over the past four hundred plus years. This exhibition seeks to explore those idiosyncrasies that are unique to the the region of the United States situated below the Mason Dixon Line. Artists are invited to create pieces that explore the race relations in the Age of Obama, the survival of folk traditions, the concept of “Southern” hospitality, a post-Civil Rights reality, the significance of relationships with elders and the creation of a new Southern aesthetic. Artists are asked to consider (but are not limited to) the following:

    • What is the relationship of Southern people to the land and earth?
    • How were families and communities affected by the Great Migration?
    • What is the nature of race relations post-integration?
    • How has the influx of Latinos influenced the Black/White dichotomy of Southern Society?
    • What examples of Africanisms still exist?
    • What is the role of the family reunion?
    • What is the relationship between folks and their relatives “Up North?”
    • What is the role of spirituality - Christianity, Voodoo/Hoodoo, Roots, in the community today?
    • What is Southern Hospitality?
    • How have traditional aesthetic forms (music, culinary, dance, folk art) evolved, declined and/or been preserved over the past century?
    • Are HBCUs still necessary?

    Southern artists of African descent are invited to create and submit pieces for consideration for this new exhibition. Artists are encouraged to submit provocative and dynamic work of all media - sculpture, photography, painting, printmaking, illustration, installation, graphic design, and video.

     

    SUBMISSIONS

    In order for your submission to be considered complete, please forward ALL of the items below:

     

    1. Please submit 5-10 jpeg images with descriptions completed on Inventory List (title, medium, dimensions, date(s) of completion). Images should be submitted via a flickr link or CD.

    2. CV or Resume

    3. Artist Statement – as it relates specifically to the exhibition’s topic.

    4. Brief bio

    5. For videos, email link or file. (Must be Quicktime compatible).

    6. Submission Application

    7. Inventory ListIncomplete submissions will not be considered.

     

    NOTE: Please upload images via flickr and send a link. Please be prepared to submit hi-res images upon request.

     

    Forward submissions and questions to:

    Shantrelle P. Lewis at slewis@cccadi.org

     

    DEADLINE

    July 15, 2011

     

    EXHIBITION DATES

    September through December, 2011

     

    About CCCADI

    The Caribbean Cultural Center/African Diaspora Institute, commonly known as the Caribbean Cultural Center, was conceived in 1976 by Dr. Marta Moreno Vega with the vision to create an international organization promoting and linking communities of African descendants wherever our communities are present. Dedicated to making visible to the populations of New York and our communities worldwide, the invisible history, culture, and welfare of peoples of African descent, the Center is based in New York City, but effectively works for the social, cultural, and economic equity of African Diaspora communities everywhere.

     

    About the Curator:

    Shantrelle P. Lewis is a native of New Orleans who returned home in September 2007 to assist in its revitalization efforts after a 12-year stint on the east coast. In October 2009, Ms. Lewis relocated to New York, where she is currently the Director of Public Programming and Exhibitions at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.  For two years, she worked in the capacity of Executive Director and Curator of the McKenna Museum of African American Art. Having received her bachelor's  and master’s degrees in African American Studies from Howard and Temple Universities respectively. Ms. Lewis has demonstrated a commitment to researching, documenting and preserving African Diasporan culture.

     

    Her curatorial credits include exhibitions on a variety of topics ranging from African Spirituality to a tribute to world renowned photographer Jamel Shabazz. She has worked with a host of emerging artists in various media. Past exhibitions include “audacious! the lost fotography and films of funk diva betty davis” with Numa Perrier, “Wearing Spirit: Aesthetically Personifying the Feminine within African Sacred Traditions”, “Life After Death: A Multi-Media Analysis with the Persona that Was/Is Fela Anikulapo Kuti. “Dandy Lion: Behold A Gentleman” in association with Society HAE, “SOS: Magic, Revelry and Resistance in Post-Katrina Art” and “Re-Imagining Haiti’s Standing With Papa Legba and Le Projet Noveau” in partnership CCCADI and MoCADA, which was co-curated with Shante’ Cozier. Most recently she curated the controversial exhibition “Sex Crimes Against Black Girls” for Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Skylight Gallery.

     

    “Dirty Sensibilities” Application Form

    Name_______________________________   Age_________    Gender_________ 

    Birthplace ______________________Telephone_________________

    Email _____________________Address_____________________________

    Website ____________________________________________________________

    Home or Studio Address_______________________________________________

     

    Please indicate your affiliation to the South:EntriesType(s) of work I am submitting (check all that apply)□Painting           □Photography            □Mixed-Media            □Digital           □Writing □Installation         □Drawing            □Film/Video            □Sculpture          □Printmaking

    □Other: __________________________________

     

     

    Inventory List (should be completed for each piece that is submitted).

    Entry Info:

    Title______________________________________________________________________

    Medium __________________________________________________________________

    Year______________________________________________________________________

    Dimensions and Weight___________________________________________________

    This entry is submitted via: □flickr link       □CD/DVD

     

     

    Entry Info:

    Title______________________________________________________________________

    Medium __________________________________________________________________

    Year______________________________________________________________________

    Dimensions and Weight___________________________________________________

    This entry is submitted via: □flickr link       □CD/DVD

     

     

    Entry Info:

    Title______________________________________________________________________

    Medium __________________________________________________________________

    Year______________________________________________________________________

    Dimensions and Weight___________________________________________________

    This entry is submitted via: □flickr link       □CD/DVD

     

    St. Helena Island, South Carolina

     

     

    St. Helena Island, South Carolina

     

     

     

     

     

     

    PUB: Submissions to New Rivers Press

    MVP Deadlines(Scroll down for american fiction guidelines)

    The submission period for the 2011 MVP Competition, a search for book-length unpublished manuscripts by new or emerging writers, is Sept. 15 - Nov. 1 (postmark), 2011. The poetry prize and the prose prize this year are both open to anyone writing in English. There is a $20 entry fee. The two winning titles will be published in Fall 2013 by New Rivers Press and distributed nationally through Consortium Book Sales and Distribution. Each winning author will receive $1,000 and a standard book contract. We are currently screening submissions and hope to announce winners by June 1, 2012.

    For complete guidelines, click HERE.

    Update: we hope to announce winners of the 2010 competition by June 1.

     

    General submissions

    We have limited resources, but do our best to be open to work of every character. We read general book-length submissions in April and May once we've completed screening for our MVP competition. Submit ms. with SASE (or, preferably, email address) for response; we don't return mss. A cover letter does not need to sell your ms. but should describe it with precision. If you're submitting a novel, for example, a one paragraph treatment and a cast of major characters can be useful. Also, include a brief up-to-date artistic bio or a web address where we can access such a bio. If you wish to query by email, contact Alan Davis or Suzzanne Kelley. (davisa AT mnstate.edu or kelleys AT mnstate.edu ).

     

    The American Fiction Prize

    American Fiction: The Best Unpublished Short Stories by Emerging Writers, twice chosen by Writers' Digest as one of the best places in the United States to publish fiction, will be open to submissions from Feb. 1, 2011, to June 1, 2011, (postmark date).

     


    First Prize: $1,000
    Second Prize: $500
    Third Prize: $250

     

    Entry Fee: $12/story

     

    Contest winners and finalists will be published by New Rivers Press in fall 2012 and distributed nationally by The Consortium.

 Previous judges include Charles Baxter, Ann Beattie, Robert Boswell, Ray Carver, Louise Erdrich, Clint McCown, Antonya Nelson, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O'Brien, Wallace Stegner, Anne Tyler, and Tobias Wolff.

    Winners and finalists will be announced by September 2011.

    Finalist Judge: Josip Novakovich
    This year’s judge, Josip Novakovich, moved from Croatia to the U.S. at the age of twenty. He has published a novel, April Fool's Day (published in ten languages), three story collections (Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust, Yolk, and Salvation and Other Disasters) and three collections of narrative essays. His work was anthologized in Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prize collection, and O. Henry Prize Stories. He has received the Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the Ingram Merrill Award, and an American Book Award, and he has been a writing fellow of the New York Public Library. He teaches creative writing at Concordia University in Montreal.

     

    Contest Guidelines:


    Submit electronically:

    http://newriverspress.submishmash.com/Submit

    -or-

    Mail entries:
    American Fiction Prize
    151 Glenwood Street
    Manchester, CT 06040

    We accept all genres of unpublished literary fiction. Entries must be: unpublished; strictly 7,500 words or less; postmarked or received electronically between Feb. 1, 2011, and June 1, 2011;  clearly marked "American Fiction Prize" on both the story and the outside of the envelope if the submission is sent through the mail; accompanied by a $12 entry fee per story (make checks payable to American Fiction). Please include a cover page with your name, story title, mailing address, and email address. Do not include your name on the pages of the story. Please ensure all stories are typed, double-spaced, and that the title and page number appear on each page. In lieu of an email address, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

    We welcome multiple entries ($12/story). For entries outside the U.S.: please send entry fee in U.S. currency or money order. While we cannot return manuscripts, we will forward a list of the winning stories to any entrant who includes an SASE; as well, we will e-mail contest updates to anyone who provides an active e-mail address. Entrants retain all rights to their stories.

     

    Please e-mail any questions to americanfictionprize AT gmail DOT com 

    Thank you for your interest, and good luck!